The potential of underground space renovation in central CBD district for traffic congestion mitigation

In rapidly developing cities like Shenzhen, CBDs have been developed as working locations. After-work activities contribute to high traffic volumes in the evening rush hours. Shenzhen designated the Futian CBD plan in 1985 and passed the formal plan for its development in 1999. The underground space in Futian CBD is presently underused, with the amount of commercial facility falling far short of the potential demand generated by the office space. In the meantime, residential population and employment concentration in Huaqiangbei district is also growing fast, and this formerly industrial district is transformed into a new city center. In this research, these two centers are selected to investigate how urban facilities are supporting urban activities in the different urban environments. The "Household-based Travel Survey 2010" for Shenzhen will be used as the database for this enquiry. The after-work-destination of people working inside the core areas will be compared, along with the quality and amounts of service facilities; the after-work destinations outside the workplaces will also be extracted to investigate the characters of entertainment destinations attracting CBD workers; the potential of underground space renovation with commercial facility addition in Futian CBD for traffic congestion mitigation in the rush hours will be investigated. This research focuses on the traffic behavior of CBD workers after the working time, demonstrates the method and the impact of underground space renovation in Futian CBD, contributing to reduce the peak traffic volume in evening rush hours and mitigate traffic congestion.