SEOUL, KOREA - The Seoul metropolitan city government will create a total of 3.77-square-kilometer urban forests at the cost of 1 trillion won by the end of 2017. This is part of the current city mayor Park Won-soon's election pledge that he would plant 10 million trees within the city.

 

A high-ranking city government official said, "We will form 1,000 forests and garden-like parks in places where citizens can access easily." Urban forests are defined as green spaces within the city except those in mountains, riversides, and cemeteries. As of the end of August this year, Seoul's urban forest area is 45.3 square kilometers, or 4.0 square meters per resident. This is less than a half of what the World Health Organization recommended for the world's cities at 9.0 square meters.

 

Until the mid-2000s, the city government focused on building large-scale parks such as those in Yoido, Sangam World Cup Stadium, and Ttuseom. As the city ran out of spaces for large parks with massive budget to build them, it shifted its policy focus toward creating many small-scale green spaces in residential areas.