prolog

1.
People who create urban parks
What is 'Green Paper'?
Park Guide System to Protect Forests and Parks
Let's name the park properly
The neighborhood garbage dump has been converted into a park.
The color that protects mountains and parks is not green.
Why are you trying to sell the city land?
Park acquisition work decided through business consultation
The Rebirth of a Neighborhood Park
If you don't have land, plant a green roof.
Let's remove curbs from park trails.
The dark history of golf practice ranges in parks
The brutality of golf practice range officials
See a new world in Washington

2.
A jewel must be well-polished.
Namsan's octagonal wooden fence, born on the way to work
Namsan Jeobojeong Project
Namsan's time of generational change
No cars allowed on Namsan Park Road!
The rebirth of N Seoul Tower, which began with "Let's leave it alone!"
Betrayal of Sejongno Park
Transforming the Citizens' Forest into the Forest of the Future through Regeneration
Where is Jangchung Tennis Court headed?
Transformation of the Children's Grand Park Management Office
Seoul's green spaces and landscapes could change.
We also have American-style auto camping sites in our country.
What are the requirements for a downtown campsite?

3.
Seoul is in the golden age of parks.
Yeouido Park: The Era of Elected Citizens Creates Parks
The fountain pen factory is in Cheonho Park
Nanjido Landfill to be turned into World Cup Park
Sky Park, the sky, sunset Park
World-renowned design masters met at Seonyudo Island
Seo-Seoul Lake Park, designed with the expectation of suffering
Ttukseom Racecourse to Seoul Forest
Dream Land in North Seoul becomes Dream Forest
Bukhansan Dream Forest, completed after countless hardships
Jungnang Camping Forest, Seoul's first auto camping site
The Gyeongchun Line is reborn as an urban forest road.
Gyeongui Line Forest Trail Leads to Great Change in Yongsan and Mapo

4.
A city where people are treated with respect
Modernization of children's parks
Let's give children's parks back to children.
Reclaiming Mugunghwa Children's Park
Why did the school recording start?
Nohae Sports Park, where young people can run around to their heart's content
The 2002 World Cup Changed Korea's Flower-Planting Culture
Let's create a neighborhood pedestrian paradise.
Dad, Deoksugung-gil has become this long!
A green space connecting two parks on Dongil-ro
Dang Hyeon-cheon, enjoying explosive popularity
Experiencing the Han River flood firsthand
A barrier-free forest path born of humanism

5.
The mountain is the hospital of the common people
What are the problems with urban mountains?
The nightmare of the Umyeon Mountain landslide
Seoul's new mountain trail, the Seoul Dulle-gil
Gwanaksan Mountain comes back to life
My beloved Suraksan barrier-free forest trail
The birth of Bul-am Mountain Healing Town
Surakhu, Seoul's first natural recreation forest
A forest healing center established on Bul-am Mountain
Bul-am Mountain's leaky ecological dam
Choansan Hydrangea Garden, which connects the azaleas of Bul-am Mountain
Susong-dong Valley and Cheongun Park

Epilogue

A green breeze blows through Seoul
A park that has entered the lives of citizens

In June 1996, the 'Five-Year Plan for Park and Green Space Expansion' was announced to improve the quality of life of Seoul citizens.
During the time of Cho Soon, the first elected mayor of Seoul, the author was a field manager who ran around to implement the plan.
He diligently documents the complex process of creating a park, including overcoming interdepartmental barriers, consultations with the central government, budget and public complaints, and on-site coordination between design and construction teams.
The author's meticulous consideration of the city's character and the public's perspective, from the material and color of the fence to even the design of a single sign, goes beyond the image of a conscientious civil servant to demonstrate the administrative ethics and public design philosophy that public officials should possess.
The fact that Seoul can be called a "park city" today is due to the hidden efforts of specialized public officials who put citizens first.


Administrative strategy shines
Sky Park and Sunset Park

The area around World Cup Park was home to a huge landfill until the early 2000s.
The author is pursuing a long-term project to transform this space into a futuristic urban forest.
This project, which began in 1997, is one of Seoul's large-scale environmental restoration projects and has created a super-large park totaling 2 million square meters.
Sunset Park and Sky Park were representative results.
This case, which covered a former landfill with soil, controlled gas emissions, and restored vegetation, has become an example of the combination of urban regeneration and environmental administration.
Sky Park, where many citizens come to enjoy the silver grass festival every year, has become a representative tourist attraction in Seoul, and Noeul Park, which was originally planned as a golf course but was reborn as a citizen's park, is currently fulfilling its role as a sunset spot as its name suggests.
The policy decision to build a large park on the landfill site also played a role in the success of the project, with the intention of hosting international competitions by building the Seoul World Cup Stadium nearby.

