Korean Innovation: Seoul Plans to Build the World’s Largest Ferris Wheel in Haneul Park by 2025!
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) announced on Wednesday, March 8, that it has decided to construct the world’s largest Ferris wheel, called the Seoul Ring, in Haneul Park, Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu.
Sticking to its principle of finding the most representative views of Seoul seen from the Hangang River and the Ferris wheel, the city has been looking into various candidate sites, including Haneul Park, Nodeul Island, Yeouido Park, and Jamsil since last October.
The final list was narrowed down to Nodeul Island for its outstanding infrastructure and Haneul Park for its view and symbolism based on accessibility, neighboring tourism infrastructure, view, landmark, and balanced development. As a result of a final assessment, Haneul Park was finally selected due to its symbolism of inter-Korean reconciliation and as a gateway to Seoul.
Haneul Park is considered a meaningful place for its symbolism as a gate to both Seoul and a unified Korea, and as a location geographically close to North Korea, which shows the harmony and reunification of the Korean race.
From Haneul Park, visitors can see the Hangang River, downtown Seoul, Namsan Mountain, and even Bukhansan Mountain. In addition, it is the best place to realize the city’s municipal vision of finding harmony among citizens, planet, future, and environment (i.e., carbon neutrality, climate change), given the past of Haneul Park as a landfill site.
Seoul Ring will break away from the traditional design of spoked Ferris wheels and use innovative technology to create an aesthetically advanced spokeless design. The city consulted with domestic and international experts in architecture and engineering to secure the construction safety and structural integrity of the spokeless design of Seoul Ring. The city plans to supplement and develop more progressive and creative designs in cooperation with the private sector.
Not only will Seoul Ring serve as an entertainment facility, but it will also become a cultural complex that provides visitors with an opportunity to experience the historical meaning of Nanjido. In addition, it will provide a variety of festivals, cultural and tourism contents and programs, and a place for communication.
The city will build Seoul Ring based on cutting-edge and eco-friendly technologies in line with its philosophy to pursue a resilient and sustainable environment in response to climate change. Seoul Ring will be constructed on the former landfill site by 2025 as a symbol of the circular economy and climate action for both people and nature. Seoul Ring is expected to serve as the city’s new landmark that enhances its global position and urban competitiveness while also revitalizing the local economy.
