Underground space book to be published shortly

8 March 2018


International – A new book, ‘Underground Spaces Unveiled - Planning and Creating the Cities of the Future’ is set to be published by ICE Publishing next week.

Penned by Han Admiraal and Antonia Cornaro, the work is a broad overview of the concept of underground space development investigating the issues that are associated with the sustainable development of urban underground space.

Admiraal said of the book, “It must be one of the biggest adventures that Antonia and I have undertaken in our work both for ITACUS and Amberg/Enprodes. I think we've succeeded in writing a book that will create a greater awareness on urban underground spaces. We talk about unveiling underground space not only because we hope the book will do that, but more importantly that the urban planners who are key to how our cities are planned and created will take up the challenge.

“The book ranges for discussing historic concepts and the emergency of underground urbanism, to legal issues and financing, to wrap up with a chapter on how disruption can create new opportunities. It is a book aimed at and dedicated to all those with a passion for cities and their sustainable development, seeking harmony between humanity and nature, and who strive to participate in the creation of the cities we need and want.”

An excerpt from the book follows: "Hyperloop is currently visualised as resembling a large elongated tube carried on columns through the landscape and urban areas. As such, it bears a striking resemblance to the elevated structures of the past that cities around the world are taking down to reunite neighbourhoods and cities with their waterfronts. As promising as Hyperloop may be, it is hard to see how it will be accepted if this is the ultimate design. Creating Hyperloop at the surface makes it highly vulnerable to exogenic forces. These could be natural forces, but also intentional human forces, that could disrupt the disruptor. We feel that the power of Hyperloop would be further enhanced if a radical decision was taken to turn it into an underground concept: Hyperloop as the ultimate solution to travel at high speed through underground space.”