This event will provide an insight into the Sustainable Urban Underground Development where the necessity of new spaces is crucial, and the population in urban areas are estimated to be 70% – 80% higher by 2050.

The speakers will talk about the contribution and impact of underground space use to achieve sustainable urban development and create resilient cities.

The sustainability of the environment can be in many ways if we consider the underground infrastructure. It could be a way of saving natural resources, reducing air pollution and unnecessary visual and noise intrusion, creating opportunities for less energy use in compact city, creating structures less impacted by earthquakes and other catastrophic events, and enhancing of overall landscape and environmental quality.

Speakers

Asal Bidarmaghz
Lecturer, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales

Dr Asal Bidarmaghz is a Lecturer in Geotechnical Engineering in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW Sydney and deputy chair of the Australian Geomechanics Society (AGS), Sydney Chapter and the leader of the urban underground climate change initiative at the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). Prior to joining UNSW, Asal was working as a Research Associate at the Engineering Department, University of Cambridge (2017-2019) and as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Infrastructure Engineering, the University of Melbourne (2015-2017), where she received her PhD in 2015.

Asal specializes in the design and optimisation of geothermal systems and energy geo-structures for harnessing thermal energy through underground structures. Her research concerns the impacts of urbanisation on underground climate and urban geothermal potential with specific emphasis on sustainability and serviceability of underground structures, groundwater and energy resources.

Marilu Melo Zurita
Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at the University of New South Wales

Dr Marilu Melo is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Her research has spanned different key areas of geographical scholarship – including groundwater governance, subterranean urban spaces and peri-urban disaster management.

Marilu is also the founder of Think Deep Australia, an interdisciplinary group interested in the integrated and sustainable uses of what exists underground/underwater. She is also the leader of the Urban Integration Activity Group for the International Tunneling and Association Committee on Underground Space (ITACUS). She is currently involved in two projects funded by the Australian Research Council.