Grand Challenge to rethink our subterranean cities

Posted 30 September 2020

The Connected Waters Initiative (CWI) is proud to announce faculty staff member Dr Marilu Melo Zurita, lecturer in the UNSW School of Humanities and Languages, has recently been appointed leader of Think Deep Australia, an interdisciplinary group interested in the integrated and sustainable uses of what exists underground and underwater. 

As Inside UNSW explains, “there has been a boom in underground urban development projects around the world in the last five years – a trend that is expected to accelerate – and Australia is no exception, investing billions of dollars in underground urban development. There are major projects in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane that will fundamentally reshape the urban subterranean space, creating new geographies of urban connectivity and movement. The largest projects are the expansion of the cities’ underground rail and road networks. While transport infrastructure enhancements may be deemed as critical for cities, can more holistic and inclusive projects be realised? And who gets to decide what projects are implemented?”

Think Deep Australia was formed in order to address these questions, and to explore how urban underground spaces can be used for community development.

“Like all forms of development, using what lies underneath cities can present a range of possibilities and challenges,” said Dr Melo Zurita.

For a fuller discussion of these challenges, and a broader description of the work undertaken by Think Deep Australia, see the original article posted by Inside UNSW

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