Chongyechon was one of my favourite things about Seoul. I guess I have a type, I love the high line too. But following along it, drifting away and back, spotting fish, hopping across the stones etc was a joy for me. It's quite obviously artificial, but in a way that feels very like "but yeah, we are also animals and a part of nature", I really just was charmed. We were staying bear the source so it was an everyday thing for us.
posted by Iteki at 5:42 AM on June 19 [3 favorites]

If you have a highway scarring your city, look at Seoul for what to do, not Boston or Seattle.

Capping and covering works well, but what Seoul did was faster, cheaper, and the benefits much more pronounced.
posted by ocschwar at 6:33 AM on June 19 [4 favorites]

This is astounding. Seriously.

Here in Chicago, we took a disused old train track that was mostly elevated and turned it into a walkway/park with bike lanes. It's not nearly as cool as this though. I still think ours could have used more trees and windbreaks as there's a real lack of shade on hot days, and it just feels really exposed and windblown at other times. I don't use it much as it's not that convenient for me geographically, but it's a step in the right direction.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:44 AM on June 19 [2 favorites]

This hits hard living and working around Baltimore, where for years there's been an ongoing debate about I-83 being a giant elevated car sewer slicing much of the city in half. It's even covering up a river!
posted by Zargon X at 7:19 AM on June 19 [2 favorites]

I live in Toronto, where this will never, ever happen. When I visit other countries, people often have good things to say about my city, though I dislike it here. My biggest complaint is that the leadership, from top to bottom, are cowards. Nothing significant really gets done here. It's just stagnant. Every year traffic gets worse, temperatures rise, and it becomes less and less appealing.

When I see videos like this (including others by Not Just Bikes, which are made by a former Torontonian now living in... Amsterdam I believe.), my first thought is always, "How did the politicians get this done when the idiots in Toronto are tearing out bike lanes and constantly passing the buck?" I agree with SoberHighland. It is astounding. I really wish it wasn't. I wish it were the way forward.
posted by dobbs at 7:19 AM on June 19 [4 favorites]

what a gorgeous park! I wish more cities would implement such things, knowing that such positive outcomes and benefits are brought! I would walk there every chance I had, if I lived in a city with such features.
posted by supermedusa at 8:29 AM on June 19 [1 favorite]

I want to tie down every toronto city councillor, holding their eyes open with toothpicks if necessary, and make them watch this.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:50 AM on June 19 [1 favorite]

dobbs, I recently visited Toronto for the first time (from Vancouver). The city is so great and lively but it really is a shame how terrible the planning is. CityNerd (another planning Youtuber) said something like, “I’ve never seen so much biking in a place that was obviously hostile to it.” and that really rang true, Torontonians were biking everywhere despite the awful traffic! Such a wasted opportunity.

Vancouver’s city council isn’t much better these days, so solidarity from out here. I look at this video of Cheonggyecheon Stream and want to scream with envy.
posted by thebots at 9:28 AM on June 19

Torontonians were biking everywhere despite the awful traffic!

Oh, it's not just awful traffic. It's constant construction and laws that prioritize cars — hell, our former mayor called cyclists "mosquitoes" and said if we get killed by a car it's our own fault.
posted by dobbs at 12:35 PM on June 19

Yes, sorry, I meant infrastructure more than traffic. Our current mayor and his lackeys are similar - spending money actively removing bike lanes that exist and erasing them from revitalization project planning. Incredibly infuriating.
posted by thebots at 12:58 PM on June 19

Wikipedia only mentions that the City of Seoul did this, no mention of other levels of government. If they have the power to do this without interference then that is probably another reason we won't see something like this in North America. Too much interference from the Province/State that will cater to suburban/exurban/rural voters over urban ones over here.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:29 PM on June 19

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