Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The underground world of Singapore

yp.sg

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 78 posts

Re: The underground world of Singapore

#21

Post by noobermin »

IIAOPSW wrote: post #19

As cool as this is, I think the space savings is a red herring. There's still plenty of undeveloped land in SG, and lots of low rise buildings. A combination of well placed subway stops, transitioning some low-rise apartments to high rise, avoiding excessive road/parking space and generally competent urban planning should be enough to accommodate Singapore's burgeoning population without the need for mole people. Its…

I'm not sure where you get that idea. There isn't plenty of undeveloped land unless you're talking about jurong or punggol, and it doesn't help if those places take 2 or so hours to commute to downtown from on the MRT. If you're talking about the small patches of parks and the historic heritage sites, I think they have their reasons for keeping those.

Re: The underground world of Singapore

#23

Post by dmschulman »

revicon wrote: post #14

I was similarly impressed by the gigantic underground systems in Montreal. Many people go for months during the winter time never going above ground, working, shopping and living all inside the interconnected underground shopping malls businesses etc.

Would love to understand some of the underlying design and social factors that go into making these types of concourses a success. We have a similar abet much smaller underground mall in Philadelphia running through3 major transit stops in the downtown area, connecting multiple buildings and plazas, yet the area remains disheveled and relatively unused and even sometimes dangerous.

Re: The underground world of Singapore

#24

Post by jpatokal »

autokad wrote: post #8
eru wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny: over in the comments about a healthcare article they say that Singapore has it easier because it's smaller. And here we admire them for pulling things off despite being small.

I didnt read those comments, but large capital projects one would think is harder, since they collect less overall revenue. For example its hard to imagine singapore sending a person to mars, over say China or US other things, especially people related, are much easier. its very close together, very homogeneous, etc.

Uhh, Singapore is very far from homogeneous. There are Chinese, Malays, Indians, Eurasians, over a million expats from all countries and in all social classes and four official languages to cater to them all.

Re: The underground world of Singapore

#25

Post by GlenTheMachine »

blt wrote: post #7

I could see Singapore building an air conditioned dome over the whole city. Besides the nonfree press, etc, the relentless heat and humidity is the biggest negative of the city.

No kidding. I'm from the US south. I thought I knew humid until I visited Singapore. Walking off the airplane at 5:00 AM was like walking into a sauna, and it never got better.

I was talking to a shopkeeper, who apologized for "the bad weather". I said, yes, is it always this humid? She looked at me blankly. "Oh, this isn't humid; I meant the rain."

Re: The underground world of Singapore

#26

Post by hellofunk »

revicon wrote: post #14

I was similarly impressed by the gigantic underground systems in Montreal. Many people go for months during the winter time never going above ground, working, shopping and living all inside the interconnected underground shopping malls businesses etc.

I was thinking of my time in Montreal when I read this article. They call Montreal the "underground city" and its design is pretty interesting.

Re: The underground world of Singapore

#27

Post by hellofunk »

noobermin wrote: post #21
IIAOPSW wrote: post #19

As cool as this is, I think the space savings is a red herring. There's still plenty of undeveloped land in SG, and lots of low rise buildings. A combination of well placed subway stops, transitioning some low-rise apartments to high rise, avoiding excessive road/parking space and generally competent urban planning should be enough to accommodate Singapore's burgeoning population without the need for mole people. Its…

I'm not sure where you get that idea. There isn't plenty of undeveloped land unless you're talking about jurong or punggol, and it doesn't help if those places take 2 or so hours to commute to downtown from on the MRT. If you're talking about the small patches of parks and the historic heritage sites , I think they have their reasons for keeping those.

> it doesn't help if those places take 2 or so hours to commute to downtown from on the MRT

This is part of the problem; it should never take 2 or more hours to go anywhere in a place as small as Singapore.

Re: The underground world of Singapore

#28

Post by hellofunk »

bartart wrote: post #15

Is it not a problem that Singapore is right on the ocean? Does anyone know if there risk of flooding or anything?

Singapore is one of the few major populations on earth that is shielded from most natural disasters. It's also not near a fault line, so earthquakes, tropical storms, tsunamis are unlikely to affect it.

Major flooding can occur due to rains, however. The city has dealt with it in the past and seems to have that under control.

The other major disaster that hits Singapore frequently throughout every year is the "haze" crisis [0], which is actually man-made. It was particularly bad when I was there in 2013. But I mention this only as an aside since we're talking about natural disasters; it wouldn't affect the plans mentioned in this article.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Southeast_Asian_haze#Sing...

Re: The underground world of Singapore

#29

Post by magic_beans »

dmschulman wrote: post #23
revicon wrote: post #14

I was similarly impressed by the gigantic underground systems in Montreal. Many people go for months during the winter time never going above ground, working, shopping and living all inside the interconnected underground shopping malls businesses etc.

Would love to understand some of the underlying design and social factors that go into making these types of concourses a success. We have a similar abet much smaller underground mall in Philadelphia running through3 major transit stops in the downtown area, connecting multiple buildings and plazas, yet the area remains disheveled and relatively unused and even sometimes dangerous.

The social factor might just be the extreme cold.

Chicago, much colder than Philadelphia, also has some actively used winter tunnels.

Re: The underground world of Singapore

#30

Post by mirimir »

revicon wrote: post #14

I was similarly impressed by the gigantic underground systems in Montreal. Many people go for months during the winter time never going above ground, working, shopping and living all inside the interconnected underground shopping malls businesses etc.

Helsinki too. Because winter and Russians.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610216...

Post reply on HN