Towards integrated planning through improved geoscience knowledge and use of the urban subsurface - The EU COST sub-urban action (TU1206)

Abstract

© 2018 ACUUS 2018 - 16th World Conference of the Associated Research Centers for the Urban Underground Space: Integrated Underground Solutions for Compact Metropolitan Cities, Conference Proceedings. All rights reserved. The United Nations' Global Goal 11 of Sustainable Cities and Communities contributes to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The subsurface has an important but as yet largely under-appreciated role to play in achieving this goal. This will require integrated planning incorporating the subsurface meaningfully, and will depend on better accessibility to and communication of subsurface geoscience knowledge and data, in ways relevant to planning. The EU-funded COST Action Sub-Urban (TU1206) has focussed on this challenge by developing a European network involving 29 countries to improve understanding and use of ground beneath our cities. Key objectives included identification and dissemination of good practice in subsurface data and knowledge and greater interaction between subsurface experts, urban decision-makers, practitioners and researchers. City-scale subsurface model exemplars have been encouraged to inspire a lighthouse-follower approach nationally and internationally. Sub-Urban's state-of the-art City and expert reviews identify good practice and methodologies in: Subsurface information and planning; Data acquisition and management; 3D/4D urban subsurface modelling and visualization; Groundwater and geothermal monitoring and modelling; Geotechnical modelling and hazards; (Sub)surface geochemistry; and Cultural heritage. These findings, workflows and decision-support tools are highlighted in an online Toolbox (http://sub-urban, squarespace.com/) GeoCIM (Geo-Ciry Information Modelling) has been developed for City Quarter to Conurbation scales, combining subsurface and above-ground 3D and 4D models to support: holistic urban planning; addressing subsurface congestion identification of subsurface opportunities, and cost saving by reducing uncertainty in ground conditions. Early-stage consideration of the subsurface in planning is also considered essential, and should be acknowledged at policy levels.