Seoul to create five green areas in city center

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon [Photo by Yonhap]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will ease regulations to allow developers engage actively in creating green areas in the city.

The city government announced Sunday in its “Strategy for Recreating Urban Green Space” that it plans to reduce the land-to-building ratio to under 50 percent and create over 30 percent of greenery and open public spaces in the lower floors for large-scale private development projects. It unveiled a blueprint to create a green space of 63,395 square meters in downtown Seoul, five times the size of Seoul Plaza.

Ten areas, including one subject to the urban planning facility project in Dadong Park and nine proposed by residents, are being considered for the city’s recreation of green and ecological space.

The plan includes creating a green space with a size of Seoul Plaza, which is 13,205 square meters, in the Seosomun area in central Seoul. A forest path will be constructed without boundaries between private and public areas.

The road width will be reduced to make it pedestrian-friendly and Namsan Pine Forest will be expanded.

“Creating park greenery in the city center creates a terrain where rainwater flows into,” said Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. “It is expected to help control floods with more rainwater flowing underground.”