Underground Space: A View for the Conservation of Beijing Old City

Abstract

Beijing old city is a masterpiece during construction of ancient cities, and the most important urban space with special significance in Beijing. Over years, the old city has been facing a great contradiction between development and conservation, and there are a lot of problems that have restricted the old city from becoming a city with better living environment. After varieties of different urban renewal practice, the Beijing old city is still exploring new directions for conservation. Among these directions, underground space would be a new perspective, with possibilities of providing a good way out for those problems. The paper aims at a discussion on the status quo and developing potential of underground spaces in Beijing old city, and by means of conservation theories of old cities and theories of underground architecture. Firstly, the paper discusses the uneven spatial distribution of underground space in Beijing old city. Then the paper put forward three aspects that underground space might make positive efforts to the preservation of Beijing old city, which are complementing residential and public functions to Beijing old city, solving the problems of traffic and parking in Beijing old city, and improving the spatial quality of urban spaces and buildings in Beijing old city. Finally, the paper makes prospects to the future underground space in Beijing old city.