Do you want Morlocks and Eloi? Because that's how you get Morlocks and Eloi
this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2026
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I think it would be great for a lot of our transportation to be underground. Underground roadways if needed, otherwise a much expanded subway system in cities
Road cause so many issues it's ridiculous. Have all the roadways and motor vehicles underground and only pedestrian/bikes up top with green spaces and public areas.
Putting big roads underground is what norway does, once you see it done it becomes very obvious that it should be standard (plus it helps prevent large roads from being built at all, which is even better).
A lot of places already have underground malls, particularly those connected to the subway system. Many roads go underground too, especially when there's a large mountain, ocean, lake, etc. in the way.
But yes, most places are still above ground, as for one, it isn't cost effective to dig out all of the dirt required to create the large underground chambers, the supports needed to prevent collapse, etc. Many tunnels take years or even decades to become finished, an entire city of ground-dwelling people would take ages to dig out!
Aside from being expensive (in both money and time), there's a few practical reasons why this isn't the best idea. You wouldn't get sunlight, so you would need to power artificial lighting fixtures for all the different parts of the area. You could probably save power by creating artificial nights, but still, it would be a monumental task to find enough energy to sustain something like this. Solar panels become out of the question for the most part*, and depending on where you are, you would need good A/C as well, since it can get hot when you're underground, and that consumes additional power. Hydropower could be used, but with underground sources of water rather than rivers. Geothermal energy might become more mainstream as well, which would be kind of cool!
You pointed another big problem, flooding. This would be a large risk, particularly if you live in an area with lots of aquifers (sources of water that are underground) or with lots of permeable soil and rock (so rain easily seeps through the ground), flooding will be a significant issue to tackle. Earthquakes might exacerbate the issue as well, and the shaking of the quakes could also be a problem for the supports preventing the chambers and tunnels from collapsing, like how foundations of our aboveground buildings need to be strengthened. Maybe some sort of moving dampener could be used, like those in tall skyscrapers?
*Theoretically, you could have somebody on the surface maintain the solar panels the cover the Earth, but then you need to build all the infrastructure for somebody to move and live on the surface, in which case you might as well not have everybody live underground. Maybe that could be automated with robots, but that's not feasible with current technology.
I also read about a psychological study of living underground reported by DW News, and the sense of time lengthens when you're in the dark caves for a long period of time. Really interesting I think! This kind of thing would mess with our Circadian rhythm
You wouldn’t get sunlight
Mad skylights, my dude.
it can get hot when you’re underground
It is almost universally known that being underground is cooler.
flooding will be a significant issue to tackle. Earthquakes might exacerbate the issue as well
Basements typically have sump pumps, and drainage. We build buildings that can withstand earthquakes, why couldn't the structure of the underground dwelling be similarly strengthened?
you need to build all the infrastructure for somebody to move and live on the surface
Bro we already built that.
It's cooler underground because it's well insulated. That also means it's incredibly difficult to get rid of any waste heat. With artificial lighting, electronics, hell even just people moving around, that's a ton of heat being out that needs to go somewhere. Not to mention the amount of ventilation that would be required just to have breathable air. Are you imagining people driving around on underground roads?
Mad skylights, my dude.
But then you wouldn't get the protection from the elements being underground gives you, you would just be more vulnerable to flooding by creating a deep valley. Unless you mean placing glass over the entire thing, but that would be very expensive, it would be very heavy (so needs to have even stronger supports), and would need to be cleaned by somebody on the surface.
It is almost universally known that being underground is cooler.
It depends on where you are. In very sunny places, yes, it would be cooler. However, when you are deep underground, it can get very hot as well! Many construction projects involving digging out deep tunnels and holes have been cancelled because it became too hot for the workers and machines to operate!
why couldn't the structure of the underground dwelling be similarly strengthened [for earthquakes]?
Yes, you would, I mentioned this point needed to be considered. It's a larger consideration when you're underground, as there needs to be additional supports to prevent the chamber and tunnels from collapsing (you might have seen the braces of those mining tunnels, think those but on a much larger scale)
Bro we already built that.
But with the solar panels idea (or your skylights w/ glass), you can't really use the current infrastructure. You would need special roads, homes, etc. that go around them. Also, I would assume that less urbanised areas would need more development to be able to manage an array of solar panels or glass skylights.
Also, I treated this question more like what if humans never built massive cities above ground and we became underground dwellers (perhaps sometime after heavy construction equipment catched on),
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I actually quite like the idea of an underground house - it'd be easier to get a nice stable temperature year round and would be much easier to design for bushfire resilience (steel sheets over skylights/doorway, steel mesh over ventilation and you're pretty set). I could do with my own personal hobbit hole.
I would however want it to be in a position where it does not require pumped drainage. That restricts you to places on a decent slope so you can use gravity to keep things dry and cozy rather than rely on pumps that could break down. Not having a view in the vast majority of locations would also be a downside, but to be fair being able to see a good bit of distance is sadly not something you get in most normal houses anyway.
If we all lived underground, there would be no sound! Have you not heard Jamiroquai?
I wonder the same. Its a big up front cost as digging and drilling is expensive. After that I think it should not be an issue. Ventilation sure would need upkeep but given the milder temps I think savings vs additional ongoing costs should favor less cost at that point. It should be able to be done to not allow water to get in unnecessarily but it might make flooding worse above. Thing is except for deep mines we have not went that far underground. So like unless we did go that deep which would be that much more expensive or have buildings popping up to the surface then you would not have high rises. we would still be growing food on the surface which still takes a lot of land. My guess is it would just be better for people who don't need to be way out like working or running in a farm live in a high desity urban area and get rid of the wasteful in between spaces.
I've always wanted this. Underground cities would be so dope but everyone wants a 40x40 of domestic grass to do nothing with.
Singapore? Or what country are you talking about?
All of Singapore is near sea level so that's out of the question.
Better? Probably not. Maybe it eventually starts making more sense with extreme temperatures.
I would be interested, but looking at the cost of something as remote as Whittier, AK does not inspire confidence. Though even if it were non-monetary, I still probably couldn't pull my own weight. (also getting there, social compatibility etc)
Well you see, we need windows so we can see all the grey and tan boxes outside. How could we live without the starless night sky? Or the ten minutes of sun through your window by the time you get home from work?
But in all seriousness, You need jobs first and foremost because otherwise everyone would just rather live rurally. You wouldn't want it to become a company town nor ghost city, so there would have to be a heavy investment by dense congregation of successful businesses. You'd basically have to decide how deep you're going to go, then tunnel massive amounts of sewer type systems beneath that. The biggest thing imo is dealing with heavy gasses. That is a lot of expensive infrastructure to prepare very deep, before anyone can even start thinking about living spaces. Beyond that, I don't think the challenges outweigh the challenges we face now and in the near future. We've adapted to those, we could adapt to more, but it'd be a lot of expensive learning experiences in the mean time.
It might help to frame it as living under a park, or living within walking distance of businesses that necessitate or benefit directly from being outside. Like cheap food from small farms maybe. Termites massively out-number humans by mass, but they seem to make a pretty good go of it without devastating their ecologies.