Residents create green pockets in Seoul
Underused spots become rest areas in city’s 72-hour landscaping project
Last month, residents at seven districts in Seoul took on a 72-hour project to create new outdoor rest areas for their neighborhoods.
This is the eighth run of a city-funded urban landscaping project. For the project, residents — mostly landscaping or architecture major university students in their 20s — team up with a professional to transform underused plots of land into lush enclaves with adequate seating space.
The challenge took place from Aug. 22 to 25 this year. Each team was given a budget of 20 million won ($16,700) for their project. Participants were encouraged to use plants proven effective at capturing ultrafine particles from the air, like cornelian cherry trees and plantain lilies, to combat the city’s worsening air pollution.
Kang Jae-hyun, 23, and his team from Yangcheon-gu in southwestern Seoul, came in first place in the following evaluation. His team Around Dawn chose to work on a small communal square inside a residential block. A brick sheet scattered with a few pieces of fitness equipment and a run-down seating deck, the square was exposed to the perpetual drone of planes flying in and out of nearby Gimpo Airport.
Where the seating deck used to be, Kang and his team built a wide pavilion with ample seating room and a roof. Tall swaying bundles of ornamental grass sheathed the pavilion in front where there were no trees, to provide cover.
“It was really gratifying to hear elderly women living near the site thank us for the new rest area,” he said. “We want this space to help residents feel like they’re cocooned inside a small forest.”
Residents who saw these projects reacted positively to the small but engaging changes to their neighborhood.
Park Hyun-ju, a resident of Seongdong-gu in eastern Seoul, said she was pleased with the new seating area created on a slope near her home by team Lucete. The team created a plant-covered pastel island with benches on an uphill section of the road. The project came in second place.
“It is unbelievable that they were able to build this in 72 hours,” Park said. “It’s good because I can now take a break on my way up and enjoy the view.”
Another runner-up was the team from Dobong-gu, northeastern Seoul. The team — made up of residents between the ages of 20 to 42 — redesigned a meeting plaza for hikers at the foot of Mount Dobong, expanding the bench seating area and connecting the square to the nearby stores with a new path topped with a triangular metal frame roof.
Yun Ho-joon, 38, a member of the team, said the Dobong project helped participants bond and talk about what the community needed.
“Most of the people in the team had never seen a design translate itself into an actual site,” he said. “We stayed up late at night sharing ideas on how to turn it into a rest space for residents.”
Recent photos and updates on the projects can be found on the “Take urban in 72 hours” Facebook page. The awards ceremony took place on Thursday.
“We applaud the efforts and passion the citizens showed, despite the summer heat, to breathe life into marginalized spaces,” said Choi Yoon-jong, head of the Green City Division at Seoul Metropolitan Government.