Pedestrian rights

Morning rush-hour traffic around Seoul City Hall has been more hectic than usual of late; one main street in the area has been closed and large-scale construction started at the plaza in front of the hall on Monday.

Come May 1, when the work is finished, the area will have been turned into a beautiful park. The ambitious project by the local government is part of its campaign to make the city more pedestrian-friendly. At present, Seoul is notorious for being hostile to pedestrians. Pavements are narrow and when people want to cross the street, they are forced underground through long and zig-zagging underpasses. Foreigners often get lost.

On the other hand, Seoul is very vehicle-friendly. Cars often speed through the city at more than 60km/h on the wide, straight roads and numerous overpasses. All this is a legacy of South Korea's old military rulers who did not care much about ordinary people using public transport or walking. The old regimes built wide, fast roads with few obstacles for the rich and powerful who always ride in cars.

Seoul Mayor Lee Myong-bak is determined to change all that. As the old authoritarianism is replaced by a maturing democracy, Mr Lee believes that pedestrians in Seoul need to take back their streets, and that citizens are entitled to more green areas.

Last July, Mr Lee launched a huge project to tear down several kilometres of overpasses that go through downtown areas. His plan is to uncover the Chonggyechon stream that runs underneath the roads. When the project is completed next year, he hopes that fish and birds will return to the stream, giving more breathing space to smog-choked citizens. His aim is to make Seoul more natural; less artificial.

Previous governments, preoccupied with fast development, failed to pay much attention to preserving the environment and nature. And so Seoul became an ugly city with many grey cement structures and few green areas.

Another aspect of previous Seoul city planning was its military style. Architectural diversity was frowned on and buildings were mostly square, all lined up as if preparing for a military march. Uniformity was the key. And bigger was most definitely better.