A small but important park
Take a breather in the dense city

A park is not something that can be created simply by securing land.
The author, in opposition to the then-current practice of easily selling off city land to raise business funds, worked hard to secure space that could be used as actual parks instead of formal green spaces from the beginning of the urban planning process.
The unused park land was used to create a park on the hill behind the neighborhood and a rest area for residents was created by compensating for the land price.
In the process, he consulted with relevant ministries, district offices, design and construction companies, and civic groups, and sometimes even showed a bold side by insisting on "investing from the funds I have earned" to high-ranking officials in order to secure the budget directly.
He also proposed 'small but essential parks' such as Ssamji Madang, Sogongwon, and Maeul Madang to convert land that was about to be sold as Chebiji into parks.
The author considered the park as a fundamental element of the city and a breathing space, “a space where one can collect one’s thoughts on the way to work and chat with colleagues during lunch.”

What color protects the forest?
The color of rain-soaked tree bark!

For over 20 years, the author has also worked to improve the park information system in Seoul and the format and color of the fences.
We personally visited the site and came up with improvement suggestions for the font, layout, color, and even materials of the signboards, and at the center of these was always the 'gray tile color'.
This color, which resembles the bark of a tree that has absorbed moisture after a rain, is a matte tile color that does not clash with nature and permeates the space, making the forest stand out even more.
It is a color of consideration that reveals nature while hiding its own existence while enveloping the forest.
The author meticulously coordinated the park so that fences did not stand out, signage did not obstruct the view, and the forest was visible before any artificial objects.
No wonder he earned the nickname "Giwa Jin-gray" from his colleagues! Thanks to these subtle details, Seoul has evolved into a "city where people are treated with respect."

With conviction and passion
Writing by a Humanist Civil Servant

This book, which contains the struggles, trials, and errors of public officials in charge of green space management, and the reflections gleaned from the field, shows how the parks that citizens now enjoy for granted were created through a fiercely contested process.
The author usually carries a notebook filled with detailed notes on experts in his field, and receives advice and solutions on the spot when facing problems in the field.
Behind the author's brilliant achievements were all kinds of trials and tribulations, including lawsuits with landowners, the Han River flood, the Umyeon Mountain landslide, the manhole cover incident, various civil complaints, lobbying, and threats.
This book is a chronicle of the urban forest, showing how the metropolis of Seoul has evolved into a green city despite the logic of relentless development.
The life trajectory and honest writing of author Choi Gwang-bin, who endured the arduous times to become known as a legend in Seoul's green space administration, will resonate deeply with not only those working in the public sector but also general readers.


prolog

When I was a child on an island called Baengnyeongdo, I was immersed in the fantasy that the mainland was a splendid and wonderful place like a palace in a fairy tale.
But when I grew up and lived there, I realized that the land was not like that.
Rather, I often felt nostalgic for my childhood when I lived on the island.
City life was a constant cycle of competition and mountains of work.
When times were tough and I wanted to give up, memories of my childhood in the countryside of Baekryeong Island gave me a lot of strength.
The 38 years and 11 months I spent in charge of parks, green spaces, and landscaping in the metropolis of Seoul passed by in an instant.

I think it was a great blessing that someone from the countryside, with no connections or school ties, was able to devote his youth to the parks, green spaces, and landscaping projects of Seoul City.
The many parks in Seoul that were created in this way will remind me of my youth until they have fulfilled their purpose and disappeared.

Seoul's parks and landscaping projects are divided into pre-1996 and post-1996 periods.
This is in line with the division of the Seoul mayor into government-appointed and civilian-appointed.
During the official era, Seoul mayors focused on developing Seoul according to the needs of the times.
Since it was a position appointed by the President, he could not ignore the Blue House's opinion.

The era of popular elections began with Mayor Jo Soon.
He was the first mayor directly elected by the citizens.
It was only during the era of local government that concerns about the quality of life for citizens began to arise.
During his four-year term, Mayor Cho Soon put a lot of thought into improving the quality of life for Seoul citizens and found ways to do so.

