Pohang City, Creating a Waterfront City Coexisting with People and Nature and Shifting the Paradigm of Urban Streams

An Urban Stream Covered for Over 20 Years Returns to Citizens as a 'Natural Ecological Stream'!

Urban streams restored as natural ecological streams, returning to the citizens.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Pohang City announced that it plans to return a special waterfront space where nature and people coexist to its citizens through the full-scale ecological stream restoration of urban streams that were covered with concrete in the 1990s to prevent pollution such as odors and garbage.

The city started with the restoration of Haksancheon and is sequentially restoring three covered streams: Yanghakcheon, Chilseongcheon, and Duhocheon. It is also working on creating a waterfront cultural city by connecting these streams with urban forests, including the Cheolgilsup (Railroad Forest).

In particular, once the ecological restoration of Haksancheon is completed and the urban waterway is revived, the green axis of Cheolgilsup and the waterfront axis of Dongbin Inner Port will be connected, transforming Pohang's urban space into a more pleasant and vibrant area, providing citizens with a new healing space.

This is not merely a flood control project but actively follows the trend of comprehensively maintaining streams by restoring them as natural ecological streams and utilizing them as water-friendly cultural spaces. The plan is to provide citizens with an eco-friendly resting space where the health of the aquatic ecosystem has been restored, thereby achieving positive effects such as improving quality of life.

To this end, the pilot project for the ecological restoration of Haksancheon began early last year and is currently underway with a goal of completion by the end of 2023 after a two-year journey. The restoration project is in full swing to return the 900-meter covered section of Haksancheon, which originates from Achigol, passes through the Uhyun-dong urban forest and Pohang Middle School, and flows into Dongbin Inner Port, to citizens as a pleasant natural environment.

Upon completion, the existing concrete-covered general road will be transformed into themed water-friendly spaces for citizens, such as Haksan Naru End Yard, Wave Greeting Yard, and Ecological Water Path Yard, section by section. Additionally, symbolic elements such as Haksan, Hakdogun, and Naru End will be inscribed in each section, expected to create a synergy effect as a healing space for citizens.

The ecological stream restoration project is one of Mayor Kangdeok Lee's campaign pledges to improve citizens' quality of life by restoring the health of aquatic ecosystems and creating nature-friendly urban spaces, as well as revitalizing urban regeneration in the declining old downtown. Through the restoration and monitoring of Haksancheon, restoration projects for the remaining streams?Yanghakcheon, Chilseongcheon, and Duhocheon?will be sequentially promoted.

The city plans to restore the four streams systematically and thematically to ensure that nature breathes, providing a pleasant environment and resting spaces, while simultaneously improving water quality and ecological restoration.

Mayor Lee Gang-deok, who has emphasized a paradigm shift in rivers as "rivers always together in daily life."

Pohang City has set five specific and long-term actionable 'Five Major Maintenance Goals' for the ecological stream restoration project and plans to accelerate project implementation based on citizens' consensus. To this end, the goals include ▲restoring streams with hydrological stability ▲restoring streams with clean and abundant water flow ▲restoring streams rich in biodiversity with various living organisms ▲restoring streams that promote communication, harmony, and family memories among citizens ▲restoring streams that can be seen, felt, and experienced, and the city is speeding up project implementation to achieve these goals.

Mayor Kangdeok Lee, who has emphasized the paradigm shift of streams from 'streams that were targets of past development' to 'streams always present in daily life,' stated, “Urban streams are the face of the city and precious resources. We will focus on creating water-friendly cultural spaces through stream restoration and transforming the city into a nature-centered ecological environment city to elevate citizens' lives to the next level. Furthermore, we will carefully manage this project to serve as an opportunity to revitalize the declining old downtown.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.