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Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766
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Underground space use of urban built-up areas in the central city

of Nanjing: Insight based on a dynamic population distribution
Yulu Chen a, Zhilong Chen a,⁎, Dongjun Guo a,⁎, Ziwei Zhao a, Tong Lin b
Chenhao Zhang a
a
Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province 210007, PR China
b
Nanjing Academy of Urban Planning and Design Co., Ltd, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province 210000, PR China

Received 21 October 2020; received in revised form 15 November 2021; accepted 10 December 2021
Available online 24 January 2022

Abstract

With the expansion of cities and the emergence of various urban problems, urban underground space has been developed as a solu-
tion. In China’s urban transition context, there is a need for the development of underground space in urban built-up areas. In this case-
study of the central city of Nanjing, we used spatial analysis and statistical methods to characterize the underground space use of urban
built-up areas from a dynamic spatiotemporal perspective. We first analyzed the relationship between the population distribution and the
underground space use of the central city of Nanjing based on a Baidu heat map, which can reflect the real-time population distribution,
and then, we explored the spatiotemporal characteristics and spatial structure of the underground space use in urban built-up areas. The
analysis results provide a reference for planning to improve and optimize the layout of underground space in the central city of Nanjing
and, more generally, for the stock-type planning of underground space in urban built-up areas.

Keywords: Underground space use; Dynamic population distribution; Urban built-up area; Spatiotemporal characteristics

