Despite being a famously duty free port, Hong Kong imposes high taxes on automobile ownership, which of course makes sense because Hong Kong actually understands that it is a densely populated Asian country (or special administrative region). Hong Kong also has lots of parks, trees, trash cans on the street, and real architecture by big names like I.M. Pei.

In contrast, Korea seems unaware that any alternatives to the US car-centered infrastructure even exist, despite being a densely populated Asian country like Hong Kong and not a low density country like America. I can’t imagine, for example, any other similarly densely populated country stupid enough to mandate free parking for every apartment by law just to subsidize the domestic auto industry.

As Michael noted, the diesel buses throw this assertion off a little. What is this article anyways, a press release from the mayor’s office?

The concrete stream downtown and the lack of concern regarding the hanok do not reflect well upon this current mayor presidential candidate.

I think the whole ‘presidential candidate’ angle is what this is really all about. When you think about what most presidents have been able to accomplish in their 5 year terms and compare it to Park Chung-hee’s legacy (the more pleasant side of it, I mean), they end up looking like they’ve done very little. The race to finish Cheonggyecheon (”Ancient ruins? Just bulldoze them!”) was part of a desire to look as if something has been accomplished in Lee Myung-baks short term as mayor. No one’s going to complain too much about many of the things he’s done - A ’stream’ is better than a freeway, a grass patch is better than a traffic rotary, and crosswalks are better than underpasses. But I do wonder about the location of one of those grass patches - in front of city hall - as it makes it so much easier, when all these festivals, and the ice rink, and the fountains are there, to remember who made it all possible.

Not for nothing was I unable to pass directly in front of city hall the night after the stream opened - everyone was stopping to greet the mayor, who was impossible to miss with that huge smile plastered on his face…

The concrete stream downtown and the lack of concern regarding the hanok do not reflect well upon this current mayor presidential candidate.

The Koreans are amateurs when it comes to throwing trash onto the street. I actually wish the streetsweepers here were not so good at their jobs, so that the Chinese could see just how much crap they trhrow on the streets and in the parks over a course of a few days.

I definitely agree about the hanok… very exotic to my eyes. I’d like to see them, or that style, stay for a long time.

Space (Korean architecture magazine) has editorialized about this many times, and architects here are aware of the issue, but the chaebol don’t care about making interesting, sustainable housing, they only want the cheapest construction possible for the most profit.

Heh. That’s so true. Cheonggyecheon, the concrete stream.

And why does the mayor get credit for returning the stream to its historical glory (that never was) when a couple hundred hanok, right beside the Blue House, have been razed since he came to power (if anything, at an increased rate)?

(OK, that’s not exactly green, but I think it is in the same neighborhood).

I’ve read it costs $2 million a year to pump water down Cheonggyecheon, which is a glorified drainage ditch that doesn’t remotely look like a real stream. Imagine if that money was spent on educating people and putting some trash cans on the streets.