Master Planning for Underground Space in Luoyang: A Case of a Representative Historic City in China

Luoyang is a representative historic city in China with 13 ancient dynasties ever locating their capitals here, featuring a possession of abundant historical resources like historical sites, tombs, and buried relics. With the rapid spread of urbanization, Luoyang is facing the dilemma of urban redevelopment and the conservation of historical resources, and this dilemma is particularly pressing when it comes to the utilization of underground space, which has been manifested to be an effective way to address the problems of urban development. In this context, the master planning for underground space in Luoyang was conducted. This paper will first analysis the relationship between urban development and the conservation of historical resources in Luoyang, and then give a brief introduction of the master planning for underground space, which will focus principally on the overall layout of underground space development and the general approaches to deal with the conflict between the rehabilitation and conservation of historic districts. The case will provide insights with regard to the utilization and development of urban underground space for other historic cities that is abundant with historical resources, especially the buried ones.