The subconscious helps you make sense of an ever changing world. As the name says, you are often not aware of the working of the subconscious. Yet it is always at work, guiding you softly and never stopping. The same is true for what is underneath our cities. The ground under our feet sprouts so many functions that are essential for our lives, but we rarely think about them.
There are cables that bring electricity, pipes that deliver fresh water or take away used ones and optical fibres that let us communicate with the world. All of this happens every day, every second, and that is what keeps us alive and functioning.
The subconscious of a city guides it growth and development. Take for example German cities after World War II. Many of them lay in ruins. For the people, it was a catastrophe, but city planners also saw it as a chance – a tabula rasa. Yet the grand future they envisioned was hampered by what was underground. The form of the reconstructed cities often followed the pre-war structures simply because all the infrastructure that was underground was still intact. It was much easier to continue with the forms that the existing sewage system and power supply dictated. For both cities and humans, it can be impossible to make fundamental changes if the subconscious stays the same.
As cities grow and get older, they accumulate knowledge, just like humans do. New structures are built on top of old ones. They are still there, but forgotten and sometimes resurface only many centuries later. Think of the catacombs of Paris. They were first used as an underground quarry, from which the stones to build Paris were taken. Later the caves were used as an alternative resting grounds as the official cemeteries were overflowing. Eventually they were forgotten and only later turned into a museum, a headquarter of the Resistance and a party location. Today, the Catacombs continue to influence the life of Parisiennes, both culturally (think illegal underground parties) and the architecture (large buildings cannot be erected on top of the catacombs, due to the danger of cave-ins.)
If you drill too deep into your subconscious, you might find things from your past long hidden. That is what the builders of the Thessaloniki Metro had to find out. Drilling under the city, they found relics of the antique version of Thessaloniki. This let to major delays and cost overruns–in the end, the project took more than 40 years to complete. On the other hand, it was worth the effort, as now subway stations are also public museums and patrons get in touch with their ancient history on every ride.
The subconscious also protects you from the onslaught of all the impressions and dangers of the outside world. The underground of cities does that as well – think of the bunkers in London and other cities that saved civilians during the World War, or the subways of Kyiv or Charkiv that serve the same purpose today. On the other hand, Montreal’s Underground City was built to protect people from the bitter cold and snow of the Canadian Winter and still let them enjoy the urban life (on a side note, the shopping centres in the Underground City also protect people from having too much money).
As psychologists are slowly uncovering the role the subconscious plays for humans, archeologists and engineers are at the same time discovering and shaping the subconscious of our cities. We are now going ever further underground – think of the Boring Company. How will that shape our cities, and our selves? I am convinced that the answer is hidden somewhere deep.
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