Seoul Station Elevated Park (Seoul Station Project 7017? The Seoul Vine?) - An Update

More about Park Won-soon's pet project, the Seoul Station Elevated Park also known as the Seoul High Line ("Diagonal crossings, High Lines, and Business Verticals (how pedestrians and businesses remodel Seoul... and vice-versa)").

It seems that marketing came up with suggestions for branding, and the good news is that we may not stick to the 'me-too' "High Line". The result could be a 'Seoul Station Project 7017'* reminiscent of the 'Culture Station Seoul 284' it steps across.

7017 echoes the dates of its inaugurations as a motorway (1970) and as a pedestrian park (2017), as well as its height (17 m), and its number of accesses (17)... 

Come on. 7017? I'm sure you could find something more exciting than this. 

As a tribute to the vinos at the origin of the project (those who occupied the walkway that will be replaced by this elevated park), I suggest "The Seoul Vine". After all, doesn't it look like a grape?

Note that exit #1 is Namdaemun Market: the recent demonstration of merchants against the project obviously paid off! It is followed by Hoehyeon-dong (#2, on the other side of Toegyero), Namsan and Hilton Hotel (#3 and #4, which will require an extension), Namdaemun (#5, with another extension), three buildings (GS Building #6, Yonsei Building #7, Seoul Square #8), Seoul Station subway (#9, it seems around the subway exit 9 too), the bus transfer zone (#10), the Culture Station Seoul 284 (#11), the future International Conference Centre (#12), the Airport Terminal (#13), Cheongpa-dong, Malli-dong, and Jungnim-dong (#14, #15, #16), Seosomun Park (#17).

Adding accesses for pedestrians makes perfect sense, but it also means adding many staircases or elevators to the cityscape, and making the main structure look more massive, less aerial than it is - not to mention of course the biomass. Furthermore, nets are considered, maybe to prevent people from jumping or throwing things at the traffic below.

And what about these new extensions towards Namsan and Namdaemun? What's the point of removing Cheonggyecheon overpass or aiming at a spot on the Unesco World Heritage List for the Seoul Fortress if you add more elevated structures next to a landmark like Sungnyemun? 

And what about the new bridge considered to accommodate the 50,000+ cars taking this elevated road every day? How far and how high will it fly?

At this stage, I'm not saying a big NO to this project, which has the potential to be both a lovely ride and an urban nonsense, but in less biblical dimensions than the elevated heresy envisioned a couple of years ago for Seochon (see "No cablecars in Bukhansan, please"). I'm simply saying this: be cautious, think about the long term impacts for the city and its citizens, and don't think you can fix a mess at ground level** by just rolling out a nice rug on top of it.

Seoul Village 2015
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* e.g. "박원순 "서울역고가 공원화는 서울역 재생 위한 것"(종합)" (Maeil Business Newspaper - 20150129)
** e.g. see previous episode.

A Dream Bridge to nowhere?

According to DongA Ilbo ("Building a landmark pedestrian bridge" - 20110720), Seoul authorities want to link Apgujeong with Seoul Forest via a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the Han river.

Seongsu-dong (Seongdong-gu) and Apgujeong-dong (Gangnam-gu) are already connected through the Seongsu Bridge, but this doomed structure (it collapsed in 1994) was rebuilt at a time when humans and bicycles were not priorities. Hangang riversides have since grown parks and bike lanes, and prolonging the Jungnangcheon riversides to the South makes sense... but the operation looks like yet another gift from City Hall to Gangnam speculators.

Apgujeong marked the triumph of the 'apateu' model: the Park Chung-hee government partly sponsored the moving of part of the country's elite to the newly erected apartment blocks fourty years ago, and all of a sudden the general public, unaware of the trick, reconsidered apartment blocks as a symbol of success. Before, people saw them as soulless dwellings for the masses. The trick also radically changed the image of Gangnam, a land recently claimed over rice paddies that Gangbuk elites despised. After that, all 'nouveaux riches' started to migrate South, and all Seoulites to embrace the 'apateu' system.

Even now, Apgujeong-dong remains the epitome of Gangnam bling. Commoners, who already found it hard to swallow that these blocks had more or less privatized the accesses to Hangang riversides, reacted vehemently when the city authorized the replacement of this old generation of apartments with 50-story-high blocks (the only way owners could expect fat profits from the sale of their already bubble-blown properties). Now this: a KRW 100 bn bridge financed 50% by the city and 50% by the same local residents?

I don't see this "Dream Bridge" being built, unless there's a radical change in Apgujeong-dong redevelopment plans:
- covering Olympic Expressway
- opening the new and improved waterfront to bikes and pedestrians from all sides
- public infrastructures and mixed use of land instead of a high end residential ghetto

More likely, Seoul will find a compromise and ask for big concessions from land owners if they want to grow higher than 30 stories.

Seoul Village 2011
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A World Cup Bridge for 2015

Just kicked off : the construction of the World Cup Bridge (월드컵대교) on the Hangang, between Mapo-gu (North) and Yeongdeungpo-gu (South), and between Seongsan Bridge (East) and Gayang Bridge (West).

This 30.7 x 1,980 m shoot will prolong Jeungsanno, a road that cut between World Cup Stadium and World Cup Park, so now you get an idea where the name of the bridge comes from.

