Soul City
On a sunny and bright afternoon in early autumn, the Seoullo 7017 ‘skygarden’ — Seoul’s answer to New York’s High Line — is thronged with weekend leisure seekers. A craft market has set up, selling honey from an urban apiary, homemade jams and patchwork potholders, while nearby a group of friends crown each other with flower garlands and cheese for the camera in a makeshift photo booth. Multigenerational families wend their way between the imposing concrete planters, grandmothers attempting to coddle squirming toddlers anxious to scamper wildly across the concrete walkway. In its final form, the project is a far cry from the original concept put forward by Dutch firm MVRDV — watered down by budget restrictions and the typical bureaucratic hurdles — yet its popularity persists, the crowds none the wiser.
The skygarden is just one showcase example among a number of initiatives that have been unveiled in
