Though they were once thought to be efficient arteries for transportation, urban highways have fallen out of favor in the minds of urban planners, which left the Seoul highway that ran through a kilometer-long stretch of the city in a complex position. The highway, which was built in the 1970s, was no longer a viable conduit, so the city looked to Dutch design firm MVRDV for a solution.
Taking cues from the hugely popular High Line walkway in Manhattan, MVRDV transformed the Seoul highway into a pedestrian walkway called Seoullo 7017. It is replete with hundreds of planters that display a wide variety of foliage, giving the formerly barren concrete piece of urban engineering a new, green imagination. The plan also simultaneously removes cars (and their attendant carbon emissions) while adding plants (which consume carbon from the atmosphere.)
What Makes This Trend Stand Out
- Repurposed Highways
- Cities are finding innovative ways to turn once-thought efficient arteries for transportation into pedestrian walkways filled with plant life.
- Green Urban Design
- MVRDV's transformation of a Seoul highway into a pedestrian walkway filled with planters displays how cities are prioritizing sustainability in architecture.
- Remaking Urban Public Spaces
- The transformation of the Seoul highway into the Seoullo 7017 pedestrian walkway offers a blueprint for how city planners can rejuvenate their decaying public spaces.
Sectors Adopting This
- Architecture and Urban Planning
- Architects and urban planners have an opportunity to create sustainable green spaces by repurposing existing urban infrastructure.
- Sustainability and Environmentalism
- The remaking of urban public spaces with sustainable attainability, i.e., the creation of green infrastructure, is becoming an important element of the sustainability revolution.
- Transportation
- Repurposed highways project creates a new approach to pedestrian walkways, which sets up new business opportunities, like electric bike rentals or food carts offering sustainable food choices.
