It’s a concrete jungle out there: Seoul palette to get more green

Cast your eyes about and it is apparent Seoul suffers from a dearth of park space.
Need facts? The city has 4.53 square meters (49 square feet) of park land per capita, far below the advised 9 square meters set by the United Nations.
Hoping to boost the number of green hectares (acres) in this concrete jungle, city officials have teamed up with the civic group called “Forest of Life” to establish the Seoul Green Trust. The trust’s aim is to raise both the quality and the quantity of parks and green space in Seoul.
A tree-planting ceremony in eastern Seoul this May will serve as the new entity’s kickoff event. Other initiatives in the works are: planting grass fields at schools, forging mini-parks out of skyscraper rooftops and converting rundown factory sites into attractive greenswards.
Funding for these projects will come largely from individual and corporate contributions. Officials stressed the critical need for private donations, since large-scale urban beautification requires far more funding than can be allotted by the government.
With the goal of raising more than 10 billion won ($8 million) a year, the group will organize a variety of events year-round such as phone-a-thons and concerts.

by Choi Jie-ho