Turning trash into treasure (5/31/19)

School kids enjoying a break by the Cheonggyecheon River way

What an honor we received today. We were able to meet two of the designers for the Cheonggyecheon River Restoration Project. One even gave us a guided to tour from the beginning of the river’s public space to the end, showing us hidden details all along the way. Walking through this river walk-way makes you feel like you’ve left the mega-city and are simply enjoying the banks of a river. What once was a 200-year-old toilet (they used the river for a sewer) is now an area where families gather, workers enjoy lunch together, older people meeting friends, and wild life on the shores and in the water. Great care was put into the design with several ways to provide flood control, elements to have a healthy ecological system, and areas that allow the urban dweller a chance to enjoy an intimate time in nature without ever leaving the city.

One big take away I learned was that covering an eyesore does not make the problem solved. It just leaves it covered and all it's problems are still seeping through the facade. A better approach is to find a way to correct the problem and fail forward. This project had some failures but they addressed them and looked for other solutions while getting the benefit of having great success with the parts of the rehabilitation that did work.

Older man relaxing along the Cheonggyecheon River banks