Review of the excursion to Seoul

From 1 to 10 November 2024, the ‘Greenways Explorations’ excursion to Seoul, South Korea, took place at the Landscape research department. Thematically, the excursion was linked to the design studio ‘Making Greenways - A typological transposition between Vienna and Seoul to Seoul’, which was conceived by visiting professor Philipp RW Urech and professor Susann Ahn. Inspired by Seoul, this design studio attempts to critically reflect on linear greenway typologies between Vienna and Seoul and transfer similarities, resulting in a ‘typological transposition’. The visions are intended to contribute to enhancing urban landscapes by creating community-based, climatically and aesthetically pleasing river spaces that are able to position blue-green infrastructures as central building blocks in the city.

The excursion centred on the photogrammetry survey of the Cheonggyecheon River. The river in the heart of Seoul looks back on a long history and has undergone a profound transformation over the last 20 years, which has improved accessibility for residents and enabled its renaturalisation through SeoAhn Total Landscape Design.

An intensive workshop with Professor Yumi Lee, 16 students from Seoul National University (SNU) and 17 students from TU Wien took place as an intensive prelude to the excursion. The aim was to share knowledge about photogrammetry and its practical application with the SNU students and to record individual river segments photogrammetrically, acoustically and on film. The collaboration was intensified during a joint dinner with Korean fried chicken.

On the second day, the group travelled to the Gwanak Campus of Seoul National University in the south of the megacity. Keynote speeches by Susann Ahn, Philip Urech and Boris Salak kicked off the second day of the workshop. The teams of SNU and TU students then developed co-creative design proposals and photogrammetric collages for individual sections of the Cheonggyecheon and presented these in a joint closing event.

In order to reflect and deepen different cultural patterns of meaning and design approaches, landscape architecture, urban planning and architectural projects were visited over the course of the week. In addition to the Cheonggyecheon Museum, the programme included Seoullo 7017 by MVRDV, Namsan Park and N Seoul Tower, Dongdaemun Design Plaza by Zaha Hadid Architects. One highlight was a bicycle trip from Seoul Forest Park by Dongsimwon Landscape Architects along the Han River to Yeouido Hangang Park. In perfect weather, Seoul showed itself from its most beautiful side: the riverbanks with their local recreation areas and outdoor gyms are connected by a very good cycling infrastructure. Each project visit was accompanied by short presentations by the students.

In addition to the varied sightseeing programme, the students helped to carry out a quantitative survey on ‘Urban River Parks’, which was prepared by Boris Salak, Susann Ahn, Dominik Schmidt, Yun-kyong Hoh, Ahn Doyoung and Seonju Kim as the basis for a preference study and will serve as the basis for further international research activities.

On the last day, the Seonyudo Park by SeoAhn Total Landscape Design and the Gyeongui Line Forest Park by Dongsimwon Landscape Architects were visited - two impressive examples of how former infrastructure sites can be transformed into green-blue infrastructure projects. The excursion concluded with an input from Studio Dohgam Architects at Seoul City University and a dinner together.

In addition to cultural and culinary impressions, it was exciting to experience public transport in a metropolis with 10 million inhabitants and to see how green urban spaces, such as the parks visited, offer a retreat from the hectic everyday life of the urban jungle.