X city report

Content
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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
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1.Introduction
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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.
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2.The City
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. 
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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.
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Tunnels
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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.
 
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Door which can only be opened
from one side.
Structure of the city

Present Cities
Montreal’s Underground City
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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
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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.
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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.
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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);
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Therefore, underground city should be built by referring to the below
important consideration to enhance our quality of life:
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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.
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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.
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• 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.
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Underground of Shidome City
using a lot of reflective materials

7.The New “X” City / The Gem City
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Zoning of city
Layer 1 Layer 2
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Layer 3 Layer 4
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Transportation and Network
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Bullet Train Electric Car Charge Station
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Sky Tram Elevator 
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Layer 1 Layer 2
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Layer 3 Layer 4 
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Bullet Train
Sky Train
Electric Car
Charge Station
Elevator

Sustainable Initiative of City
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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.
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Infrastructure and Services
Sunlight Emitter 
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placed on the rooftop of layer 4 since
natural sunlight is unable to reach there.

Security Service
Identification using DNA code
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Robots are created and trained to protect the city 
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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
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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.
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9.Reference Links
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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
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