South Korea's Public Design Festival 2026 opens Oct 23 at 230 sites nationwide

South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Craft & Design Foundation (한국공예·디자인문화진흥원) said on Oct 22 that they will hold the Public Design Festival 2026 from Oct 23 to Nov 1. The event takes place at Culture Station Seoul 284 and at 230 hubs across the country. It is the fifth edition, and its theme is 'Public design connecting regions and daily life'. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

The 'public design hubs' are facilities and spaces of local governments, companies, institutions and groups that put the value of public design into practice and solved everyday problems. Their number rose from 101 in 2022 to 230 this year, which the outlets describe as the largest scale to date. Participating hubs include the single-person household community centre in Seoul's Gangnam District, the Uijeongbu Art Library in Gyeonggi Province, and Osong Sunhamaru in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, a cultural space made from unused space beneath a railway. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

At 61 of the hubs, 46 programmes will run, including experiences, lectures and markets. They include a public design tour in Cheongju, a walk through the city centre through art in Seogwipo on Jeju, and a climate-change urban regeneration project called RE (RE:FOLLY). Asia Economy places that project in Jeonnam-Gwangju, and ZDNet Korea places it in Gwangju. Newsis said the Cheongju tour covers five hubs and the Seogwipo walk involves three. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

The opening ceremony on Oct 23 will honour 17 winning works of the 2026 Korea Public Design Awards, according to Newsis and ZDNet Korea. The Presidential Prize goes to the Hangang-ro-dong living safety design project run through the resident-participation living lab 'Yongyong Lab' in Seoul's Yongsan District. ZDNet Korea said residents, the district office and police worked together on local solutions to noise, illegal dumping and parking problems. Minister's awards include the Cheonan Dujeong Library 'Tomorrow's Children's Room' project and a place-branding project for Mindungsan in Jeongseon. The winning works will be shown alongside the Culture Station Seoul 284 exhibition 'Design of Care' until Nov 1. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

A public design forum is set for Oct 29 at JCC Art Center in Seoul on the theme 'Digital and public design: a new way of experience'. Twelve domestic and foreign experts will take part, including Professor Fabrizio Nebola of the University of Exeter in the UK and Lee Hyang-eun of LG Electronics. Asia Economy also named TEDxShanghai founder Richard Su (리차드 수) and Bang Jeong-hyeon, head of the design centre at the Korea Railroad Corporation. [ 1 , 3 ]

Other events include a 'public design laboratory' in which eight universities test ideas for everyday problems on site, a children's resource-recycling market, and an event with the Swiss embassy in Korea. Online, there is a campaign with Naver Happybean and a mobile stamp event for visiting hubs. Minister Choi Hwi-young said public design is expanding into changing people's everyday experience, and he hoped the festival would let more people feel its value. [ 1 , 3 ]