Sam Newberg’s “Joe-Urban” newsletter just arrived in my box – always a treat. Among other items (intermodal yards in Illinois, Jan Gehl in Melbourne) is a link to pics of Cheonggyecheon in Seoul.
In 2005 the Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul was restored as a natural and public amenity. The river had previously been tunneled with an elevated freeway built on top of it, but in a move that would make John Norquist proud, the mayor of Seoul championed an effort to restore the river and create a wonderful urban gathering place.
I’ve referenced the Cheonggeycheon before, truly one of the world’s great transformations, but the pictures reveal how quickly it is greening up:
More pics here.
UPDATE: And while we’re at it, here’s an item that’s just come in from Stephen Ingrouille’s Transport Newsletter out of Melbourne:
“The Seoul city government has announced plans to build 207 kilometres of cycle paths over the next four years extending to all corners of the South Korean capital, according to officials.
The 120-billionwon (US$88m) plan is based on a ‘road diet’ program, under which the number of lanes for passenger vehicles in major roads will be cut to create new cycle paths. It calls for the construction of 17 main cycle paths totaling 200 kilometres that criss-cross the sprawling city and one downtown seven kilometre beltway. ‘
Any urban areas where commuters only rely on vehicles burning fuel cannot avoid blame for global warming and traffic congestion’, Seoul City Mayor Oh Se-Hoon said on Wednesday, on the city government’s website. ‘We will make sure that bicycles will compete with vehicles for commuting in Seoul’, said Oh, who rides his bicycle to work every day. …
The city will also construct bicycle parks at 16 subway stations – complete with shower rooms and lockers for cyclists before they transit to the subway.”
Wow! That river looks great, and all of that in only a few years. It’s almost unbelievable.