Cheong Gye Cheon River Restoration Project

Description

This urban project has succeeded in reclaiming a waterway in the heart of Seoul. What had been a motorway for 20 years has become an accessible pedestrian promenade that breathes life into the city centre. In the 1970s, in the name of progress and modernisation of the city, it was decided that an elevated motorway would be built over this waterway, thus improving access to the centre for private vehicles. Thirty years later, the sense of progress has turned 180 degrees. Where connectivity was once valued above all else, the focus is now on making life in the city centre more pleasant, reducing pollution and enhancing the city’s external image. Although the project has had its share of controversy, the most notorious was the removal of the flea market that occupied the ground floor of the elevated road, the global outcome has been outstanding. Of particular note is the increase in biodiversity and the reduction in temperature that the project has brought to the area. In addition to being a public space, the new waterway has become a symbol of the new Seoul. A path of hope for big cities that has echoed around the world.