Singapore’s Underground City

Singapore is a beautiful, bustling city. Though, their population is far exceeding their land mass. In order to keep the island from becoming overcrowded Singapore decided to start building below ground.

How does this relate to Calgary? Well, although we have the ability to build outward, and we have done just that -to the point that we may even consume all of Alberta one day- the problem in Calgary draws into its downtown core. The heart of our city is severely congested with traffic, transit lines, bike lanes, and very little parking. Unfortunately, a congested heart is just as bad for a city than it is for a human being.

Despite this fact Calgary has a well-known secret, a hidden tunnel in its downtown core right under city hall. It was constructed to be part of a train line decades ago, but the project was never completed. The infrastructure is there; the question is now, what can we do with it today to implement a better, healthier Calgary tomorrow? Perhaps the city’s +15 could be accompanied by a fifteen below in the future in order to reduce the congestion in our city's core.

Heather J.