An underground city (also underground mall, underground passageway, depending on size, shape, etc) is a network of tunnels that connect buildings beneath street level. These may include office blocks, shopping malls, train and metro stations, theatres, and other attractions. An underground city can usually be accessed through the public space of any of the buildings connecting to it, and sometimes has separate entries as well.
Underground cities are especially important in cities with cold climates, as they permit the downtown core to be comfortably accessible year round without regard to the weather.
Underground cities are similar in nature to skyway systems and may include some buildings linked by skyways or above-ground corridors rather than underground.
Possibly the most famous underground cities are Montreal's RÉSO, used by more people than any other locale and is the largest underground city network in the world, and Toronto's PATH, which according to Guinness World Records is the largest underground shopping complex in the world with 371,600 square metres of retail space. Japan's underground networks, while individually smaller, are the most extensive overall with an estimated 76 underground shopping streets totalling over 900,000 square metres of floor space in 1996, with many expansions since then. Countries with underground cities include:
Argentina
- Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, has an extensive amount of underground city in its Subte (the oldest subway system in South America). Most stations have small shops, bars and kiosks, while main hubs interconnect through underground pedestrian walkways with railroad stations, governmental buildings or shopping centres. Some have additional mall-like mezzanine levels, with the Centro Obelisk of Buenos Aires area (3 lines, 4 underground levels), Estacion Retiro, Estacion Constitucion, Estacion Once and Federico Lacroze railway station being the most important ones.
Australia
- Sydney has a series of underground shopping malls around one of the city's underground stations Town Hall. The tunnels run south to the George Street cinema district, west under the town hall, and north to Pitt Street Mall through the Queen Victoria Building. The northern branch links Queen Victoria Building with Galleries Victoria, Sydney Central Plaza (which in turn links internally above ground to Westfield Centrepoint, Imperial Arcade, Skygarden, Glasshouse, and the MLC Centre). The linked centres run for over 3 km. In 2005 Westfield corporation submitted a development application to link Sydney Central Plaza underground with 3 other properties on Pitt Street Mall and extend the tunnel network by a further 500m.
Canada
- Edmonton has a small system of tunnels and above-ground skyways called the Pedway connecting buildings and LRT stations of the downtown core.
- Halifax ( Downtown Halifax Link ) where no point is more than 10 minutes casual walking distance from any other one.
- Montreal Underground city , or la ville souterraine in French, is the largest underground network in the world. Its 32 km of tunnel cover more than 41 city blocks (about 12 km²). Access through the RÉSO can be made to apartment buildings, hotels, offices, banks, and universities, as well as public spaces like retail shops and malls, concert halls, cinemas, the Bell Centre hockey arena, museums, seven metro stations, two train stations (Lucien-L'Allier and Gare Centrale), a bus terminal (Réseau de transport de Longueuil and other transit authorities), and other areas. It connects 80% of office space and 35% of commercial space in downtown Montreal.
- The network began as a connection between Place Ville Marie, the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and the Gare Centrale.
- More than 2,000 shops and 40 cinemas line the passageways. Tourists often visit various attractions in the underground city, which is used by an average of half a million Montrealers per day.
- Eight metro stations link to smaller networks that are not yet part of the central network, such as Berri UQAM in the eastern part of downtown, and Pie-IX which links venues from the 1976 Summer Olympics. Additionally, other underground networks exist that are not part of the metro system, such as the La Cité housing and retail complex.
- St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador - At the main campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland are the MUNnels, a tunnel system, in which all the main buildings are connected, though there are also some elevated walkways.
- Toronto ( PATH ), comprises 27 km of walkways and 1,200 shops. It links many important buildings and attractions downtown to six TTC subway stations. PATH accommodates 100,000 pedestrians daily, and PATH businesses host the world's largest underground sidewalk sale once annually.
- The PATH network in Toronto is the largest underground shopping complex in the world with 371,600 square metres (4,000,000 sq ft).
- Toronto also has a separate, smaller "underground city" connecting several building complexes and two subway stations on Bloor Street.
- Vancouver has two shopping malls, Pacific Centre and Vancouver Centre, that are interconnected and extend over 3 city blocks, containing more than 200 stores that weaves above and below ground level. These malls are also connected to Granville SkyTrain Station and Vancouver City Centre Station on the Canada Line.
- Winnipeg has a smaller (mainly commercial office) area located underground in the downtown core below Portage and Main. Several of the downtown office towers have subterranean entrances to the complex allowing employees and visitors to bypass the downtown traffic and avoid the cold winter temperatures Winnipeg regularly experiences. The system links with the skyway system known as the Winnipeg Walkway. Also the University of Manitoba has underground tunnels for the students to travel building to building.
Chile
- Santiago has an extensive amount of underground city in its "Metro" subway system. All stations have a typical mezzanine level, but the Metro has this level full of shops and kiosks of all kinds, most stations have an additional mall-like level between the street and the mezzanine levels with the trains running at the 3 level down.
China
- Beijing built an extensive tunnel network called the Underground City (simplified Chinese: 地下城 ; traditional Chinese: 地下城 ; pinyin: Dìxià Chéng) during the Sino-Soviet conflict, supposedly covering 85 km², falling into disuse in the 1970s. Now recently opened to the public and tourists. There are rumors saying it was used by the army during the Tiananmen incident. A tourist report describes the facility. As of 1st July 2009, all "official" remaining entrances appear to be closed.
- Shanghai also has a few underground networks, most notably at the People's Square metro station, wherein the line 2 station has a second mezzanine full of shops and line 1 is connected to a large underground shopping gallery at its south end. Shanghai Science Museum stop on line 2 also has a large underground shopping area, known for its imitation goods. Huangpi Road South and Xujiahui stations are also directly connected to shopping centers, and the Lujiazui station is connected to the Bank of China tower.
- Qingdao has two small underground shopping areas, one at the head of the Zhanqiao (pier) and one west of the Qingdao guest house.
Finland
- Helsinki covering central railway station area, three subway stations (Rautatientori, Kamppi and Kaisaniemi) and shopping malls. The Kamppi metro station is integrated with the Kamppi Center (55,500 m²) long-distance bus terminal, freight depot and internal parking area, all underground. It also features a six-storey shopping complex and a central bus terminal for local buses. The underground network has connections to the nearby Forum shopping centre and Sokos and Stockmann department stores.
- Two other subway stations in Helsinki have similar, although smaller undergrounds; Hakaniemi and Sörnäinen.
France
- Paris The Forum des Halles, is a partially underground multiple story commercial and shopping center, opened in 1979. The building is connected to the underground station Chatelet-Les-Halles, central hub of Paris's express metro system, the RER. There was also more than 300 km of a network of catacombs, started as limestone quarries and later for burials, also used as safe passageways in times of revolution.
Germany
- Frankfurt am Main Underground shopping malls, called 'B-Ebene' in Frankfurt, of considerable size are found at Hauptbahnhof (central station) and Hauptwache.
- Hamburg The Jungfernstieg and Rathaus subway stations and several entrances are connected by pedestrian tunnels. Some of them contain shops. There is also a direct access to the Europapassage shopping mall.
- Stuttgart There is a large underground shopping mall (Klettpassage) connecting the Hauptbahnhof (central station) with the main shopping street, the Königstraße.
- Berlin Several buildings on the east side of Friedrichstraße, from Quartier 205 (Friedrichstraße 70) northwards up to Galerie Lafayette are connected to each oth
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