Seoullo 7017Claimed by the owner

Seoullo 7017 is an elevated park in Seoul, built atop a decommissioned highway overpass that runs diagonally across Seoul Station. It stretches about 1 kilometre from Malli-dong to Hoehyeon Station near Namdaemun, 17 metres above street level, and is lined with roughly 24,000 plants. Visitors can walk the path for views over Seoul Station and access facilities such as an information center, a cafe, and exhibition spaces along the route.

From 1970 Overpass to 2017 Park

The overpass was dedicated in 1970, part of a wave of elevated highways Seoul built in the 1960s and 1970s to keep traffic moving through the capital after the Korean War. Over time it came to be seen as a blight on the landscape, and its deteriorating condition posed a safety risk. Rather than demolish it, the city, under mayor Park Won-soon, converted the structure into a pedestrian park at a cost of about US$52 million, as a companion project to the earlier Cheonggyecheon Stream restoration. The overpass closed to traffic in 2015, and the park opened in May 2017, designed by the Dutch firm MVRDV. Its name combines "70," for 1970, the year the overpass was built, with "17," referring to both its 2017 opening and the 17 pedestrian walkways that connect to it. The project faced early opposition over concerns about traffic congestion and objections from market owners in nearby Namdaemun.

Facilities and Nearby Sites

Along the path are an information center, rest areas, a magnolia exhibition hall, a cafe, an exhibition hall for Seoullo itself, a rose exhibition hall, and a garden classroom. The park is comparable in concept to New York's High Line. It sits close to other heritage sites in the area, including Culture Station Seoul 284, Namdaemun (Sungnyemun), and the Seoul City Wall (Hanyangdoseong), which can be visited together with a reserved Seoul walking tour guided by a licensed city tourism guide.