Graduation Year
Spring 2012
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Environmental Analysis
Reader 1
W. Bowman Cutter
Reader 2
Char Miller
Rights Information
© 2011 Erin Childs
Abstract
The tale of South Korea's Cheonggyecheon River is one to warm an urban environmentalist's heart. Cheonggyecheon runs through the center of Seoul, a bustling metropolis of ten million that has been the capital of Korea since the 14th century. The Japanese were the first to sacrice Cheonggyecheon on the altar of urbanization, turning the River into a sewage system during their 35 year occupation between 1910 and 1945. Already thusvdegraded, it was easy for later administrations to eventually completely cover the river with the Cheonggye Road and Cheonggye Elevated Highway between 1958 and 1976. Cheonggyecheon became an exemplar of the expendability of urban environments in the face of modernization and economic growth, particularly the need for transportation in a quickly developing city. In the early 1990s it was discovered that extensive repair would be necessary to maintain the Highway, and with heavy political leadership of Mayoral Candidate Myung-Bak Lee, now the president of South Korea, the decision was made to restore the river rather than repair the road (Park, 2006).
Recommended Citation
Childs, Erin, "Take Me to the River: Revitalizing LA's Lost Monument" (2012). Pomona Senior Theses. 56.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_theses/56
Comments
Senior thesis submitted in December 2011.