Current situation and solutions for management of urban underground space in ho chi minh city: A case study of Qistrict 1

Abstract

Underground space is one of the important components of urban development, especially in the central area. This type of space is considered a resource and competitive advantage but has not been developed effectively, and poses many challenges and difficulties to management of many cities. Through the lessons from experiences of some cities in the world, to be applied for the case study area in district 1 in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), this article will present a review of the current situation of underground space development, and solutions to potential development. With the current ratio between ground levels and underground levels around 10-15% (with the maximums of 5 floors of basement), this can be seen as a strict assessment of permission compared to other cities worldwide. Thus, this study proposes divisions of into three layers with different depths of 15m, 35m and deeper than 35m respectively. Layer 2, corresponding to spaces of 15- 25m depth, is proposed for potential development to deal with the problems of insufficient lands for public services, such for parking, and also can be arranged for connecting spaces to urban underground space (layer 3). These proposals are expected to be implemented in Ho Chi Minh City and some other urban areas in Vietnam.

Key words: Urban underground space; urban development management; urban planning.