Summit eyes use of underground space to create resilient city
A foreign expert delivers a video speech at the 2nd Shanghai Summit on Global Urban Underground Space Development and Utilization on Saturday.
Shanghai aims to develop into a “resilient city,” which can survive disasters and recover quickly, officials told a forum as part of World Cities Day on Saturday.
To achieve that goal, urban planners should focus on the development of underground space which is the key to sustainable urban development and the main criteria for disaster prevention, said Zhang Chen, chief engineer with the Shanghai Engineering Design Institute.
The 2nd Shanghai Summit on Global Urban Underground Space Development and Utilization was held at the Science Hall in downtown Huangpu District on Saturday where experts from across the world discussed development strategies.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign experts shared their latest research through livestream videos.
This year’s summit focused on the resilient development of underground spaces in super megacity like Shanghai. Urban planners from different cities shared their experiences on underground climate, geothermal usage, transport and smart monitoring.
A Shanghai Declaration on the development of underground space has been released to call for eco-friendly and more efficient use of underground space around the world.
A previous declaration on the use of underground urban space was released in Tokyo in 1991, marking the beginning of a wide range of underground space development across the world.
