ChonGae Canal Point Source Park

Seoul, South Korea

Project Facts

  • Completed in 2005, the ChonGae Canal Restoration Project is part of a $384 million campaign to daylight and restore seven miles of Seoul’s historic waterways.
  • According to the Seoul Development Institute, the restoration project has added between $2.9 billion and $20 billion to the local economy and created 300,000 new jobs in the construction, machinery, real estate, and retail industries
  • Each day, new public parks along this stream corridor attract some 90,000 visitors.
  • Air pollution along the stream has dropped 36 percent. Also, summer temperatures along the canal are now 5 degrees lower than surrounding areas.
  • Just four years after the stream was uncovered, the number of fish species has increased from 4 to 25, bird species from 6 to 36, insect species from 15 to 192, and plant species from 62 to 308.