THE REGENERATION OF PLACE - THE STIMULATION OF SPACE : THROUGH THE UNDERSTANDING OF LINEAR URBAN SPACE : THE RESTORATION OF CHEONGGYECHEON STREAM

Abstract

Forgotten spaces manifested organically by the population is a sociologist haven but an urban planner’s challenge. Urban planners today are tasked with the regeneration and revitalisation of the urban fabric. However, this aspect of urban planning has been a contentious issue and has to be procreated between urban planner, geographers, sociologist, historians, politician, across the social spectrum. Within a public space, different professionals have their own vested agenda, making conceptualising of space multi-dimensional.

Seoul is a city with a high-density urban structure. After achieving economic success, importance was placed on the quality of life. Faced with social-urban problems common to most of the East Asian capitals, Seoul attempted a concerted effort to achieve this quality through a series of social and political policies anchored to the urban restoration projects.

Sustainability of the society, ecologically and culturally, is beautifully crafted within the restoration of Cheonggyecheon. Using this restoration as a study model, the paper attempts to explore and define the different facets of the urban space – social, political, economic, historical. The sense of identity, quest for modernity and the aspirations of the people are examined through different mediums, to provide an all-rounded understanding of space. In pursuit of the status of a global city, Seoul uses the project as an advertising platform to the international community. The linearity of the space provides the project an opportunity to impact the urban fabric on a broader scale, percolating through the surroundings. Cheonggyecheon has, without doubt, been created as a model of how a public space is inserted into the city’s urban fabric.