The name of Jeungsanno comes from its mountain of origin : Jeungsan, in Jeungsan-dong, Eunpyeong-gu (it continues even further Northwards as Yeonseono). The road follows a stream, Bulgwancheon, and Subway Line 6 until Susaek Station, now the new Digital Media City. A few hectometers were added when the stadium and parc were built, but Jeungsanno stopped right in front of the Han river, waiting for a bridge to come : a big diving board hovering over the main entrance to Seoul from Incheon Airport (Gangbyeonbukno highway), and Nanji-Jigu riverside park.

On the other side, World Cup Bridge will land in Yeongdeungpo-gu in Yanghwa-dong, with a branch stretching Eastwards to Yangpyeong-dong, where traffic will merge with that from Seongsan Bridge on the way to the Seobu / Western Expressway (서부간선도로). Another branch will go Eastwards, cross Anyangcheon, and reach Gangseo-gu at Yeomchang-dong, where it will join another major axis : the road to Gimpo Airport, Gonghangno ("airport road").

If you're lost with all those gus, dongs, and cheons, the big picture :
- the World Cup Bridge will be delivered in 2015, and cost KRW 334.5 bn
- a lot of traffic will be diverted from Seongsan Bridge, easing the way from Gimpo and Incheon to the World Cup Stadium, DMC, and Eunpyeong.
- more asphalt loops and noodles ? you betcha. Cars still rule, but this new bridge does include bike lanes.


Seoul Village 2010

Salgotyi Bridge

Researchers from Hanyang University will dig under the pier and along the piles of Salgotyi Bridge (Salgotyi Dari / 살곶이 다리), hoping to find artifacts from the early Joseon dynasty at the very feet of their own university.

Officially called Cheongok Bridge (Cheongokgyo / 천곡교) today, this most particular structure on the Jungnangcheon links the Northern and Southern halves of Seongdong-gu.

I say "most particular" for three reasons : this bridge is unnecessarily long, drawing a diagonal instead of the shortest cut, it's a rather odd feature in a strange place, and it's a very very old fellow.
Why this odd angle ? Maybe Salgotyi is just pointing towards Bukhansan for good karma. Maybe the diagonal reduces the risks of destruction when the stream grows stronger. After all, it was built after an important junction : here, Cheonggyecheon joins Jungnangcheon, which continues Westwards along Seongsu (now home to Seoul Forest) until it reaches the Han river.

Why the strange atmosphere ? This waterway-crossroad is doubled with and almost hidden by a highway-crossroad, and tripled with a railway-crossroad - most people drive by without noticing it, trying not to miss their exits or connections.
- the Southern "riverside" is completely covered by Dongbu Expressway : eight lanes of heavy traffic along the Jungnangcheon
- to the North, Cheonggyecheon's mouth exposes a few rotten teeth (concrete blocks probably meant to break the current where both streams merge)
- until recently the stream was covered with concrete until the end, but another elevated highway was built, covering this mouth with two gigantic arms : Naebu Expressway reaching for Dongbu Expressway, one two-lane-bridge for each direction.
- the "cheek" East of Cheonggyecheon's mouth (Yongdap-dong) is a vast industrial nightmare : a subway car depot, a water treatment plant
- the Western cheek used to be basically a wasteland : the University's backyard under Sageun-dong-gil
- like a Fu Manchu mustache on this disgracious face, Subway line splits over two bridges : Seongdong Bridge for the junction between Hanyang University Station and Ttukseom Station, Jangan Railway Bridge the Songsu Station - Yongdap Station link

... and like a fragile caterpillar at the feet of giant concrete bridges with their impressive piles, a very narrow and flat bridge stretches its small legs (only one meter above the water). From a distance and given the environment, it looks like a derelict concrete structure, waiting to be removed, but Salgotyi Dari was built with stones in 1483 (14th year of King Seongjong rule). During the XXth century, floods damaged the structure and concrete add-ons, but original piles remain.

This monument is already protected, but excavations could cast a new light in this previously forsaken area. Because believe it or not, if you put aside the two expressways, the situation has dramatically improved in the area :

. First, Cheonggyecheon restoration changed the mouth of the stream, now covered with vegetation particularly on its Eastern cheek... where the water treatment plant will be replaced by a big public park.
. The "teeth" breaking the current under the elevated highway host flocks of ducks and cranes which apparently find plenty of food to fish.
. The wasteland on the Western cheek became Salgotyi Park, a small sports complex for local residents.
. New bicycles lanes are full of bikers who can ride along Cheonggyecheon up to Yongdu-dong (Dongdaemun-gu), and all along Jungnangcheon from Dobong-gu / Nowon-gu to the Hangang bike network.
. Just a few hectometers west of Salgotyi Bridge, riverside grows much wider and greener, and the lane passes at the feet of Eungbong-dong hill, with its pagoda on the top and its beautiful colors in the spring or autumn.
. ...

Of course, the overwhelming feeling remains : the place looks more like a dump than a cultural / environmental hotspot. Because Seoul did the same mistake in the early 2000s as it did thirty years before : covering the city with more highways instead of finding more sustainable ways of commuting people.

More lanes are being added up North on the same Jungnangcheon and that's a shame as Seoul must prepare to reduce the number of cars intra-muros. That's a moral and environmental obligation, but also a demographical inevitability.

Maybe there's a pattern in oblique ways to join mainstream.


Seoul Village 2009