The added values of multifunctional underground constructions An analysis based on the observation of the effects, their consideration and appraisal in the decision-making MSc Thesis, Maurizio Mattiacci Cover Picture: Forest City Masterplan; Iskander Development Region, Malaysia; Sasaki Associates II Information Delft University of Technology Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management Master thesis– Engineering and Policy Analysis (EPA) Maurizio Mattiacci – 4522346 Date 23/10/2017 Graduation Committee Chairman: Prof.dr. G.P. Bert van Wee Department of Transport and Logistics (T&L) First Supervisor: Dr. Mr. Niek Mouter Department of Transport and Logistics (T&L) Second Supervisor: Drs. Martijn Leijten Department of Policy, Organisation Law and Gaming (POLG) External: Dr. Ir. Geert Roovers (COB) External sponsor COB (Centrum Ondergronds Bouwen) III IV PREFACE This thesis research represents the last step before concluding my Master in Engineering and Policy Analysis at the Technical University of Delft. I got immediately attracted by the topic of decision-making during the lectures attended in my first year, which raised in me the curiosity of discovering how, in the planning phases of large public projects, the technical aspects interact with the social and political ones. Therefore I accepted with enthusiasm the proposal from the COB of researching the decisional process of underground structures and started working on this thesis. Today, concluding this journey and looking back, I have to acknowledge that the last six months have been challenging, difficult and in some moments also frustrating. These are not reasons for complaints, but reasons for satisfaction. Satisfaction in reaching a goal, the graduation, which looks like a finish line; but in reality is the starting point of new challenges for my life. This last part of the journey, in particular, would have been impossible without the guidance of my whole graduation committee. Therefore I would like to thank Dr Niek Mouter, my first supervisor, for his suggestions, enthusiasm and continuous encouragement to improve my work. And also Drs. Martijn Leijten and Prof. Bert van Wee, second supervisor and chair of my graduation committee, for their corrections, suggestions and trust. Without forgetting about Dr Geert Roovers, who followed me representing the external sponsor the COB, giving suggestions, corrections and help with the necessary material. Further thanks, therefore, goes to the COB for sponsoring the research, to Lidwien Besselink and the Triple Bridge for letting me use their working spaces and supporting the research. Deserves mention also all the people collaborated for the data gathering, starting from all the respondents that dedicated part of their time to my research, a gesture for which I will always be grateful. And also Cinzia Ricci from the Municipality of Riccione and Marta Crilly from the Boston City Archive which helped searching official documents. Finally, I would like to thank my whole family, for supporting all my ambitions and initiatives. But also my friends and all the people that, in one way or another, directly or indirectly, contributed to letting me achieve this goal. Maurizio Mattiacci Delft, October 2017 V EXECUTIVE SUMMARY World population growth and in-urbanisation are challenging the policymakers and urban designers in finding an alternative way to develop sustainable and liveable cities. The researchers have already acknowledged the use of the subterranean space, especially when it can serve multiple functions, as a valuable mean towards this goal. However, despite many examples of underground structures already implemented, it is not clear which are, in practice, the reasons behind the choice of building them. Given this background, the ambition of this research is to create a broad descriptive knowledge of the practice of decision-making in all its phases; aiming for helping the implementation of more multifunctional underground projects. It has been done by looking at the common factors influencing the decisional processes, the effects considered, the effects analytically addressed and the alignment between their ex-ante estimation and the ex-post perception of the realised impacts. With this purpose has been set the following research question: “What are the relevant factors, and to what extent the effects of multifunctionality are considered and aligned to their ex-post perceptions, in the practice of decision-making process and appraisal for Multifunctional Underground Projects (MUPs)?” For answering the question, after building a theoretical base were analysed 3 International case studies (CA/T Project and the Post Office Square in Boston, the Promenade of Riccione) and 3 Dutch cases studies (Kethel Tunnel in Schiedam, Van Heekgarage in Enschede and Tram Tunnel in The Hague). The necessary information was gathered through a desk research, which was used to build a theoretical framework for reconstructing the decision-making of the cases. Regarding the cases, the literature was coupled with interviews with relevant actors consisting of open and semi-structured questions. The obtained data were principally quantitative, therefore, also considering their amount and the time constraint, the qualitative analysis methods were preferred. However, these methods were paired with mathematical and statistical functions which helped to provide a more punctual answer when analysing the considered effects. Following the description of Bakker, van der Heijden, van Buren, Groffen, & van Engen, (2016), Multifunctional Underground Projects are defined as: underground structures which represent a shared mean for more functions, both above and under the ground, combined in a way that they obtain mutual benefits, so that different interests and goals are combined and achieved. Using the 6 cases has been found that, the multifunctionality is mostly a consequence of the need of addressing various interests within the same project, rather than a driver. In fact, in 4 cases, the multifunctionality was reached to satisfy the interest groups so that they would allow achieving the primary goal. The best example, in this case, is the Kethel Tunnel and sports park, in fact, this project was the result of the negotiations between the central government, which for approximately 40 years tried to implement the A4 highway and the local groups; which were blocking it because concerned about the sustainability and liveability. Therefore, in order to please these interests, this stretch of urban highway was built semi- underground and covered with a roof used as a green and sports park. The selection of an underground project appeared as rooted mostly in qualitative considerations, as most of the respondents pointed out. Just in the Kethel Tunnel case, the EIA (Environmental Impact Analysis) was used to rank alternatives and select the semi-underground among them. VI After reviewing theory, 45 theoretical effects of multifunctionality are individuated; from the analysis of literature and interviews, 62.2% of them was addressed in the case studies (66.4% after arbitrary data cleaning), but just the 24.4% was analytically estimated. The effects influencing costs were considered more often (83.3%) than liveability (64.6%) and sustainability (45.1%). In particular, in no one of the analysed cases, the issue of reallocating and restoring the underground space was addressed or discussed. The spatial constraint emerged from the interviews as a relevant factor influencing the decision of building underground. Analysing a single case study (Promenade of Riccione) the perceived ex-post effects with the ex-ante expected ones resulted as aligned for the 60% approximately. There were various effects which materialised differently from the expectations, among them, the most relevant emerged to be the profitability. Almost all respondents indicated the factors related to the costs as negative. Some of them pointed to the fact that a lack of profitability would have been potentially dangerous for the success of the whole project since it could lead to a deficiency of maintenance or to abandon of the project. This case confirmed the lack of awareness towards the issue of reallocating the subterranean space. Based on the knowledge acquired with this research, it is recommended to decision-makers and urban planners to think about underground structures as mean for combining functions and linking interests from the beginning. In fact, these type of projects link together interests of different stakeholders, a factor which would help to obtain a more linear process and oercoming difficult challenges. As the case of the Post Office Square demonstrated. The low rate of considered and analytically addressed effects, especially regarding the impacts on sustainability and exploitation of subterranean resources, lead to the suggestion that more effects should be taken into account in the systematic and structured way. This, in the view of the researcher, can be done using a MCA; this method allows to address various effects in a qualitative, structured way, without overloading the analysis and coping with the expressed perception of the respondents in this research which said that certain impacts are too difficult to address analytically. VII TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................................ V EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................................