x city report


Content !

1. Introduction

2. A City - Investigation on Better City Guidelines and Issues

3. Investigation & Data Collection: Ancient and old cities

4. Investigation & Data Collection: The present city/cities

5. Investigation & Data Collection: The future city/cities

6. Case study on the selected type of the future city

7. The New “X” City / Or the new name

8. The Conclusion

9. References list

!!!!

!



1.Introduction !

Built environment - Better Cities of the Future, is the main topic for project two. Cities are the highest form of social organisation which completed with complexity of transportation network, land usage, food distribution and so on. In this project, we are referred as the mayor of the ‘X-City, which is no longer a suitable living environment.

Therefore, we are required to propose a better future city around 20 to 40km, with a population in between 150,000 to 300,000. My group has chosen to do an underground city after consideration. Through this project, we are required to do research and understand how a city works. After that, we produce an individual report and also a 3D city model with our group.

By learning the city planning principles, we realised the interrelated relationship between the natural and built environment. Various built environments designed by considering the nature of surroundings, such as topography, landscape, space and infrastructure.



2.The City !

2.1. Definition

A city is also a space for culture, community and civilization. It is a relatively large & permanent settlement such as administrative, legal, historical based on local law. It is made up of houses, industrial and business area and has a stationary population, good public transportation, infrastructure, roads, and etc. A city is also a space for culture, community and civillization.

!2.2. Brief History

A city is originally a central place of trade for the benefits of members living in close proximity to other’s facilities interaction. In the past, religious elements have been crucial especially for many medieval cities builded near menageries cathedral. It generates both benefits and costs. The benefits included decrease of transportation cost, people able to exchange ideas, sharing of natural resources, availability of large local markets, running water, and also sewage disposal. For the cost, there will be increase of crime rate, increase of mortality rate, increase cost of living, worst population and traffic, hard commuting times. When benefits are higher than costs, the city grows.

!2.3. What makes a city?

In general, clean water, energy and food is the essential key of a city. However, there are still few more details to building a city. Electricity supplying for the whole city is important in order to operate buildings, street lights, and other infrastructure. A complete transportation network for railways, roads and buses build a high-performance city. It should also include education area such as colleges, schools, library. Recreation area should be designed with museum, sport arena, concert hall, park and shops. Further complex system including sanitation system, utilities, land usage and housing.

!!!



2.4. What makes a good city?

A good city is a city which has balance accessibility and inclusion, equal opportunities for leaning, clean and attractive street, affordable public transport and lots of public space. A good city should achieve smart growth, Vancouver promote liveability and opportunity for the city, whereas Dubai develop and activate economy strategy. Moreover, a good city should apply the concept ‘doing more with less’ like Boston and Dakar, using big data aggressively and leverage all financial option.What is the future city?

In future, we will be facing problems like insufficient resources, land shortage, climate change, unstable economy. In order to live in the future, a self-sustainable city should be designed. It should uses renewable sources such as sunlight, geothermal energy, hydrology which can be converted into electrical energy to supply the whole city. Beside of that, future cities will be covered with mostly of skyscrapers to provide more space by using less land. The future city will also rely on nerve centre (computer system) which is the operation centre for the whole city. People access internet for data sharing due to the evolution of digital age.

!Lee Yih | 0318340 | Group h | FNBE Feb 2014 | Taylor’s University

! 5


3.Investigation & Data Collection: Ancient Cities Derinkuyu Underground City

3.1. History

Derinkuyu Underground City was built in the 7th century for the main purpose of having protection, by locking themselves in a confined space for many months at a time. When the people were invaded and unable to fight off the enemy, they would retreat into the underground city and seal the doors from the inside. It was discovered in 1963, when a modern, aboveground home in Derinkuyu was being renovated, led to the discovery of a cave that brought to the underground city. This emmarveling discovery was considered as the biggest of all the excavated underground cities in Cappadocia.



