In South Korea, participatory budgeting and local self-governance systems have
experienced institutional growth in their respective contexts. Recently, neighborhood
councils have emerged as an important agenda in the field of neighborhood autonomy,
and new possibilities are being explored at the local level. In particular, as participatory
budgeting and neighborhood associations share the commonality of being
decision-making structures at the level of the living space, there are increasing
discussions of convergence between the two systems.
The purpose of this study is to identify policy measures to effectively combine
participatory budgeting and neighborhood associations to promote citizen participation.
In particular, this study aims to suggest effective ways to combine participatory
budgeting and neighborhood associations at the level of Siheung-Si. Therefore, this study
focuses on the participatory budgeting system in Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, and explores
policy development through the linkage of the participatory budgeting system and
resident associations. To this end, this study examined the main operation status of the
participatory budgeting system in Siheung-Si, as well as stakeholder perception surveys
and in-depth interviews. Based on the analysis results, policy measures that reflect the
local characteristics of Siheung-Si were derived.
As a result of the analysis, policy alternatives are proposed in six categories:
expanding the openness and diversity of participation, expanding citizen participation
in the entire policy process, strengthening publicity for participatory budgeting,
strengthening the budget allocation function in the participatory budgeting process,
strengthening the link between the participatory budgeting system and resident
associations, and preparing evaluation criteria to ensure business fairness.