Transitions to a High Density Urban Underground Space

Urban Underground Space as a valuable resource, a space for placing structures and infrastructure, as well as a source of groundwater and geothermal energy. Development of Urban Underground Space has been accelerating rapidly in many major cities. Pressures of a changing global environment, including climate and increasingly limited land availability, place Urban Underground Space on the top of the innovative urban development agenda. However a strategy for an alternative to surface urban growth has not yet been duly elaborated or even discussed. This paper will explore plausible transitions in the use of underground space, discussing (1) changes in housing and infrastructure demand, and energy consumption over the next decades; (2) the functional, spatial and technological changes in Urban Underground Space; (3) the potential for Urban Underground Space to mitigate climate change by significantly reducing energy consumption and providing alternative locations for facilities at risk from climate change effects; (4) the status of Urban Underground Space as public space and an additional valuable spatial asset. Major challenges in the UUS transitions process have been identified and summarized as a UUS development agenda. The overarching goal in the urban and UUS development should be enabling a compact, liveable, sustainable, and resilient city while improving quality of life in it.