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Posted Jun 13, 2016, 6:46 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Toronto
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What Happened to the Dream of Underground Cities?
What Happened to the Dream of Underground Cities?
June 9, 2016
BY ERNIE SMITH
Read More: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the...anean-hot-spot
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These days, urban dwellers think nothing of traveling under the surface as part of their average day. We'll dive into the metro or subway system without thinking anything about it. But would you spend your entire day there, without walking outside? That sounds like an odd argument to make, but there was a period in which underground cities were seen as a bold, exciting solution to the problems that troubled the metropolis in the 1960s.
- "Business cannot abandon downtown. Power, money and enterprise are concentrated there. Downtown is where the action is." These are the words of Vincent Ponte, an urban planner associated with the modernization of underground cities around North America in the 1960s and 1970s. He made the argument to our greatest urban newspaper, The New York Times, and there was a great need for those words during the time when the suburbs had sucked in numerous families, worried about the declining urban area.
- His solution to the problem of making cities walkable again and avoiding all that crime and traffic that was scaring off the public? Well, that involved creating an area where it was impossible to bring a car. Ponte's greatest victory as an urban planner was in perhaps the most unique major city in North America, the French-speaking Montreal, a city that Ponte made his adopted hometown. --- The ambitious rethinking of Montreal as a partly-underground city made a lot of sense for a number of reasons—particularly the fact that Montreal is a very cold spot to be in the winter.
- Ponte was seen as a visionary at the time for his approach, which put cars on the surface, pedestrians directly below the ground, and public transit a level below that. Part of the reason for that was that he wanted to protect the value of the downtown, which was facing decay due to the increasing popularity of cars and the perception of blight in urban areas. --- "You can't realistically solve the problem by widening streets or banning cars," Ponte told Time Magazine in 1970. "You have to adjust, reshuffle things and separate the trucks, cars and people, each on a distinct level.
- Ponte's success in Montreal inspired growth elsewhere. In Dallas, he was soon making a pitch for a similar urban upheaval, with his concept eventually spreading through 36 city blocks. A 1968 cover of Esquire, targeted at the the Southwest, loudly proclaimed that "Vincent Ponte should have his way with Dallas." Ponte's vision, while controversial for some, was the kind of thing that got other folks excited. He felt that the basic concept could be translated to nearly every large city. "Everybody benefits," Ponte told Time. "Developers get more rent.
FIVE THINGS ANCIENT UNDERGROUND CITIES HAVE IN COMMON WITH MODERN ONES:
• They’re handy shelters from outside dangers: Modern underground cities are great ways to avoid being stuck in the severe cold or in the rain during a bout of severe weather. Ancient underground cities, like those in the Cappadocia region of Turkey, also served as a way to avoid outside dangers—but in their case, the outside dangers involved religious persecution, as the region was home to some early Christians.
• They have areas to display artwork: The ancient catacombs of Rome have become noteworthy for their examples of early Christian art, but not to be outdone, Virginia's Crystal City, outside of the Washington, DC area, has become a hub of underground art.
• They have consistent temperatures: One of the biggest benefits of an underground city in the modern day is that you probably won't be shocked by the temperature. It'll probably stay at a happy medium between hot and cold. Likewise, the caves in Turkey's Cappadocia region are known for keeping a consistently cool temperature—55° F, slightly nippier than your standard underground setting but perfect for storing fruit, as it turns out.
• They’re seen as potential economic drivers: For hundreds of years, Poland's Wieliczka Salt Mine represented the potential that an underground locale could have on an economy. The mine, which dates back to the 13th century, became incredibly important from a financial perspective due to salt's growing necessity in food. (It was still dishing out salt until 2007, shockingly.) And it became one of the world's first major underground tourist attractions, with chapels, dining halls, hotels, and other attractions making way after much of the salt was cleared. Ultimately, when an underground city is created today, this kind of economic success is the goal of the whole operation.
• You can book a room in one: Most planned underground cities are associated with hotels, due to the fact that such hotels are common near downtowns. Since the discovery of the ancient caves in Turkey's Cappadocia region 50 years ago, parts of the caves have been converted to hotels as well. (Prices aren't bad, either; you can get a high-end room at the Cappadocia Cave Suites hotel for $150 a night.)
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