They un-paved paradise

In the previous few decades, this area near City Hall had become a slum, a shantytown built under an expressway. But to begin a massive urban renewal project, the expressway was knocked down and a dessicated stream made into the Cheonggye canal. Although the beautification plan is not without its critics (maddening traffic, the loss of "the real Seoul"), Seoulites flock here by the hundreds of thousands to loll and gag.