3.2. What makes it a significant city and what are the details?

According to a History Channel Ancient Aliens presentation, it contains thirteen storiesit and goes 280 feet into the ground. There are eleven large floors reaching 85 meters under the ground consisted of rooms for housing livestock, making wine, cooking, sleeping and even a chapel and burial room for the dead. Fresh water was obtained from a well that reached 55 meters into the ground and a sophisticated air system ensured a fresh supply of oxygen. Numerous ventilation shafts bring air from above whereas roughly 15,000 smaller shafts distribute that air throughout the city. According to other sources, it could fit as many as 50,000 people.

3.3. Elements that I can use in my new future city

Some tunnels which lead building to building were built, where you can enter a storage house or a warehouse and come out in a church. Some tunnels are even constructed with columns and domed ceilings. Till today, every house in the upper city still has a cellar with ogival vaults – there must be more than a hundred of them, whereas every cellar has an entrance to a tunnel.

!!!!Tunnels

!!!!!!

!



Conclusion about the cities

The sheer size of Derinkuyu is a very interesting structure. To construct such a massive shelter, there had to have been a good reason. War and other social turmoil could explain it. It could protect from certain natural disasters as well. Whatever the case, the amount of foresight and effort that went into Derinkuyu would rival even modern emergency shelters.


Door which can only be opened from one side.

Structure of the city


4.Investigation & Data Collection: Present Cities

Montreal’s Underground City

!4.1. History

Montreal’s underground city is one of the largest underground city in the world. It was started in 1962, where an underground shopping center under Montreal's first modern skyscraper brought up a trend that would eventually lead to the construction of the shopping center, called Place Ville-Marie. It was designed by a well-known architect I.M. Pei and was modeled after New York City's Rockefeller Center.

In time for Expo ’67, when the Metro was built in 1966 - more subterranean malls began appearing and tunnels adjoined the subway stations with important locations around the city such as business buildings and hotels. This



formed RÉSO (a homonym for the French word “réseau", Underground City meaning “network”, that would be the central segment of the underground city.


More underground segments were added to RÉSO as time passed. The underground city now is extended into 32 kilometers and covers 4 million square meters. Keeping locals and visitors out of the elements is the main concept of this construction. If you live and work along the underground city tunnel route, there's no need to ever emerge from below. Montrealers love have to enduring harsh winters, but to others, that may seem a bit strange. Navigating RÉSO is actually quite easy. From above, there are about 200 entrance points to the underground city. It is estimated that 500,000 make their way through the subterranean city each day and do so with ease, so there's always someone available to offer directions. Adding to the aesthetics of RÉSO, the various sections of the underground city are decidedly different from one another, so once you get used to the system, it's easy to determine where you are in the complex.



4.3. Conclusion about the cities

The underground city is not only an impressive urban planning achievement, it is also known as an important tourist attraction by most Montreal travel guidebooks. For most Montrealers, however, it tends to be considered more as a large mall complex linking metro stations — that you wouldn’t feel you are inside the building. Many Canadian cities have some kind of tunnel or skywalk system downtown to help people avoid the weather.

The operation hour of Montreal underground city is 5:30 AM to 1:00 AM, though some are closed outside of business hours. Maps of the underground city and the metro can be obtained free of charge from all metro stations, and the network of buildings is indicated on most maps of the downtown core.

!


The map of Montreal’s Underground City


4.4 Elements that I can use to my new future city

In Montreal’s case, the traffic remained above ground and the whole “indoor city” for pedestrians was created underground.

