considerations on developing urban underground land in Malaysia: a review

Abstract

More than half of the world population nowadays lives in urban areas and it is not impossible this figure will reach 70% in 2050. The rapid growth of world civilization will have a significant impact on the way humans live in the future. The impact of that, more countries demand a higher standard of living, the world must provide more food and greater energy and mineral resources to sustain this growth. Moreover, the needs of space are highly demanded with the great pressure especially on housing and infrastructure. Many urban problems occur due to the higher demand than supply such as traffic congestion, air pollution and lack of green space for development. As a result of these circumstances, the other considerations are using non-other than going to the third dimension of the city as a final frontier in urban development. Looking on positively for the underground development for infrastructure, it’s important for Malaysia move one step forward by considering expanding the usage of underground space into many categories. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to investigate the present and future uses of underground land in Malaysia. In order to achieve it, it will identify the current uses of underground land and examined the potential planning for the development. This investigation attempt to explore the future of underground land in wider aspect in order to develop sustainable underground land.