Introducing Montreal’s RÉSO!

Anyone who has been to Montreal would know that winter there is bitter and long. The cold latches on to you once you enter the open space and it can be a terrible thing for the Canadians who still have to go to work and meet up with people. Wouldn’t it nice to hibernate like bears in well-insulated burrows underground? Well, Montreal actually has a second ‘world’ located underneath their buildings and roads. An extensive underground city, RÉSO, is made up of 32 km of tunnels, covering about 12 km² in downtown Montreal. It links together more than 30 office towers (Barker, 1986), hotels, commercial shops, cinemas, universities and train stations.

It is a brilliant idea, an architectural masterpiece that Singapore can take insights from. The underground city in Montreal started out as a metro system, much like the MRT system we already have. Then they added offices, recreational facilities and shopping malls, all easily accessed with pedestrian tunnels.

Barker (1986) encouraged the idea of underground cities by stating the many benefits they bring, including “the increase in property values and land utilization, separation of pedestrian and automobile traffic, reduction of surface congestion and improved atmosphere for pedestrians”. All these are especially applicable to Singapore. By keeping pedestrians below ground and limiting pedestrian-vehicle contact, the occurrences of accidents would be reduced. There would be significant economic advantages with less traffic congestion and more efficient transport network that connects employees to their offices directly without the need for resurfacing. Also, the fear of haze would no longer be an issue if Singaporeans can hide underground.

Of course, there are many concerns with regards to digging underground and moving all our homes and offices down. Research is still in the pipeline and much investigation needs to be done to assess if Singapore is suitable to build an underground city.

According to Barker (1986), “each urban area has its own circumstances that can influence the application of the Toronto idea:

• Urban density
• Local geology
• Building configuration
• Development policies
• Environment standards”

As of now, it remains hopeful that underground living can alleviate our land woes and even provide a better living environment for us.

References and Literature Cited:

Barker, M. B., 1986. Toronto’s Underground Pedestrian System. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, 1 (2): pp 145-151

Khaw, B.W., 2013, Exploring Exciting Possibilities Underground. 3 September 2013. URL: http://mndsingapore.wordpress.com/. (accessed 15 August 2014)