Page 68 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 2

Water Sensitivity In The Context Of
Climate-Friendly Urbanism

to implement projects which approach stream corridors with nature based
solutions will make it possible to revive urban streams as socio-ecological
systems with advanced technology and sensitive engineering techniques.
A case in point about approaching stream corridors with nature-based
techniques to create water-sensitive cities is the Chengyecheon stream
rehabilitation project in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Cheongyechon
stream, which flowed from east to west direction into the Han river during the
Chosun dynasty dating back to 620 years ago started to suffer from sewage
issues as of the 1700s, overflowing constantly. This turned it into a corridor
that threatens public health and lacks habitat value. Cheongyecheon, which
had a very low environmental quality after the Korean war in the early 1950s,
was covered in the 1960s, replaced by a street, which turned into a 6-lane road
with a series of urbanization and transportation movements for the sake of the
economic development of the country. In 1971, it was linked to an elevated
6-lane highway, which turned it into a transportation artery passing through
the city center with a considerably high capacity. This was presented as an
indication of the industrialization and economic growth of Korea. However, it
also led to the transformation of foot bridges, bridges and elevated highways
into crime scenes, and to the rise of illegal activities. In addition, the city had
to deal with air, noise, and visual pollution.
This transportation artery which went through the center of Seoul, which
constantly kept developing and getting populated until the 2000s was finally
removed through reasonable and visionary policies at the time. Then, a project
was started to revive Cheongyecheon as a stream corridor that can offer the
ecosystem services that the city needed. The design process of the project
was completed between 2001 and 2003. Immediately after the demolition
process that started in 2003, the construction process was completed in one
year and nine months. The Cheonggyecheon project provided an opportunity
to move the focus of the vehicle-oriented urban design back to humans. The
evolution of the gray, anonymous city approach to a green and iconic city
approach enabled South Korea to be visible in terms of green infrastructure
and Seoul to join the modern and sustainable cities of the 21st century. When
evaluated in terms of urban design, Cheongyecheon is considered as a long-
term ecological investment. The project considerably increased biodiversity
and led to an improvement in the urban heat island effect. This resulted in the
creations of a habitat for the fish, birds, insects and other living things. In terms
of ecological comfort, the area has a really different climate compared to the
rest of the city. The adopted ecological approach made a lot of differences
in terms of microclimate. The canal functions as a cooler and decreases the
apparent temperature around it (Figure 6). With its permeable structure, it
provides a warmer urban environment.

Year 1 / Issue 2 / July 2022 54