Direct entrances are generally avoided by replacing it with entrance to the metro (or other underground spaces). This is provided through the halls of aboveground buildings, which are either office buildings, hotels or shops. Such a concept has other advantages as well:

• it increases safety since the entrances are better controlled;

• psychological effect of descending into the underground is somewhat reduced

• well maintained entrances and connections to metro 236 stations (since the entrances are private property, it is in the owner’s interest to maintain them well);

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



5.Investigation & Data Collection: Future Cities

Eco-City 2020

5.1. History

Eco-city 2020 is designed by the innovative architectural studio AB Elis Ltd. It is a proposal for the rehabilitation of the Mirniy industrial zone in Eastern Siberia, Russia. The project would be located inside a giant man-made crater that used to be one of the world’s largest quarries, which is more than one kilometer in diameter and 550 meters deep. As Eastern Siberia is characterized by long and severe winters and short hot summers all the year, this idea is to create a new garden city that will be shielded from the harsh Siberian environmental conditions. The new city would attract tourists and residents to Eastern Siberia and would be able to accommodate more than 100,000 people.




Named Eco-City 2020, it would be constructed inside Siberia's abandoned Mir diamond mine, which is the second largest excavated hole on the planet, at a quarter of a mile wide and over 1,700ft deep. The site would be covered completely by a vast glass dome, under which multiple levels would plunder its depth, to allow natural light penetrate through the central core.

!5.3. Conclusion about the cities

There are numerous obvious benefits of underground living in Eco City 2020. In a world of surprisingly regular natural disasters, it offers resistance to extreme cold and heat, and to hurricanes and tornadoes, if not quite tsunamis. A more immediate advantage is its energy efficiency. It can conserve up to 80


Inside view of city


per cent in energy costs, while solar power can eliminate energy bills in their entirety. Living underground offers total privacy, and also a lot of quiet where there are less development of a huge city.

!5.4. Elements that I can use to my new future city

My new city is planned to be divided in 3 main levels with a vertical farm, forests, residences, and recreational areas. There are also a massive glass dome that will protect the city and would be covered by photovoltaic cells which can convert sunlight into electrical energy to support the whole city’s electricty. A central core which nfrastructure along with a multi-level research center, houses the majority of the vertical circulations. The housing area is located in the first level with outdoor terraces overlooking a forest in the center of the city. This idea is to provide a harmony relationship between human and nature.

!!!



6.Case study on future underground city

Urban underground space can be geographically described as the space under ground level enclosed by surrounding rocks, soils, air and water which is mainly formed by conscious man-made digging activities (Shu et al, 2007). Being one part of urban resources, it should also focus on the city’s four major functions pointed out in 1933 Athens Charter, they are, living, working, providing open space and transportation and contributes to well-balanced urban development.

Its environmental characteristics including segregation, constant temperature and humidity, stability and shock-proof nature and concealment, shield are different from those of the aboveground. But one point needs to be mention that the purpose of developing underground space is not to make it take the place of aboveground space but to make a better city.

In the Randstad area (most populated part of the Netherlands), the city is converged and thus its further development growth is terminated. For these cities, there should be an alternative solution which allows further growth and


Randstad area


at the same time facilitates the achieving the desirable qualities of urban life. The solution for Randstad could be to build more compactly. This means that the city’s vertical line would be used more efficiently such that the underground would be fully integrated with the aboveground, but the number of people living in a square kilometre would increase.

!Some of the drawbacks and negative associations with the underground that are mentioned in Carmody and Sterling (1993) are:

• darkness combined with humid air;

• underground is also related to death and burial;

• fear of entrapment from structural collapse;

• disorientation;

• loss of connection with the natural world;

• lack of natural light and poor ventilation.

!!



Therefore, underground city should be built by referring to the below important consideration to enhance our quality of life:

!Planning aspects

• Co-operation between private developers and government made it possible to release larger underground projects (case of Montreal).

• Partial placement of public transport (highways and railways) underground provides more continuous city development

• Planning underground public transport inside city centres can be a stimulant for placing other public functions underground which in return would:

- ennoble, animate and give an extra quality to underground spaces;

- enable capacity extension of functions in city centre;

- improve the quality of aboveground area (possibility for more green areas, less crowd, doubling function capacity, etc.).

• Clear separation of pedestrians and traffic provides less confusion and better mobility of each group.

