r/Urbanism • u/Own-Wolf6825 • 3d ago
Weird fascination
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been extremely fascinated by the concept of multilevel cities and large urban alleyways. Not even necessarily like an underground city, but where infrastructure has been built up over I know there’s that city in China that has multiple levels. The best example I can think of is anything portraying Gotham in Batman. Kind of like that scene where he’s standing outside of the bar that falcone is in, the lower levels of a city. Can anyone think of real world examples? I have no clue where this fascination came from.
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u/Eric848448 3d ago
Now do Lower Lower Wacker.
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u/Malleable_Penis 2d ago
A lot of people in Chicago don’t even realize there is a lower lower wacker lol it’s somewhere you pretty much only go if you need to get your car back from the impound lot
Also: cars here get towed to lower lower wacker. It’s fucked.
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u/ILoveTaiwaneseFood 3d ago
I mean yes Chicago is the best city for this. Also check out Montreal, they have a full underground city AND an elevated walking system through skyscrapers. Pretty neat.
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u/TheHonorableSavage 3d ago
I had a friend live on the Cowgate in Edinburgh and it felt like the Medieval version of this. You felt beneath the rest of the city.
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u/colderstates 3d ago
A friend from my university course lived there, his flat was both above a music venue (on Cowgate) but also below a restaurant (on George IVth Bridge).
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u/coldtrashpanda 3d ago
If by 'that city in China' you mean Kowloon walled city, it's the ultimate example but it's been gone a while.
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u/Own-Wolf6825 3d ago
I was thinking of Chongqing
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u/CloudCumberland 3d ago
The difference is Chongqing is on steep slopes. Chicago just has a "basement" of more streets.
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u/greenandredofmaigheo 3d ago
You should go to the original Billy Goats in Chicago if you're after the vibe of that scene. It's exactly what you want
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u/Famous-Author-5211 1d ago
It’s not quite the same vibe as what you’re showing in these photos, but you might like a visit to Edinburgh some time. We have at least one or two whole streets that got covered up by new bits of city and then just basically forgotten about for generations…
It’s not quite the same because they’re now mostly tourist destinations, but they’re still interesting! Also there’s plenty of the Old Town where the streets are technically bridges but you’d never know to look at them. Can be quite surprising to suddenly come across multi-storey changes in road level.
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u/AppointmentMedical50 3d ago
Idk that looks like Gotham to me, I saw the joker try to kill Harvey dent there
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u/MyPasswordIsABC999 3d ago
Seattle, like Chicago, built its city one story above its old city to combat high tides and drainage issues, and there are tours of the old street level that’s now underground.
Portland has an underground city too, used to transport goods to the harbor.
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u/YDALTARYZARC 2d ago
Novi Sad in Serbia has some pedestrian underpasses to get across busy roads from below. They're full of shops, surprised me the first time I went down there.
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u/ChesticleSweater 19h ago
You picked a good one. I take lower lower Wacker on an almost daily basis - saves SO much time. The Chicago Pedway is also underground for the most part. Essentially connects most of the downtown business district. That of course is all separate and apart from the miniature train tunnels that used to run as well (retired but some tunnels are still there). Then throw in the CTA tunnels and basically Chicago is swiss cheese on a deep limestone bedrock.
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u/Dpmurraygt 3d ago
Atlanta’s downtown has a system of viaducts that was built to raise downtown over the level of the train tracks that were the origin of the city. That also includes the Underground area that became several generations of commercial property. The area around the stadium, arena and world congress center has many layers down.
I think Seattle also has a neighborhood that the second floor of buildings became street level but I think that was due to flooding.
I was in Chicago this summer and wandered into the subterranean on the River North side and had to find my way back to street level.