Underground space in land-use planning

In 1988, the Finnish Ministry of the Environment appointed a committee to review existing planning systems for underground construction. In its report in spring 1990, the committee concluded that current legislation and planning procedures were unsatisfactory. In response, a study on “Underground Space in the Planning and Land Use” was launched in June 1994, and was completed in summer 1996.
The study formed part of Finland's Rock Engineering 2000 programme. The study reviewed the present situation in underground planning; examined current uses of underground facilities; created a basic method for the classifying the building potential of rock areas, identified the various methods currently available for assessing the environmental impacts of underground construction on the basis of the legislation in force (EIA); to developed methods for assessing the costs to the urban community of underground space, particularly in comparison with equivalent costs of space aboveground; and drafted a proposal concerning planning of different level and permit procedures for underground space.
This paper discusses each aspect of the study.