!Design aspects

• Using different colours and materials introduces variety in atmospheres and creates dynamic in underground spaces.

•Entering underground spaces through aboveground buildings can have many advantages, such as increased social control, in a psychological sense the inconvenience of descending into the underground is somewhat reduced, etc.

• Using natural light as much as possible has a positive effect, since it gives information about the outside world due to light intensity changes and in some cases can contribute to better orientation.

• Spaciousness reduces the feeling of entrapment, especially if there is large concentration of people, but if not used in a correct way it can have the opposite effect, since it may create a feeling of disorientation.



• Proportions (depending on function) and variety in height are important tools for underground design.

•Using reflective materials creates a feeling of spaciousness by reflecting light in different directions, but should be used carefully not to overload space with light and thus cause temporary “blindness” and irritation.

!!!!

!


Underground of Shidome City using a lot of reflective materials


7.The New “X” City / The Gem City !Why is it built underground?

In future, our world will be facing problems such as:

1) severe climate;

(2) sufficient density of population and a wish to create a “compact city”;

(3) development of underground transportation system and the wish to combine transport with other functions. !In this world of surprisingly regular natural disasters, underground city offers resistance to extreme cold and heat, and to hurricanes and tornadoes, even tsunamis. It provides privacy for personal space and lot more quiet than aboveground’s city. A more immediate advantage is its energy efficiency. Living underground can conserve up to 80 per cent in energy costs, while solar power can eliminate energy bills in their entirety.

And though one immediately apparent downside is a claustrophobic lack of view, such problems can be solved by introducing with skylights, light tubes and virtual windows, with internet cam feeds to provide any vista that takes the owners' fancy.

Locating particular functions underground (such as traffic infrastructure, cinemas, theatres, museums and shops) will create more space aboveground for recreation and social activitie. It seems logical to integrate subsurface space by relieving pressure from the surface area In order to preserve historical city centres and to improve the quality of life. !Important characteristic and elements

Wall that once separated tunnels can be partially broken with circle openings. This could provide visual contact between platforms and to increase social control.

Reflective materials were applied to different surfaces, giving the illusion that each of these surfaces is a source of light and create spaciousness. When there are two levels below ground, one of them represents a “split” level. That



level can be stretched out in such a way to provide an overview of the level below, which increases the feeling of safety (to be able to see and to be seen). Long width and double height provided by a short length of a split level makes the platforms looks spacious.

The underground city station should be integrated with the aboveground surrounding buildings too. The city should use bright colours and reflective materials, together with the spacious design of the platforms, to reduce the feeling of being in an enclosed, underground space.

!!



!!Main focus of city

The whole city is connected by a main building in the center. It consisted of port and shipping area in the middle, 8 elevators surrounding it, and huge ventilation shaft outside, introducing fresh air from the aboveground, bringing used air out.

!!!!!Structure of the city

The Gem City is an underground city consisted of four layers constructed in the shape of a diamond. The rooftop of city and the floor of first layer is made of transparent glass roof structure to allow penetrating of sunlight. Surrounding the rooftop will be the metal structure which can be controlled to extend in size, which acts to control the amount of sunlight coming, and also as a barrier to prevent invasion. The second and third layer of city doesn’t not overlap as this two layers intersect each other in center, forming a ‘cross’. This design wouldn’t block the penetrating of sunlight. However, the floor is made of concrete. Therefore, the source of light in layer 4 is not nature sunlight, but is carried by an optic fibre by concentrating sunlight from third floor using a special concave mirror.

!!



Zoning of city

Layer 1 Layer 2

!Layer 3 Layer 4

!!



Transportation and Network

!

Bullet Train Electric Car Charge Station

!

!Sky Tram Elevator



!!

