Han River Gondola Candidate Sites 'Ttukseom, Jamsil, Seoul Forest, Sangam'... Oh Se-hoon "Careful Review"

Gondola candidate sites that cross the Han River and connect major leisure and cultural hubs along the riverbank include Ttukseom, Jamsil, Seoul Forest, and Sangam. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon stated that the final site will be decided after thorough review.

An example of the Hangang Gondola connecting major leisure and cultural hubs along the Hangang River.
[Photo by Seoul City]

On the 13th (local time), Mayor Oh visited the ‘IFS Cloud Cable Car’ located on the Thames River in the UK and, while overlooking the riverside scenery of the Thames, revealed the gondola concept as part of the ‘Han River Renaissance 2.0’ project.

The core idea of the Han River gondola envisioned by Seoul City is to expand mobility in waterfront spaces and create a leisure and cultural attraction through a unique experience, similar to the London Thames Cable Car. The candidate areas currently under consideration?Ttukseom, Jamsil, Seoul Forest, and Sangam?are popular spaces for citizens but lack transportation accessibility and connectivity, making them regions that require supplementary new transportation modes like gondolas.

The city anticipates that the Han River gondola will not only serve as a transportation function connecting major hubs but also become a new tourist attraction offering a unique view of the Han River. Additionally, it expects to attract tourists who currently concentrate in urban areas such as Yeouido and Banpo Han River Parks, thereby enabling broader utilization of the Han River.

The city plans to receive private investment proposals for various candidate sites including Ttukseom, Jamsil, Seoul Forest, and Sangam, and will review technical feasibility, transportation and environmental impacts, and demand.

An example of the Hangang Gondola connecting major leisure and cultural hubs along the Hangang River.
[Photo by Seoul City]

Meanwhile, Mayor Oh visited King’s Cross Station and Coal Drops Yard, cited as successful examples of revitalizing old downtown station areas. The King’s Cross redevelopment plan is a large-scale project on a 270,000㎡ site that transformed a declining area due to reduced freight transport into a new mixed-use landmark with office, residential, commercial, and cultural facilities.

Mayor Oh also inspected London’s architectural design innovations. The ‘Leadenhall Building,’ opened in 2014 in the City of London’s center, was designed by Richard Rogers, who won the Pritzker Prize, the Nobel Prize of architecture. It is a representative building that achieved architectural innovation with its unique exterior, floor plan, and pilotis space.

Based on London’s examples of station area revitalization and public opening of private buildings, Seoul plans to increase creative and innovative public spaces throughout the city center. To this end, the city will support various policies such as deregulation and incentives during private development, organically connect fragmented urban spaces, and further strengthen publicness.