Rijeka koju je Seul čuvao u tajnosti pola stoljeća

U srcu Seula nalazi se rijeka koja je pola stoljeća provela zakopana. Čeongječon je nekoć tekao otvoreno kroz središte grada, ali u godinama nakon rata postao je zagađen i okružen barakama, pa su ga vlasti prekrile asfaltom. Beton je zapečatio vodu, a do tisuću devetsto sedamdesetih iznad tog betona tutnjala je nadzemna autocesta. Rijeka je opstala samo kao glasina ispod prometa.

At the heart of Seoul lies a river that spent half a century entombed. The Cheonggyecheon once ran openly through the city's core, but in the years following the war it grew polluted and hemmed in by shanties, so the authorities paved over it. Concrete sealed the water away, and by the nineteen seventies an elevated highway thundered above that concrete. The river persisted only as a rumour beneath the traffic.

Zatim je, dvije tisuće treće godine, Seul pokušao nešto što se činilo gotovo izopačenim: počeo je rušiti autocestu kako bi ponovno iskopao rijeku. Inženjeri su razderali kolnik, obnovili gotovo šest kilometara potoka i uredili njegove obale šetnicama, kamenim stazama i mostovima. Skeptici su optuživali grad da žrtvuje korisnu infrastrukturu radi ukrasa. Projekt se svejedno nastavio, a potok je ponovno otkriven dvije tisuće pete godine.

Then, in two thousand and three, Seoul attempted something that looked almost perverse: it began dismantling the highway to dig the river back out. Engineers tore up the roadway, restored nearly six kilometres of the stream, and lined its banks with walkways, stepping stones and bridges. Sceptics accused the city of sacrificing useful infrastructure for decoration. The project proceeded regardless, and the stream was unveiled again in two thousand and five.

Čak ni optimisti nisu bili spremni na ono što je uslijedilo. Ribe, ptice i kukci vratili su se u vodu koja pedeset godina nije vidjela dnevno svjetlo. Ljetne temperature uz potok bile su za nekoliko stupnjeva niže nego na cestama koje se pružaju usporedno s njim, prirodni klimatizacijski uređaj provučen kroz najgušći dio grada. Danas milijuni ljudi svake godine šeću njegovim obalama, mnogi od njih premladi da bi shvatili kako je njihov omiljeni kutak Seula nekoć bio donja strana autoceste.

Even the optimists were unprepared for what followed. Fish, birds and insects returned to water that had not glimpsed daylight in fifty years. Summer temperatures along the stream registered several degrees cooler than on the roads running parallel to it, a natural air conditioner threaded through the densest part of the city. Millions now walk its banks each year, many of them too young to grasp that their favourite corner of Seoul was once the underside of a motorway.