Layer 1 Layer 2

!Layer 3 Layer 4


Bullet Train

Sky Train

Electric Car Charge Station

Elevator


Sustainable Initiative of City

!This is a self-sustainable city. Surrounding the glass roof structure, there are also photovoltaic cells to convert solar energy into electrical energy. Vertical Farm in the agricultural area is categorised into plantation of vegetables, fruits and places for cows, chicken, etc.

!!!!!!!



Infrastructure and Services

Sunlight Emitter


placed on the rooftop of layer 4 since natural sunlight is unable to reach there.


Security Service

Identification using DNA code

!Robots are created and trained to protect the city


Identification based on DNA, every citizen’s informations such as DNA, fingerprint, face reconization is stored in data. Such data is also used as ‘access card’ for home, public transport. Citizens under arrest is can be tracked by using sensitive cell placed around the city to determine the fingerprint


8.Conclusion !Underground uses are relatively safe. It increases the land use efficiency in both space and time, by decreasing traffic congestion and saving lots of ground level space. Efforts such as providing enough lighting, circulating the air to ground level, and keeping a pleasant temperature in the underground space decreases negative impacts and alleviate these effects.

However, the space of underground itself is an non-renewable resource. If we have no development control or deeper-considered, holistic planning for it, it would not solve the urban problems at all but also, we will be losing our urban resource. Moreover, the building cost of urban underground spaces is higher. It then requires more intensive and comprehensive research.

In general, I learned that on our way to achieve a more liveable and pleasant environment, we should monitor carefully the way we achieve our final goals. We should be responsible of protecting the natural environment as much as possible, reducing pollution, supporting existing ecosystems in our environments.

!!!!!!!!!



9.Reference Links

!Eaton, R. (2002). Ideal cities: utopianism and the (un)built environment. Italy: Thames & Hudson

Segal, R., Verbakel, E. (2008, February). Cities of Dispersal. Architectural Design, 78 (191).

http://weburbanist.com/2014/01/06/walkability-hyperdensity-14-concepts-for-future-cities/

http://www.rediff.com/money/report/slide-show-1-special-future-cities-concepts-that-can-revolutionise-the-way-we-live/20130829.htm

http://futurecity.org/lb/city/terms

http://mashable.com/2014/02/21/underground-cities/

http://www.aviewoncities.com/montreal/reso.htm

http://www.goreme.com/derinkuyu-underground-city.php

http://www.mydestination.com/cappadocia/travel-articles/72591/derinkuyu-underground-city#

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/architecture/a-warren-of-streets-ecocity-2020-2149826.html

http://io9.com/5689785/a-proposal-for-a-domed-city-in-a-kilometer-wide-siberian-diamond-mine/

http://fbe-studiocollaboration.unsw.wikispaces.net/file/view/Future+of+underground+space-+S.+Durmisevic.pdf

http://www.designdaily.us/2012/11/eco-city-inside-one-kilometer-crater-in.html

http://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/56865/3/FullText.pdf?accept=1

https://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/bitstream/123456789/197021/1/ZhangH_2012-1_BODY.pdf


http://weburbanist.com/2014/01/06/walkability-hyperdensity-14-concepts-for-future-cities/

http://futurecity.org/lb/city/terms

http://mashable.com/2014/02/21/underground-cities/

http://www.aviewoncities.com/montreal/reso.htm

http://www.goreme.com/derinkuyu-underground-city.php

http://www.mydestination.com/cappadocia/travel-articles/72591/derinkuyu-underground-city#

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/architecture/a-warren-of-streets-ecocity-2020-2149826.html

http://io9.com/5689785/a-proposal-for-a-domed-city-in-a-kilometer-wide-siberian-diamond-mine/

http://fbe-studiocollaboration.unsw.wikispaces.net/file/view/Future+of+underground+space-+S.+Durmisevic.pdf

http://www.designdaily.us/2012/11/eco-city-inside-one-kilometer-crater-in.html

http://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/56865/3/FullText.pdf?accept=1

https://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/bitstream/123456789/197021/1/ZhangH_2012-1_BODY.pdf

x city report

Technology