In a city better known for sleek skyscrapers than green canopies, Seoul celebrated a new wave of urban design this week, awarding five major landscape architecture projects and 23 neighborhood gardening groups that are bringing nature back to the capital's streets. Seoul's deputy mayor for administrative affairs and the chair of the city council's environment and water resources committee attended the ceremony at City Hall, along with about 280 guests from the landscaping and gardening fields. The Landscape Architecture Award, now in its fifth year, went to Namsan Sky Forest Trail, a 1.65-kilometer accessible walking path built on the southern slope of Mount Nam, Seoul's central mountain, that connects previously disconnected pedestrian routes while preserving the forest's ecology. The project also won a new citizens' choice prize, drawing the most votes — 2,889 of 9,654 cast — in a two-week public poll in June. A water garden built into a neighborhood park's aging concrete channel took the top runner-up prize, while three other projects, including a children's forest playground and