Although 73.2% of the city is greenspace, owing largely to Surisan and various smaller mountains, Gunpo is home to over 286,000 residents in several urban areas.

The city's downtown core is Sanbon New Town, a commercial hub which centers on a pedestrian "street of culture" that Gunpo has designated as one of its eight scenic locations.

Gunpo was promoted from town to city in 1989 due to the rapid urban and industrial growth of Seoul, and large-scale housing projects were immediately begun.

Hansei University, a Christian institute of post-secondary learning, is in the city, as are forty-four other public schools and a number of private academies.

With eighty-three percent of its citizens holding public library memberships, Gunpo touts itself as a book-reading city, and it also promotes itself as being environmentally friendly and in harmony with nature.

[citation needed] Its residents include 2010 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Yuna Kim, who grew up in Gunpo after moving there at the age of six.

During the Three Kingdoms era of the Korean Peninsula, the land that is now Gunpo was under the control of the Goguryeo dynasty, and it fell within Yulmok-gun (county) as of 475 CE.

[5] The move was based on a national law which was intended to promote efficient regional management in the face of an increasing demand for administration.

[5] A large-scale housing complex zone was established in February 1989 when Gunpo City designated the entirety of Sanbon-dong, Geumjeong-dong, and Dang-dong as an anticipated residential land district.

[5] In December 1992, Gunpo City Hall relocated from Dang-dong to Geumjong-dong,[1] and Sanbon Station, on Seoul Subway Line 4, was also opened in 1992.

[5] Sanbon's layout was devised by Kim Jinae, a famed Korean architect who also designed Seoul's Insa-dong[6] and who was named one of Time's 100 leaders of the 21st century.

Kim Yoon Joo, Gunpo's mayor, has expressed his desire to promote the city for its reading culture and for its azaleas.

Known to Koreans and expats alike until its 2015 closure was the "Pirate bar," where beer was served in an ice glass that could be thrown at a target in an attempt to win a prize.

[16][17] In the middle of Rodeo Street is a large fountain,[18] nearby which a stage is often erected to host small concerts and other performances on weekends and during festivals.

Rounding out the list are the Dang Forest of the Deokgogae hill, near Daeyami, which won the grand prize at Korea's third National Beautiful Forest Contest; the cherry blossom path of Gunpo, which decorates an area near Geumjeong Station every spring; and the Royal Azaleas Hill, which annually blooms with 90,000 purple azaleas not long after cherry blossom season.

[9] The latter is Hansei University, a Christian college that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in various fields of study,[25] including a Korean language institute for foreign students both in Korea and abroad.

On Line 4, a passenger can ride southwest into Ansan and Siheung before transferring to a train for Incheon, or northeast into Anyang, Gwacheon, and Seoul.

A number of local buses run frequently in Gunpo, some of which provide rapid service to other cities or to the Incheon International Airport.

Bugok-dong does house a cargo bus terminal, but local residents banded together in 2003 to oppose its expansion, complaining of the traffic congestion and the air and noise pollution that it produced.

[37] Intertek, a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide, officially opened its new office in Gunpo, South Korea on 18 May 2016.