Lots going on under your feet in China
To the editor:
Guangzhou is a city on a delta. Mountains surround the communities of this area of China. Land is expensive for many reasons. Officially, the 2010 Census estimates thirteen million people live in Guangzhou.
In the surrounding region it is estimated that almost 40 million live. It is a wee bit crowded. With the available land at a premium developers are looking for new sites to expand and exploit. China is one of the leaders in subway building with almost every city of consequence seeking to put in underground train systems. Moving people is a major task. High rise buildings require deep foundations. Once dug and developed the space underground becomes useful.
A new trend can be seen in Guangzhou: Underground shopping centers. Basement to basement, tunnel to tunnel new commercial space is being opened up beneath the ground. At the International Financial Center located in the heart of the City this Underground vista has finally opened to shoppers. Imagine if all of main street in Presque Isle were to be placed underground. Yep, the distance from UMPI’s campus to Walmart completely underground! This is the combined area of the Zhujiang New Town Center, Mall of the World, and the connecting passageways that are now open. You can spend the entire day underneath the ground never seeing a speck of sunshine; yet able to shop for every imaginable need a person could have.
This is the new commercial venue. From metro station to metro station you can walk below the streets unimpeded by bicycles, carts, cars, buses, transports, trucks and crowds. Lighted and guided with colors and designs, these new areas are opening more retail space that is filling out daily. And the stores are not limited to a single level. Beneath the largest towers are shopping areas two and three levels deep. Below this are the new car parks. Every available morsel of space is devoured in a quest to make the most of a small space of land. It represents opportunity and perhaps the future of those large cities.
This new area is limited to pedestrian traffic. Skateboarders can be found in some of the nooks and crannies that have not yet had a store move in. but even here, the relentless tide of cargo, cartons and commerce cut into the pleasure of the boards. Many of the spaces between the stores are being used as learning spaces, children’s play stations, and useful solitude. Underground acreage is proving fertile.
Even in the heart of a city, there is still a need for farms. The crops are a bit different. Seasons move on an endless track as inch by inch new ground is opened, tilled, claimed and planted. With this growth comes a strong demand for education. Learning how to apply the knowledge we have today is a growth industry. While Aroostook sends its meager harvest to the far corners of the globe there is little call for the produce to return. This is beginning to change as the schools are seeking new students from these foreign lands. For now, the susurrant tide of people, space and time is a distant whisper in the land below.
Orpheus Allison
Guangzhou, China
orpheusallison@mac.com
