Factors influencing the development potential of urban underground space: Structural equation model approach

• Factors influencing the development potential of urban underground space (DPUUS) are investigated.
• By using the structural equation modeling approach, five key antecedents of DPUUS are examined.
• The five factors influencing DPUUS are all found to have positive relationships with DPUUS.

To ensure the sustainable exploitation of underground space, it is necessary to investigate factors influencing the development potential of urban underground space (DPUUS) before excavation and construction. Despite its significance, only few researches have been conducted to explore influence factors for DPUUS up to now. To fill this gap, this paper proposes the model of DPUUS, and investigates key factors affecting DPUUS using Gulou District in Nanjing for a case study. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) indicates that: (1) Geological features, land price and location condition, economic development level, development advantages of underground space, and ‘compatibility with urban planning’ are proved to be the five key influence factors for and have positive effect on DPUUS. (2) Among the five influence factors for DPUUS, ‘development advantages of underground space’ exerts the strongest effect on DPUUS, followed by ‘land price and location condition’, ‘economic development level’, ‘geological features’ and ‘compatibility with urban planning’. Finally, both favorable and unfavorable factors influencing DPUUS of different sub-districts in Gulou District are discussed.