“Asian Review 041” ― Seoul part2
Seoul Plaza and FIFA World Cup 2002
On the night of April 27, we took off from Haneda and when we arrived at Gimpo Airport, it was already 10 o’clock. It was about time when the UBER dispatch service ended, many people came in who seem to be barkers for the white number cabs, but we chose UBER and arrived at the hotel safely.
This time we stayed at the Plaza Seoul Autograph Collection, which is near Myeong Dong. The hotel is affiliated with Hanwha Hotel & Resort in Korea, but in 2015, it joined the Marriott International’s “Autograph Collection” brand of independent hotels. It is in a convenient location just above the subway City Hall Station, and when we looked at the city from the room the next morning, we could see the Seoul Plaza and the City Hall before our eyes.
Seoul Plaza used to be a roundabout that connected six roads: Sogongmun Road, Namdaemun Road, Taepeyong Road, Eulji Road, Sejong-Dae Road, and Mugyo-Dong Road, they reduced the roadway part significantly and restored it to the open space for citizens. There had been almost no plazas in Seoul before, but at the time of the FIFA World Cup co-sponsored by Japan and Korea in 2002, the Seoul Metropolitan Government had opened the space in front of the Seoul City Hall for outdoor support by traffic restrictions, and since then the voices of citizens wanting to build a plaza have increased.
The improvement of complicated traffic processing around this plaza had been also an issue for a long time, the project for the plaza had been implemented and completed in 2004 accompanied with a drastic remodeling of the traffic system on the surrounding roads. The total area of the plaza is 13,207 square meters, including 6,283 square meters of lawn with a stage and a fountain, where you can a have picnic. There are live performances and other events, performances, and a skating rink is set up during the winter time. The simple design of this plaza is aimed to create a space that takes advantage of the beauty of the margin, with the image of “Madang” (=garden: a place to feel the power from the sky) which is unique to Korea.
In Tokyo, we find much difficulty in reducing the driveways of roads and making it an open space for pedestrians, but in Seoul it was realized at once under the initiative of the Mayor of that time, Lee Myung-bak. This fact may also show an aspect of Korea.
