Hosting a major sporting event can pose major questions about legacy.
A World Cup or an Olympic Gams provide an opportunity to transform an area, converting it into something entirely other; a place that is fit to showcase to the world. But what happens once the cup is won, the medals handed out, and the fans gone?
It is a challenge that Seoul’s World Cup Park is evidently grappling with. Having hosted the football tournament 20 years ago this year, the site’s provincial location runs it the risk of falling into the peripheries of Korean memory.
But the Seoul Metropolitan Government is doing something about that. In 2013, the Oil Tank Culture Park was unveiled right on the doorstep of the World Cup stadium. This is a drastic renovation of a cluster of disused oil containers, now hosting a theatre, a community centre, a culture complex, an exhibition hall, and even a public piano.
The park has provided a lifeline to locals during Covid, and perhaps also a lifeline to the legacy of Seoul’s World Cup Park.
