21st Century (2000–present)

Seoul Cheonggyecheon Restoration Plan

2003–2005 · South Korea · East Asia – Korea · Ecological, landscape-led, and resilience planning · Planned by Seoul Metropolitan Government

Map of the Cheonggyecheon stream and its tributaries tracing the linear stream corridor (the restored route) east through central Seoul relative to the historic city wall - the alignment uncovered/res · cc-by

Core idea

Expressway removal and stream restoration

Why it matters

Global reference for urban freeway removal

Description

Seoul's Cheonggyecheon project (2003–05) demolished an elevated freeway that had buried a historic stream and restored a landscaped public waterway through the city centre, reconnecting residents to water and dramatically cooling and greening the core.

Significance

Cheonggyecheon became the world's most famous freeway-removal and river-restoration project, a symbol of the 21st-century reversal of car-first planning and of returning urban space to people and ecology.

What shaped it

The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961)
The urban freeway (mid-20th c.)

Plans it influenced

Antwerp Oosterweel & Ringpark (2014–)
Seoul 2030 Plan (2014)
Nairobi Nairobi River Regeneration (2018–)
Recife Parque Capibaribe (2012–)
Addis Ababa Sheger River Revitalization (2019–)
Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan (LARRMP) (2007/2022)
Seattle Waterfront Seattle Program (2012–)
Halifax Cogswell District Redevelopment (2019–)

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →

hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.