Recent years have seen a renaissance of interest in the enormous potential of underground development to contribute to less congested, cleaner and more sustainable cities. In addition to transport arteries, car parks and utilities, subterranean development can also accommodate facilities that take up much-needed space and do not need to be on the surface.
Factories, offices, shopping malls, waste processing facilities, libraries, cinemas, theatres, convention centres, performing arts venues, health centres and educational establishments can all potentially be located underground, unlocking much-needed land for housing and green space. Montreal, Canada has shown how successful this sort of subterranean development can be with its ‘Underground City’ comprising a labyrinthine network of tunnels beneath the city’s central business district connecting offices, shopping centres, convention halls and arts venues. And Helsinki, Finland was the first city to develop an underground masterplan to designate space for development in areas of the urban bedrock.
Where urban development is so dense that even housing cannot be adequately provided, the solution could also lie underground. Mexico-based BNKR Arquitectura's Earthscraper concept is essentially an inverted skyscraper, a 300m-deep underground pyramid with its base at ground level. Aiming to address Mexico City's acute housing and land shortage, the ‘mini-city’ incorporates retail, residential and office developments.
This ICE Special Issue is unlikely to be the last publication to highlight the multiple benefits of underground construction and its contribution to greener, cleaner and more liveable cities. The technology certainly exists. But it also requires the vision, courage and will of politicians and city planners for it to materialise.
