The benefits of building cities underground. (Via Maria Popova)

  • Paul Renault

    If you work and live in the right places in Montreal, you can spend all winter indoors.  They only thing you have to go outside for is to watch the Canadiens play hockey.

    • Jonathan Badger

      Yes. When I lived in Montreal I had friends whose apartment buildings opened up to the underground city, meaning they could go from their apartment, to the subway, and to work without going outside. And before people say “but that would be terrible”, realize that in January or February, you really, really don’t want to be outside in Montreal if you can help it.

      • Antinous / Moderator

        I wish that we had that in Palm Springs.

        • Jonathan Badger

          Good point. I don’t know if any hot cities have anything quite as extensive as Montreal’s underground city, but I remember encountering some tunnels in downtown Houston which were quite appreciated by me during a conference there in August.

          • Ryan_T_H

             Edmonton’s got a pretty extensive pedway system. Not quite Montreal’s level, but close.

  • James Churchill

    Yeah, it’s about time we started building a Geofront…

  • edgore

    They forgot to mention the primary disadvantage. Which is Mole Men.

    • Ashen Victor

       And C.H.U.D.s don’t forget those pests!

  • http://twitter.com/Listener43 Listener43

    We must not allow an underground city gap!

  • BillGlover

    Obviously the first thing we should consider is the cat population and the availability of magma tubes.

  • nemryn

    The Caves of Steel! Asimov was right!

  • dilinger

    I don’t understand how this would be at all appealing unless the designers figure out how to pipe natural light underground.  I’m not sure Happy Lamps would cut it.

    Hah, who am I kidding?  I live above-ground in Seattle, and I still don’t see sunlight for 4 months of the year.

    • ocker3

      That’s the thing, if there’s precious little sunlight to begin with at certain times of the year and there’s a huge problem with temperature on the surface, better to have  a well insulated building that collects and distributes natural sunlight than to try and go outside during those months