Multi-uses of the subsurface in cities and their surrounding regions, challenge and opportunity on the way to a sustainable future against environmental pressures

Co-organized by NP8

Convener: Leni Scheck-Wenderoth | Co-conveners: Jakob KulichECSECS, Elzbieta HalajECSECS, Julien Mouli-CastilloECSECS, Jessica Maria Chicco, Tine Compernolle, Daniel J. Lang

The subsurface is increasingly recognised as a finite, shared and strategic space in which multiple, often competing uses must coexist over long time horizons. Energy storage and production, carbon dioxide removal, groundwater supply, underground infrastructure, and the storage or disposal of waste all rely on carefully a managed subsurface resource. How these uses interact has become a critical question for sustainable development.

This challenge is particularly acute in urban regions, where pressures from climate change, growing energy demand, environmental pollution, and social transformation converge. Densely populated cities are hotspots of resource consumption and vulnerability, but also key sites of innovation where resilient, low-carbon and just futures can be actively co-designed. At the same time, urban growth increasingly depends on subsurface resources located beyond city boundaries that support cities through the provision of energy and water, as well as through the removal of waste.

Understanding urban resilience and transformation therefore requires an integrated view of surface and subsurface systems across urban and extra-urban spaces, and across spatial and temporal scales. Yet, the role of surface and subsurface geo-processes within broader socio-technical and socio-ecological dynamics remains underexplored. Addressing this gap is essential for ensuring that subsurface resources are used in ways that are environmentally sustainable, socially just and mindful of future needs.