Decay and Rebirth of the Cheong-Gye Stream in Seoul, South Korea: the socioeconomic circumstances of its abandonment and the political motivation behind the restoration project

Abstract

This article will describe and contextualize the decay and renovation process of the Cheong-Gye Stream vicinities, in Seoul, South Korea. We will explain that, in the past, this stream was degraded by severe pollution, and subsequently overlaid by a concrete structure. Afterwards, an elevated road was built above that coverture. The resulting landscape, a suspended expressway, surrounded by alleyways overfull of popular shops, was the face of downtown Seoul until the new Millennium. For political and economic factors that we shall discuss, it has been decided to uncover the stream and completely restore its hydric system. The project sought to reestablish the flux of pedestrians to the central region, as well as to open new economic possibilities to the area, with the reconstruction and reoccupation of its surroundings. The main urbanistic interventions contained in this project will be named here, just as its results, just as the underlying political motivations.

Keywords:
Cheong-Gye stream; Historic center; Obsolescence; Urban renewal; Infrastructure