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Stewart Gault

TEDCRED 30+

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Underground cities as a serious method for development.

http://www.ita-aites.org/fileadmin/filemounts/general/pdf/ItaAssociation/ITAEvents/OpenSessions/HParker.pdf

We humans are pushing Earth to its limits. We are standing on thin ice and our own extinction may not be that far away. We are wasting to the land on Earth and taking what we have for granted.
The pdf linked details pros and cons to making more use of underground tunnels and caves. But I say we go a step further and start to consider developing methods of large scale cave societies.
The pdf tells us that caves are actually shown to deal extremely well with earthquakes so that reduces the risk of cave ins. Also this idea is not so far fetched, already in Australia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_living people are living underground.
By going underground we can dedicate more land to foresting, agriculture and energy production. Solar energy fields could potentially power underground towns, geo thermal energy could be harnessed and as the pdf outlines there are no temperature changes underground so it is always constant. This opens more land for planting trees and plants to tackle global warming. We can travel underground via something like a maglev train. Rain for water can be accessed as it is now and also we can harness flood waters by creating a system which can train some flood water and store it underground for times of water deficit. Also given potential thermonuclear warfare or even asteroid impact being underground and well supplied isn't a bad thing.

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  • Zac Capen

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    Jun 20 2012: Why not a combination of caves and man made valleys? This way we have a fair amount of access to air and sunshine.

    Why not also build smarter buildings in old locations? I know there are least several hundred acres of abandoned warehouses in the city of Philadelphia that could be purchased and redeveloped into vertical farms, green buildings, and community parks.
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      Debra Smith 200+

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      Jun 28 2012: Please seek out the TED talk about that elevated and abandoned railroad track in NYC/ | regualr guy like you with no experience changed his city and his own world. I hope you engage and develop your idea. If not you - who????

  • Eric Hazelle

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    Jun 19 2012: Where's the sunshine? Where's the fresh air? Where's the vision of the stars and the moon at night? Sorry, can't buy it.
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      Stewart Gault 30+

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      Jun 19 2012: The idea isn't supposed to benefit us hugely, it's an idea to help save the planet and to limit urban sprawl and to restore bio diversity by limiting ourselves to certain areas of surface land mass.

      • Barry Palmer 50+

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        Jun 21 2012: Hi Stewart,

        This reminds me of the ten years I lived in Alaska. Lots of people move to Alaska, expecting the move to be permanent. Many of them just cannot tolerate the limited sunshine during the winter, and soon move south. No doubt some people could handle living underground, but I doubt very much that you could attract large numbers.
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    Adam Cross

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    Jun 18 2012: I think it is a great idea but let's take it one step further and build above and below. Imagine cities which are only 5 miles in diameter but go 90-150 below the surface and some 200 feet above as one structure.
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    Kevin Jacobson

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    Jun 16 2012: The problem is that would cost an even larger amount of money than it takes to build surface structures. A subterranean city sounds great in theory and I actually love the idea, but it won't receive any political support for a long time.
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    Linda Taylor 50+

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    Jun 16 2012: I think it is a better idea than injecting sand and chemicals into the earth in the process of fracking.
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