First of all, we took note of the fact that transportation is a pain and worked hard to come up with improvement measures.
However, I was disappointed and frustrated as I felt the limitations of the state authority to even draw a new crosswalk.
Instead of focusing on traffic problems, he turned his attention to the park.
When the policy to drastically expand park green space was announced, most media outlets cheered it, calling it a long-awaited measure.

This was the 'Five-Year Plan for Park and Green Space Expansion' announced in June 1996.
I am honored to be the executor of this plan.
It was a valuable opportunity not given to just anyone.
Seoul's park and landscaping projects have become important policies for its citizens, and large parks have been built one after another, as if they were the trademark of the Seoul mayor.

I was in the middle of that flow, going through the positions of section chief, manager, and director.
After reaching retirement age as a civil servant in 2017, I worked at Nowon-gu Office for an additional five years.
He also earned the title of Seoul City's longest-serving director in one field.

Since the announcement of the 5-year plan to expand parks and green spaces, successive mayors have paid great attention to expanding and maintaining parks and green spaces.
Creating parks was a popular project that received a 'thumbs up' response from citizens.

During the second term of Mayor Goh Kun from 1999 to 2002, World Cup Park, Seonyudo Park, and Naksan Park were built under the slogan of ‘Planting 10 Million Trees of Life.’
During the third term of Mayor Lee Myung-bak from 2003 to 2006, the policy of 'increasing green space in residential areas by 3.3 million square meters' was implemented, including the restoration of Cheonggyecheon and the creation of Seoul Forest.
During the 4th and 5th popularly elected terms (2007-2011) of Mayor Oh Se-hoon, the goal was to 'increase the green space in living areas by 3.3 million square meters', and the Bukhansan Dream Forest, Seohan Lake Park, and Jungnang Camping Forest were created.
During the 6th and 7th popularly elected terms of Mayor Park Won-soon (2012-2022), new facilities such as the Gyeongui Line Forest Road, Gyeongchun Line Forest Road, Seoullo 7017, and the Cultural Reserve Base were created under the name of “Seoul, the City of Forests and Gardens.”

The city of Seoul has been steadily promoting park and green space policies to improve the quality of life of its citizens.
As a public official, I have also been identifying and improving my shortcomings and bravely taking on new challenges.
There has always been humanism at its foundation.

Parks and green spaces have a significant impact on the lives of citizens.
Now that we've passed the difficult times of making a living and the national income has surpassed $30,000, people are looking at the quality of life, including happiness, health, and leisure, as if they were looking at the horizon or sea level from a mountain ridge.
It opens your eyes to the problem of living like a human being.

After passing the 16th technical examination in 1980, I began my public service in Seoul and have been working in the fields of parks, green spaces, and landscaping.
I decided to write this article at the urging of people around me who said it would be a shame to bury the things I had personally experienced.
I would like to thank Lee Min, the CEO of Lee Yu-publishing, for his encouragement in turning this into a book.

I am also grateful to the Seoul Metropolitan Government for giving us the opportunity to create large parks in Seoul during this time of change.
Additionally, I would like to express my gratitude to Oh Seung-rok, the Mayor of Nowon-gu, who has been in charge of park and green space planning for the Seoul Metropolitan Government for over 30 years and has provided me with various opportunities to put this into practice.
We would also like to express our gratitude to the many designers who participated in the design competition, as well as the many construction companies and workers who were in charge of the construction.
There were times when the process of pushing forward the project was difficult and there were many times when I wanted to give up, but it was a great joy and reward to see the park being built step by step through the difficult process.

I also express my love and gratitude to my wife Hye-young, who endured much throughout my public service and supported me silently, and to my two sons, Ki-ho and Ki-cheol, who have grown up well and passed away.
I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to the staff who gave me the courage to walk the 'road not traveled by others' with me, and to the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Team Leader Sim Hyeon-bo, Director Park Cheol-su, and Supervisor Kim Bong-seon who actively sought out and sent materials and provided great assistance, as well as Nowon-gu District Office's Section Chief Kwon Dong-hyeon and Supervisor Go Eun-jin.

I would like to express my gratitude to CEO Yoo Jeong-mi and the editorial team at Iyu Publishing, who carefully polished my rough writing, provided generous advice, and helped me compile it into a book.

I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to seniors Jo Yong-yeon and On Su-jin, who took the time to proofread the book during its final stages.