Kim Chung-young's Suwon Microscope (3) Mayor Shim Jae-deok's Unfulfilled Dream: A 'World-Class Outdoor Performance Venue'

Mayor Shim Jae-deok, elected in the first elected mayoral term, raised the banner of 'Cultural City.' Along with the restoration of Hwaseong Haenggung Palace, the project that Mayor Shim showed enthusiasm for was the construction of an underground passage at Changyong Gate intersection (East Gate intersection). At that time, I was the head of the Roads Division at Suwon City, and he ordered me to promote this project.

This project had two purposes.

First, to solve traffic congestion at East Gate intersection, constructing an underground passage in the east-west direction from the Haenggung Palace side toward Seongnam would help improve traffic flow.

Second, if a road running between Yeonmudae and Changyong Gate were constructed as an underground passage, its upper portion could be utilized.

Mayor Shim Jae-deok's hidden intention was to connect Yeonmudae and the area in front of Changyong Gate to create a spacious plaza. In other words, his scheme was to construct a world-class outdoor performance venue in front of Changyong Gate. Thus, I began reviewing the underground passage with relevant experts. The conclusion was that while an east-west underground passage was not impossible, it should not be constructed.

If an underground passage were built, it would need to be four lanes (two lanes each direction), but the road was too narrow, requiring expansion from 25 meters to 35 meters, which would require enormous budget expenditure. Moreover, if an underground passage were constructed at East Gate intersection, it should not be in the east-west direction but in the north-south direction, that is, along Gyeongsu Industrial Road.

After review, the conclusion was that an underground passage in the east-west direction could not be built. To this, Mayor Shim asked if there was an alternative. At that time, Hwaseong was in the process of systematically connecting over ten sections where fortress walls had been interrupted due to road construction since the Japanese colonial period.

So I proposed creating boxes at the northeast hollow-center bastion and northeast rampart sections to connect them, and since these sections were elevated, lowering the road by approximately 2 meters and extending the fortress wall connection box toward the Haenggung Palace direction by 200-300 meters would create a plaza on top. He approved, telling me to proceed with this plan. Although fortress wall maintenance was the responsibility of the Hwaseong Management Office at the time, the Changyong Gate fortress wall connection project was undertaken by the Roads Division.

Subsequently, a passage box measuring 25 meters in width and 250 meters in length was designed, and the first phase of fortress wall connection work measuring 25 meters in width and 10 meters in length was completed.

After completing this project, I was transferred in October 1998 to the position of Urban Planning Division Chief, which matched my specialty. Following this, Mayor Shim ordered me to find a way to systematically develop the Hwaseong vicinity from a long-term perspective.

Thus, I promoted the Hwaseong Vicinity Development Plan formulation project. This plan included the concept of placing parking outside and allowing people to walk into the fortress area. The main entrance was chosen as Changyong Gate. This was because it is convenient for access from external areas via Dong-Suwon IC and is adjacent to Gyeongsu Industrial Road (current National Route 1).

Accordingly, two plans were established for the Changyong Gate vicinity. Outside Changyong Gate, it was called a parking lot construction, but the precise expression was creating 'a parking lot combined with poor environment improvement.'

The area outside Changyong Gate is a village formed since the Korean War, and the area up to 20 meters from the fortress wall was improved during the fortress restoration project conducted from 1975-1979. However, beyond 20 meters from the fortress wall, the area remained underdeveloped, with a village of about 100 households lacking toilets and relying on public restrooms such as school facilities, making improvement urgent.

Accordingly, improvement projects were carried out for the village outside Changyong Gate, and parks were created except for parking lots and a tourism information center. This was done as a temporary park in preparation for serving as a main entrance route for future Hwaseong usage.

In parallel, design services for a multi-purpose plaza project (performance venue) were conducted on the inside of Changyong Gate. This was in 2001, about a year before the third-term mayoral election. Mayor Shim was enduring great hardship at this time, having become imprisoned due to political persecution.

Subsequently, elections were held in April 2002, and as an aftereffect, Mayor Shim Jae-deok was defeated and Mayor Kim Yong-seo was elected.

Mayor Kim Yong-seo's transition committee paid close attention to this project but concluded that constructing a multi-purpose plaza inside Changyong Gate was less effective relative to the investment cost.

Although the design was in its final stages, it was hastily revised and completed to the current form.

I often fall into a reverie when walking into the fortress through Changyong Gate.

On the left stands Yeonmudae, followed by the northeast hollow-center bastion (Sora Pavilion) guarding the corner, and on the right stand the northeast rampart and Changyong Gate. Between them, I dream of enjoying world-class performances in a cozy auditorium with the fortress wall forming a screen backdrop.

Will Shim Jae-deok's dream truly disappear forever?