Doomsday Structures (Part 13) - Cities of the Underworld. Structural inversion.

("Alice City" proposal 1989.  Taisei Corporation Tokyo, Japan.)

Amidst the doomsday series of Structural Inversion and Cities of the Underworld, the world, ironically or coincidently in light of the articles written, is now facing an event it has not seen in the last hundred years. A viral pathogen, micro non-living entities that infect and take over host cells, which in most cases jump from animal to human, has spread all over the world.  Throwing cities and economic systems into turmoil, except, when we discuss the possibility of a doomsday, it is seen as a major event, whether it be a natural disaster or nuclear war.  The viral outbreak shows another vulnerability, the unseen, which can be just as dramatic in reshaping our perception of what we once knew.  As discussed in the articles relating to structures that transcend living beings, there is a necessity for preparation in protecting the biology of humanity.  However what was seen at the onset of the pandemic first wave was an ensured global panic that occurred from the general populous, indicative of the fears that a viral outbreak creates.  For the human race to prepare for any one doomsday scenario the question is: How can this be avoided without mass panic and hysteria?  More so, removing or at least scaling down the obsession, which can occur with some individuals, in overly preparing for a cataclysmic event. Governments and the private sector may look at structural inversion as a way coping with various crises, taking the lead of building inward into the Earth, rather than outward.  And this is not a new concept. 

In 1963, by accident a man living in the region of Nevşehir Turkey, while excavating a part of his basement, discovered an entrance to the underground city Derinkuyu, thought to be built by either the Phygians or Hitties in the 7th Century.  The living areas are massive in its scale, able to hold up to 20,000 people.  Created primary as a protection from invading armies and natural threats.  Underground facilities and storage continued to be developed and used over the centuries by other societies, following the discovery of Derinkuyu.  To be an integral part of allocating extra space for the protection of supplies and people within a growing metropolis.

When we look at Japan as a modern day economy, more so being aware of the absolute destruction of its cities after World War 2, it was the reconstruction process that was truly astounding, this can be seen with the Tokyo of today which was obligated in a fire bombing campaign in 1945.  The renowned mega structure architect Kenzo Tange who was given the task to rebuild Tokyo, with land at a premium and its massive population base, the city grew from the 1950s to what it is to day as a mega-city complex housing over 9 million people.  In the late 1980s, Japan was booming as an economy, while plans were being drawn up to begin building massive underground infrastructure projects throughout the country.  One such project was the Geofrontier proposal, with a development company called Taisei Corporation offering their idea titled "Alice City", which was a multi faceted underground hub to be built beneath the city area of Tokyo, Japan.  These inverted commercial structures were destined for various suburbs throughout the greater Tokyo area, securing the development of the Alice Project as an ambitious concept, it was proposed in 1989 as a seven year projection at the cost of 16 billion yen.  To develop a self contained mini city, encased within a dome roof and set 100 meters into the Earth, filled with living areas, shopping, recreation and office space.  Connected via an extensive network of underground train systems, the structure would also have its own power station, air ventilation, sewage and water installations.  An aspiring concept that never transpired, when the dawn, what what known in economic terms, as the “Lost Decade” hit Japan from the early 1990s to 2001 when a consumption based asset bubble and over indebted private sector collapsed in 1991.  So did the idealism of Japan's mega-structure complexes and underground cities.  While economists may argue that inflating economies while relying on too much debt to finance leads to a collapse in prices, in Japan's case it has taken over a decade to recover.  The reality in its necessity, is to build structural concepts that can withstand not only an economic malaise, but more significantly a cataclysmic event, such as this viral contagion.  Shifting away from issues of finance and economics, it is the real issue that structure should hold refuge, safety and protection that the outside world, in a crisis, doesn't offer.  

Therefor a structural inversion would have assisted greatly in pandemic or at least as a model concept.  Particularly when studying the lockdowns which have recently occurred, on the basis from the first wave of the virus, that for the most part were handled, in a lot of ways, with a clumsy resolve.  Focused only by governments, in their desperation, for the interconnected economies to reopen in a synchronized manner.  Countries shifted from a strict lockdown process to open up trade and consumption that was rushed and poorly managed, which caused the virus to reemerge, hence some cities and regions have gone back into quarantine.  An inverted city, would by definition be locked down from the external regardless, depending on the screening process of people entering.  It is essentially a building that is an underground bunker, without the need to reemerge or trade with the outside world until the infection rates begin to drop.

But, there is something else that is tantalizing about a livable structure built into the Earth, in 2012 a massive coronal mass was injected from the Sun, sending waves of electromagnetic radiation towards Earth, had we been 9 days earlier in the same orbit of the Sun's equator, this would have been catastrophic if it impacted with our planet. Inflicting on a massive scale, damage to electronic and electrical systems worldwide, knocking them out completely.  It has been assessed that if an event like this was to happen, it would send our electronic and digital advancements back more than a decade.  To which the warnings have been persistent by scientists for global governments to act, after 1989 when a smaller, but disruptive solar flare shut down various electrical grids.  There has been very little interest in investing in insulation and the protection of electrical grids globally.  Yet, the appeal, even through it is yet to be devised, of a structure insulated with its buried electronics within a self sufficient powered subterranean city, would most certainly survive.           

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Author:  A.Glass