UNDERGROUND DEVELOPMENT: ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE TO RELIEVE ABOVE GROUND CONGESTION IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Since 1965, Singapore has undergone major overhaul to her territories as a direct consequence of intensive urbanisation and economic developments. Reclaim land, going high rise to solve land scarcity issue, the Singapore government intends to further probe the possibility of going underground. With the advancement in technology, the government is constantly looking into possibilities and alternatives in solving land scarcity issue in Singapore. Currently most of Singapore’s infrastructures in terms of utilities and services such as cables, gas pipes are underground, to allow more land space allocation for other purposes. Furthermore, the Singapore government has come up with the Population White paper to further increase the population to around 6.9 million by the year 2030. Planning spatial functions, accommodating the increase in population, infrastructure and providing job opportunity within 710 square kilometres without compromising the standard of comfort pose a great challenge to Singapore. In addition to intensifying surface land use, the government is looking into alternative such as the possibility of developing underground spaces. This dissertation will examine the possibility of developing a usable, comfortable and even liveable underground network in the context of Singapore future urban landscape, as it draws on ideologies and technologies that supports her territorial transformation. It will explore the possible uses of the two different underground spaces: shallow and deep underground. Surveys and interviews in regards to commercial underground spaces, possible working lifestyle in the underground will be carried out to understand the receptiveness towards underground living. The challenges in developing such underground spaces and caverns during construction phase are also addressed in the chapter three. The paper will also investigate current technology in constructing deep underground spaces as well as new technologies in replicating above ground conditions in chapter four.