New underground city planned for Amsterdam

[Puffin13]

New underground city planned for Amsterdam

By Bruno Waterfield
Last Updated: 2:32am GMT 09/02/2008

AMSTERDAM is to go underground as overcrowding and soaring land prices force planners to look beneath the city's famous canals for future urban development.
New underground city planned for Amsterdam
The canals will be drained to allow architects to build the underground city, which will reduce
the pressures of overcrowding and slash the cost of a parking space

Dutch engineers have unveiled plans for a £7.4 billion underground city providing one million square feet of underground retail, leisure and parking facilities.

The rest of the story and pictures can be found here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/09/wcanal109.xml#cooliris

 

[funk_buddha]

I'll believe it when I see it?

 

[Guest]

I'll believe it when I see it?

if it can be done then the dutch will do it ,,they are masters at engineering,,dont forget a lot of the country was underwater only a few years ago and they've already gone under amsterdam to build the metro

 

[Alex-F]

if it can be done then the dutch will do it

Yep I'm with ya on that.

If you look at what can be done nowadays engineering wise, than that won't even be such a big deal.

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

The only thing is, is it an intelligent thing to do? Concidering the fact that the polar ices are melting (faster and faster), and cities like Amsterdam will suffer particularly from floodings and inondations in the future, hitting underground facilities in particular...

http://bicyclemark.org/blog/2008/01/rising-sea-eating-cities/

"Residents of the historic houses that line Amsterdam's central canals have to wait up to seven years for parking permits and a garage space can cost as much as £74,000."

Perfect reason to get a bike, no? Or simply move out to the outskirts of the city, where you can get that without problems.

 

[bubbafisher]

id be a bit worried of flooding but interesting indeed..........

 

[Guest]

id be a bit worried of flooding but interesting indeed..........

i dont think the Dutch are worried about flooding ,they've been controlling the sea and waterways for centuries ,,like i said masters of engineering ,,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_Netherlands

check out how much land they've reclaimed from the sea,,its awesome

 

[MidLifeCrisis]

Well Amsterdam has seen flooding before...

While rare,...it has happened before....
Excellent engineering? Absolutely...but not fool proof...

 

[AriesXX]

Personally, I would think that would encourage a higher population density, rather than relieving it's current problems. I think it will mean MORE people and MORE traffic, cars, etc.

 

[Verite]

Its all fun and games until the C.H.U.D's move in and start eating people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.H.U.D.

 

[AriesXX]

(gotta add your own . after the D in your address bar, for some reason IC mag cuts it off, but the WIKI page is there for C.H.U.D., good movie too, BTW)

 

[Guest]

Well Amsterdam has seen flooding before...

While rare,...it has happened before....
Excellent engineering? Absolutely...but not fool proof...

thats flood was 50 years ago just as the dutch were pioneering their reclaim methods ,1 flood in the last 100 years just goes to show how clever the dutch dyke system is, although Amsterdam floods quite regularly

 

[Colt122]

There thinking of putting a dome over winnipeg for years
Something will screw up going underground.....

 

[Mr.Botanical]

I quite enjoy the enginuity. And as was said by our friend Hazy, if the dutch set their minds to it, it will be done.

Shopping and parking. I wouldn't call it an underground city. I'd call it Amsterdam's basement.

They'll probably put the coffeeshops and red light district down there so that amsterdam "looks" presentable.

 

[Bud Meister]

Well construction starts in 2018 and is a 20 year project. I guess since I will be 76 years old, so I guess I will never see it completed.

 

[etncrew]

Can't wait to see this.

And as the son of two Dutch emmigrants.....if anyone could do it, its the dutch