| Living underground is not a new concept. In fact, the | | | | Council for Building Research) that: |
| generation and utilization of underground space has | | | | "...there has hardly been any research carried out |
| been one of humanity's drivers for a sustainable | | | | directly aimed at plotting the implications for human |
| future. As early as 1931, human ingenuity imagined | | | | beings of spending time and working underground... |
| and designed plans for the "depth scraper", a | | | | ...it can be stated that the physiological effect on the |
| 35-story building resembling a skyscraper of the type | | | | human organism of time spent underground has been |
| familiar in American large cities, which was to be | | | | investigated to a very incomplete extent." |
| constructed in a mammoth excavation beneath the | | | | Research has been conducted in various specific |
| ground. It was proposed as a residential engineering | | | | areas of concern, such as issues of safety as well as |
| solution for surviving earthquakes in Japan. | | | | the various physiological and psychological responses |
| We have numerous examples of underground | | | | of humans working in windowless and/or underground |
| projects, such as Rapid Transit Systems like the | | | | sites. Yet a greater understanding of different human |
| Tube, underground malls, deep underground airport | | | | responses to frequent occupation of a subterranean |
| terminals, to name a few. | | | | space is still lacking. |
| It is obvious that part of humanity's survival planning | | | | Some of the issues facing humans above ground can |
| has to include utilization of underground space, the | | | | be extrapolated and expected to have an impact, |
| expansion of which has been under nano-speeds due | | | | albeit to a higher degree of severity, while living |
| to numerous technological challenges, as well as the | | | | underground. To name a few, claustrophobia, light |
| huge socio-human factors which need to be explored. | | | | sensitivity, general fatigue, eye fatigue, disturbance |
| Any underground "undertaking" has to consider the | | | | of circadian rhythms, insomnia, headaches, etc. These |
| psychology of living underground and how to best | | | | are just some of the potential ailments and stressors |
| design accommodations that do not negatively | | | | for which very little is known due to lack of |
| impact the aboveground quality of life standards. | | | | experimental or real data. |
| Needless to say, safety planning and disaster | | | | Given the above-mentioned social issues, and the lack |
| prevention within the confines of limited underground | | | | of evidence-based data to address these issues, we |
| space technology are challenging. The challenges are | | | | are left with the necessity of applying existing |
| exacerbated when space becomes even more | | | | knowledge from above ground experiences to |
| limited, as in a case of a survival bunker. | | | | resolve underground problems. Some of the tactics |
| Underground Psychology | | | | would seem trivial, such as showing compassion to |
| Many of the problems associated with living in | | | | each other's concerns, being forgiving to one's |
| underground habitats are not only technological ones, | | | | mistakes, helping each other as needed, and so on. |
| but rather are related to the degree of social | | | | Hence it would seem that an effort to educate and |
| acceptance of the concept and to the individual's | | | | promote social interaction would produce good results |
| perception of the underground space. | | | | and reinforce some areas of public concern while |
| Just over 3 decades ago, in 1977, Birger Jansson et al | | | | living underground. |
| reported in Planning of Subsurface Use (Swedish | | | | |