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Urban underground space, as an underutilized land resource, holds tremendous potential and value. Efficient and rational development and utilization of this resource are key to addressing current urban challenges. This study takes the main urban area of Qingdao City as an example and establishes a comprehensive evaluation system for the suitability of urban underground space development at different depth levels through the integration of geological, hydrological, and urban planning factors. By utilizing the Analytic Hierarchy Process to assign weights to evaluation criteria within the system, both a multi-objective linear weighting function model and a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model are employed to assess the suitability of underground space development. The results delineate the distribution of underground space development suitability within the study area. Comparative analysis of the two models reveals that the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model offers a more detailed and comprehensive reflection of the complexity and diversity of underground space development, providing forward-looking and insightful evaluation results for urban planning and development. The evaluation indicates that certain streets within the main urban area of Qingdao exhibit excellent prospects for underground space development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the topic of urban underground projects and infrastructure networks as well as their contribution to sustainability and resilience of cities has been widely addressed. Major projects deal with questions of interdependencies, mapping and untangling of the existing underground infrastructure web, which constitutes not only a service but also a major constraint for future projects and planning in the underground space. In addition, the use of urban underground space is more and more extended from purely ‘technical’ functions like infrastructure and storage to developing the space itself into, for example, shopping malls, extensions of museums or parking facilities, recreational spaces, archives, or computer centres. To capture and plan for these manifold interests in the long-term, a holistic approach to analyse the urban subsurface is needed which goes beyond the analysis of singular projects or networks. Masterplans which integrate the subsurface seem to be feasible but ultimately can only be successful if the underlying system properties are sufficiently understood. This paper reviews the development of system thinking as well as its applicability for analysis of the urban subsurface as multifunctional, holistic entity. Prospects and outstanding issues when adopting a systems perspective to a spatial entity are discussed in order to interpret what they might mean for the urban subsurface. In this context, the influence of system boundaries on system properties like flexibility, adaptability and resilience is highlighted, challenging the notion that the potential for further exploitation of the subsurface is predetermined by the local geology, the legacy of human impact and the advancement of technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By combing the existing and relevant regulations and other standards of underground space development and utilization, this paper expounds the relationship between urban underground space engineering construction field and other areas of the term standard. Based on the integration study of the existing standards, the structure table of engineering construction standard is put forward. In addition, through the analysis of the combing standard of urban underground space engineering construction, the relevant technical standards for underground space are drew up and the scientific and operational characteristics of this system are confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic congestion and ground space scarcity are increasing the need to find more space in the urban underground. The demand-driven “top-down” planning of Urban Underground Space (UUS) is common worldwide. As natural resource, the endowments of UUS are different in different regions. Consideration of UUS resource endowments, which can be called “bottom-up” thinking, should be integrated into planning. The evaluation method of UUS resource and investigation results in typical cases are being presented in the paper. It is important for urban development to utilize the underground space. Meanwhile, we should also be aware that there are multiple valuable resources in urban underground. Besides space, there are also water, energy and geo-materials. The paper will discuss how to consider these different resources in urban development. There might be conflicts between the developments of different urban underground resources. The paper investigated the interactions between these developments, revealed some serious impacts and typical conflict modes. The identification of conflicts is a basis for the coordination and synergy of these developments. For sustainable development of city, it is needed to understand and scientifically evaluate the multiple urban underground resources, then holistically plan and manage the developments. Structure and properties of urban underground geological body determine the engineering conditions of UUS and resource attributes of urban underground. Since 2003, China has been conducting pilot projects of Urban Geological Investigation (UGI) programs in some large cities. The paper will also show how to consider the influence of geological conditions in urban underground resource evaluation and UUS planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following economic growth and urban development in China in the past two decades, rapid urbanization have incurred many pronounced problems to many Chinese cities. Since 2000, key areas in many Chinese cities, drawing on valuable urban development experience from America and European countries, flock to conduct master planning of urban underground space (UUS) development. The compiling practice is conducive to the orderly development of urban space and alleviation of increasing human-land conflicts. Through selecting and analyzing the master planning UUS in Qingdao, this paper first investigates the current problems of UUS development and utilization in China, and then analyzes the planning methods and general thoughts of overall underground space layout. In general, the paper presents some current advanced research findings in the master planning of UUS development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Use of Urban Underground Space (UUS) has been growing significantly in the world’s biggest and wealthiest cities. UUS has been long acknowledged to be important to the urban development agenda: sustainability, resilience, livability, and creating a better urban environment in particular. These issues are traditionally monitored using urban indicators, however UUS has not been properly included and considered in urban indicator lists (sets or systems) yet – the gap this paper is aiming to bridge. The paper reviews existing approaches to the composition of urban indicator lists, highlighting indicator types, challenges related to data collection, and agencies that are concerned with the issue. Further the paper has identified the importance of UUS inclusion in the lists that give integrated assessment and monitor urban sustainability, resilience, climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as progress towards smart, livable, and compact cities. Existing global quantitative data on UUS have been examined in 8 cities; and three key indicators (descriptors) were suggested to monitor UUS use: Developed UUS volume (m 3 ); UUS use density (m 3 /m 2 ); and Developed UUS volume per person (m 3 /person). Current average UUS use densities in cities are identified as up to about 0.05 (m 3 /m 2 ) (which can be interpreted as a virtual depth of UUS use of 5 cm), and the developed UUS volume per person is up to about 10 m 3 /person; while city central areas (central business districts) can have a virtual depth of developed UUS of several metres (m 3 /m 2 ). Compatibility, comparability, uniformity, and sustained monitoring of urban indicators data (including UUS indicators) found to be posing significant challenges to the research across geographies, and industry/economic sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shanghai is being transformed through a process of rapid urbanization. Urbanization has the effects of increasing urban population and the income levels of residents as well as changing the structure of transportation. Under the background, from the 1980s, Shanghai has increasingly built and extended underground pedestrian systems (UPS) within central areas to complement pedestrian networks. UPS have significantly affected urban life in Shanghai under the decades of development but to date, research on UPS usage and perceptions of UPS users has been lacking. This research conducted an on-the-spot survey in Shanghai's UPS in People's Square, Jing'an Temple and Xujiahui areas. Investigation through observation, face to face questionnaires and interviews generated qualitative and quantitative findings on the usage characteristics and perceptions of UPS users. The discussion focused on social usage and equity and the functionality of UPS. It revealed defects in the design and management of Shanghai's UPS, including deficiencies with regard to consideration of the elderly, disabled groups, management of homeless people, the range of merchandise categories and orientation (i.e. way-finding) systems. This research is a significant contribution to enriching knowledge and providing insights into the performance of UPS in a developing country under rapid urbanization.