Ninth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

Quarrying for building stone has created intricate networks of underground spaces beneath many cities which over time, developed symbiotic relationships with the surface world. These subterranean layers were variously used for tunnels, canals, and sewers; cisterns, aqueducts, and reservoirs; catacombs, crypts, and places of worship, offering new opportunities to experience the city in vertical section. With its vast web of limestone quarries connected by galleries, the Paris underground is one of the oldest, densest, and most complex; the volcanic sandstone underlying Naples removed in huge blocks over several millennia left behind a vast honeycomb of excavated caverns. This paper explores new subterranean projects in both cities which are testaments to the continuing evolution and enduring vitality of forbidden spaces, many of them formerly closed to public access, that continue to enrich contemporary urban life, subverting official boundaries and inspiring the collective imagination.