75.9% of Seoul citizens expressed satisfaction with parks, showing emotionally positive reactions such as ‘rest, scenery, and experience’.
The Seoul AI Foundation released the results of the ‘2025 Citizen Park Perception Analysis’ on the 8th, targeting city-operated parks in Seoul. This analysis was conducted to objectively understand how citizens perceive and use parks and to utilize the data as a foundational resource for the ‘Garden City Seoul’ policy.
The foundation collected and analyzed texts from SNS and media from January to December 2024. It revealed that mentions related to parks peaked in autumn (September to October) and were least in June, clearly indicating seasonal usage patterns.
In autumn, Maheon Citizens’ Forest, Oil Tank Culture Park, and Children’s Grand Park were frequently mentioned, while in spring, Gyeongui Line Forest Park, Gyeonchun Line Forest Park, Seoul Forest, and Purplesu Botanical Garden were more popular. This seasonal preference indicates that the purpose and nature of park usage could be categorized based on type.
In terms of park mentions, ‘Seoul Forest’ near Seongsu-dong ranked first with 33.7% of the total mentions. This was followed by Yeouido Park (10.0%), Children’s Grand Park (8.7%), Seoul Botanic Park (7.7%), and Namsan Park (5.4%). Seoul Forest had numerous everyday and emotional keywords such as ‘sightseeing, restaurants, evening, feeling, mind’, while Yeouido Park highlighted event-related keywords like ‘competition, participation, venue, now’. At Children’s Grand Park, there were numerous mentions of programs like ‘performances, festivals, experiences’.
In the ‘Emotion Index’ analysis, an emotion expression indicator, Namsan Park ranked first for the highest percentage of positive mentions. This was followed by Jungnang Camping Forest, Gildong Ecological Park, Yulgok-ro Upper Park, and North Seoul Dream Forest. Namsan Park was noted for the high prevalence of positive words like ‘special, recommend, famous’, and both locals and foreigners consistently showed favorable responses, indicating a stable brand image.
Parks that ranked 2nd to 4th shared common mentions of words like ‘quiet, healing, walking’, contributing to the formation of positive perceptions through comfortable and pleasant user experiences.
The Seoul AI Foundation classified Seoul’s parks into five categories based on the analysis results: City Leisure Type, Cultural Event Type, Historical Heritage Type, Natural Ecology Type, and Living Neighborhood Type. Each type had different citizen expectations for functionality and satisfaction factors.
For ‘City Leisure Type (Seoul Forest, Naksan Park, etc.)’, they suggested enhancing nighttime views and rest content, while for ‘Cultural Event Type (Children’s Grand Park, Yeouido Park, Oil Tank Culture Park, etc.)’, they proposed expanding experience programs. For the ‘Natural Ecology Type (West Seoul Lake Park, Yongsan Family Park, etc.)’, they focused on ecology conservation management and educational program offerings, and the ‘Historical Heritage Type (Namsan Park, Seoullo 7017, etc.)’ needed explanatory content reflecting the venue’s characteristics.
This analysis shows that parks are perceived as central spaces of citizen sentiment and urban experience beyond just leisure spaces. The foundation plans to incorporate the analysis results into Seoul’s park management and policy development to devise park operation strategies that citizens can appreciate.
Kim Mangi, Chairman of the Seoul AI Foundation, said, “We were able to concretely confirm how citizens feel about parks in their daily lives through language data analysis” and added, “We will actively utilize AI-based analysis results to improve park operations and services, creating changes that citizens can feel.”
The analysis report can be found on the Seoul AI Foundation’s website under the ‘Knowledge Information → Research Reports’ menu.