Shanghai plans to remove 470km of overhead cables by 2020
Photograph: @adam_w_hopkins via Instagram
Whether you think the city's overhead cables and telephone wires are offensive to the eyes or are somewhat artsy and Instagrammable, Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission has decided they've got to go.
It's planning to remove 470km of cables by 2020, according to SHINE, with work already having started on removing 20km of wires around the city in districts such as Jingan and Hongkou. The reason for the clean up is to improve both safety and aesthetics.
'The coiled overhead cables look like a collection of scrapped bike tires hanging in the sky,' Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission director Huang Yongping told SHINE – but beauty is in the eye of the beholder:
Photograph: @grayikki via Instagram
Photograph: @setiawan_jati via Instagram
Photograph: @helloenj via Instagram
Still, safety first. The plan will be to replace the overhead cables with underground ones. This has been tried before over the past three decades but has been foiled on more than one occasion by ownership issues and limited space. Watch this space for more news on any further developments on when/if they are indeed 'Going Underground.'
https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=9SYR4lrVljp&width=500&height=375&auto=0