A promotional poster for Seoul city government's Garden Drawing program / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
The Seoul Metropolitan Government is rolling out an array of public gardening programs across its major green spaces, aiming to weave nature and hands-on horticulture into the daily lives of urban residents.
The initiative, curated by the Seoul Western Park and Recreation Center, will take place across World Cup Park, Seonyudo Park and Boramae Park, offering everything from urban sketching to expert-led ecological tours.
At World Cup Park in western Seoul, organizers are opening registration for the summer session of its popular "Garden Drawing" series. Running for six weeks on Saturday mornings from June to July, the workshop guides participants through the basics of pen sketching and watercolor painting directly within the park’s manicured fields, including Pyeonghwa, Noeul and Haneul parks. In a nod to sustainability, the program is partnering with the Amorepacific Foundation to provide custom paint palettes manufactured from recycled cosmetics. Sketches completed by participants will be featured in a public exhibition in November.
Further inland, Seonyudo Park — a famed ecological park built on the repurposed remains of a former water purification plant — will pivot toward architectural history and design. On Sept. 12, the park will host "The Gardener’s Walk," a specialized lecture featuring Lee Jin-hyeong, the design director of Seoan Landscape Architecture. Lee, whose firm won the original civic competition to redesign the industrial plant in 2000, will lead an educational walking tour detailing the park’s foundational themes of urban recycling and sustainable landscape design.
