Special Session #1  :  A Retrospective “Lessons Learned” Study of Worldwide Underground Facilities
Convener : Raymond STERLING

Co - chair : TAN Yoong Heng

The idea that many cities and regions of the world are poised to greatly increase their use of underground space and that there are a variety of modern underground facilities around the world that now have several decades of operating experience led to a study conducted by the Surbana Jurong Group over an approximately 18-month period in 2019 and 2020. The study gathered information from 42 underground facilities from 15 different countries worldwide that had an average lifetime of service of approximately 37 years. The study has allowed the collection of the lessons learned from a wide variety of underground facilities and particular emphasis was placed in the study on whether the decision to build underground was still considered the right one, how the architectural design influenced the human acceptance of the underground spaces created and whether the technical aspects of the facility had performed as expected.

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Special Session #2 :  Reinventing Urban Space: Top Down or Bottom Up?
Convener : Prof Chun’an TANG
Planners and engineers worldwide are often faced with the difficult task of choosing between the options of going underground or building up to tackle the increasing pressure of land shortage and congestion in urban development. Many factors will affect this decision. These include land use, construction cost, aesthetics, environmental impact, accessibility and connectivity, operations and maintenance, and resilience against natural and man-made hazards. This special session aims to discuss and debate the pros and cons of underground or elevated space for urban development. It will bring together experts from various fields such as urban planning, engineering, architecture, and environmental science to engage in a meaningful dialogue about the advantages and disadvantages of these two approaches. It is hoped that the session will provide a platform for the attendees to engage in a constructive dialogue and arrive at a well-informed decision on the best approach for urban development.

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Special Session #3 : Safety and Underground Environment
Convener : Prof Angui LI

The characteristics of underground space present unique challenges in designing and maintaining healthy, comfortable and safe underground environment for human occupants. The limited openings and often long and narrow connections of underground space to the outdoor environment require careful study and design in the provision of fresh air, removal of air pollutants, extraction of smoke in case of a fire.
The aim of this Special Session is to gather original fundamental and applied research concerning experimental, theoretical, computational studies, engineering design, as well as case studies that contribute towards to the creation of healthy, comfortable and safe underground environments for urban, industry, agriculture and transportation purposes. The topics of the Special Session include, but are not limited to: ventilation, sustainable underground environment, environment air quality, smoke characteristics, transport and control, air pollutants, new technologies and methods on the design, monitoring and maintenance of underground environment.

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Special Session #4 : Underwater Space - Potential Places for Human Activities in the Future
Convener : Prof Weifeng YUAN

Because of the deterioration of ground environment and the depletion of the land resources, the ocean that covers about 71% of the surface of the Earth and holds tremendous amount of resources has attracted much attention. Underwater aquariums, sightseeing submarines, and deep-sea space stations have been extending more and more human activities underwater. On the other hand, underwater environment is still a relatively unknown field. Therefore, Scientific discussion about underwater space is meaningful to exploring and exploiting the ocean for urban development. This session aims to bring together experts from various fields including but are not limited to the following areas: (1) building technologies for underwater space; (2) advanced materials for underwater structures; (3) innovative design of underwater space; (4) life support and safety technologies in underwater space. It is hoped that this session would provide a platform for the attendees to engage in the exchange of novel ideas.

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Special Session #5 : Underground Energy and Carbon Storage
Convener : Prof WU Wei

Underground space offers vast potentials for addressing the challenges of space and resources and providing alternative solutions for achieving carbon neutrality. ACUUS 2023 will feature a special session on Energy Extraction and Carbon Storage, including a series of thought-provoking presentations related to geo-energy extraction and storage as well as energy transition towards net zero, to highlight the latest research in Singapore and other countries.