"Boris demolishes his urban expressways as city planners opt for greener schemes" (may have got that wrong)

Click on Hammerson's new Brent Cross 'Living Bridge'
(may have got that wrong)

"Given the small drop in Seoul's population since the turn of the century – falling just below 10 million – the authorities are advocating policies to improve the environment, in the hope of enhancing the city's image abroad and attracting more tourists.

About 15 expressways have been demolished since 2002. The city council plans to remove one near the main railway station and another at Seodaemun, also in the city centre. The mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon, wants to develop cycle lanes and supports the return of trams, discarded by 'Bulldozer Kim' as being too slow."

Paul Lecroart, senior urban planner at the Urban Planning and Development Agency for the Paris region, talks to Laetitia Van Eeckhout:

"In the 1970 and 1980s American cities were the first to start turning expressways into boulevards. Why?"

"US cities built networks of urban expressways very early on, damaging neighbourhoods in the process. These infrastructures are now obsolete or ill-suited to the development needs of contemporary metropolitan areas.

Transforming expressways is often part of an urban regeneration project. But what is to be done with them? Should we extend their working life, bury them and use the space, or turn them into boulevards? In general, planners have adopted the third option, as in Portland, San Francisco and New York."