South Korea is putting 1 trillion won (about $668 million) behind a simple idea: a better everyday life

Seoul's new Quality of Life Improvement Project takes the national budget down to street level. Backed by 1 trillion won (about $668 million) in the 2027 budget, it funds community-proposed projects across five everyday fronts — care, health, culture, environment and getting around — from support for older people living alone and single-person households to local festivals, greener neighbourhoods and better local transport. Communities propose; data-based evaluation decides what grows. It is a deliberate experiment in whether quality of life can be governed as carefully as GDP.

SDG 11 · Sustainable cities and communities — Mechanism: funding & finance