1 Introduction development (Bobylev, 2009; Cui & Lin, 2016; Hunt

Since the economic reform and opening-up, China’s
urbanization process has been accelerating, expanding the
urban built-up areas. The urbanization rate of China
increased from 17.92% in 1978 to 58.52% in 2017, and
the total urban built-up area increased from approximately
7400 km2 to approximately 56 000 km2 in the same period
(Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, P.R.
CHINA, 2018). Urbanization has led to rapidly increasing
urban problems, such as unguided population expansion,
traffic congestion, and environmental pollution, making
urban space resources increasingly scarce (Broere, 2016).
As an important resource that supports urban sustainable
⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: chen-zl@vip.163.com (Z. Chen), guo_dongjun@163.
com (D. Guo).
et al., 2016) and solves urban problems (Carmody &
Sterling, 1993; Broere, 2012; Qian, 2016; Qiao et al.,
2019), urban underground space has been greatly devel-
oped in recent years.
Currently, China’s urban development is in a transi-
tional stage, with strict control on the boundary of urban
development and further constraints on urban space
resources. In this context, urban planning and construction
have gradually shifted from ‘‘incremental expansion” to ‘‘s-
tock optimization” (Zhao et al., 2014). Underground
space, as a type of stock resource, has received increasing
attention in cities, especially in urban built-up areas—pre-
senting great demand for development. What are the char-
acteristics of underground space use (USU) in urban built-
up areas? Can the current layout of underground space
meet the needs of urban development? Sufficient research
on underground space in urban built-up areas is required.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.undsp.2021.12.006
2467-9674/Ó 2021 Tongji University. Publishing Services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766
Urban built-up areas are the developed and constructed
areas within urban administrative districts, in which munic-
ipal utilities and urban infrastructures are widely available;
urban built-up areas are the sites of various activities of the
urban population. The construction of underground space
in urban built-up areas mostly concerns the improvement
and perfection of the existing space and involves the subjec-
tive feelings of people who use urban spaces. Therefore, the
planning and layout of underground space in urban built-
up areas should not only consider factors such as the social
economy, technology, history, culture, and conflict resolu-
tion (Beroggi, 2000; Bartel & Janssen, 2016; Zhao et al.,
2016), but also focus on the changes in the space-related
activities and demands of the urban population.
Currently, most of the research on underground space is
qualitative, and few are quantitative. A variety of methods
and technologies have been introduced in the quantitative
analysis of underground space, including statistical meth-
ods, modeling methods, economics, GIS, and other data
visualization tools. For example, Bobylev (2010) conducted
quantitative research on underground space based on the
number and depth of underground infrastructure and the
functions of underground structures in Alexandria square
in Berlin. Wang et al. (2013) investigated the key factors
influencing the development potential of urban under-
ground space by using a structural equation model. Zhu
et al. (2016) demonstrated the relevant concepts and main
technologies of digitization and established an intelligent
underground engineering geological system. Kaliampakos
et al. (2016) conducted a comprehensive review of econo-
metric statistics of underground space, including construc-
tion costs for different types of structures and the output of
the world underground construction industry. Makana
et al. (2016) proposed a sustainable underground use resi-
lience evaluation framework that could quantify the spa-
tiotemporal impacts of urban underground development
solutions based on future economic, environmental, and
social changes.
The quantitative research of underground space mainly
focuses on the correlation analysis between underground
space and various influencing factors, such as geological,
hydrological, and socio-economic factors. Among them,
the social factor of population, as the demand subject of
urban underground space, is an important factor in urban
underground space development and has received increas-
ing attention in the literature. Edelenbos et al. (1998) dis-
cussed the motives for choosing the underground option
based on its specific advantages, and broadly analyzed
the stakeholders corresponding to different motivations.
Admiraal and Cornaro (2016) argued that spatial dialogue
among diverse stakeholders, including planners, engineers,
developers, and public decision-makers, is essential for tap-
ping the real potential of urban underground space and
promoting its development. Bobylev (2009) analyzed the
relationship between population density and the volume
of urban underground infrastructure in Stockholm, Tokyo,
749
and Paris and revealed that high population density or high
building density is the driving force of urban underground
space development. A quantitative study of the under-
ground space in Shanghai revealed that population density
has an independent positive predictive power for the
density of urban USU (He et al., 2012). Li et al. (2016a,
2016b) pointed out that population density determines
the potential of urban underground space. Peng et al.
(2019) analyzed the quantitative relationship between the
distribution of underground space around subway stations
and several candidate influencing factors, indicating that
underground spaces tend to cluster in areas with good
economic conditions and high population density. More-
over, many studies have considered population density as
an important demand index for underground space evalu-
ation (Li et al., 2013a; 2013b; 2016a, 2016b; Chen et al.,
2018; Zhou et al., 2019).
Several studies have noted the human-related complex
and spatiotemporal dynamic nature of USU; however,
most of the population data studied are static data from
traditional censuses and social surveys. Such data cannot
be used to address the complexity of residents’ spatial
movement or the flexibility of their lifestyle (Mateos,
2004) and cannot reflect the real use of urban space or
the real needs of urban space users. Population migration
is a basic reason for the change in urban spatial structure,
and population distribution data are the key factors for the
planning of underground space (Peng & Peng, 2018). In the
urban transformation and development context, it is parti-
cularly important to scientifically grasp residents’ activity
space and rationally plan and manage urban underground
space based on residents’ needs. The existing research on
underground space pays little attention to people’s spatio-
temporal behavior and the analysis of USU from the
perspective of residents’ activities, especially from the
perspective of real-time activities. As a promising method
to fill this gap, big data offers an effective tool for mining
the rules of USU and studying the transformation of
underground space planning.
The research value of ‘‘big data” has attracted the atten-
tion of western mainstream academia since the beginning
of the new millennium (Lynch, 2008). With the develop-
ment of society and the innovation of information technol-
ogy, the scope and complexity of people’s activities have
expanded. Spaces of flows become the main carrier of
urban residents’ activities (Castells, 1991) and can be
reflected through a large number of complex networks
and mobile data. Multi-source big data, such as social net-
works, mobile signaling, and traffic travel, contain the spa-
tiotemporal activity characteristics of user groups and can
effectively show the trajectory of urban population flow
and the state of spatiotemporal aggregation. This compen-
sates for the lack of consideration of dynamic aspects in
traditional data and provides an opportunity for innova-
tion in research. A large amount of information about
‘‘people” can better reflect the ‘‘man-land relationship”
750 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766
and provide methodological support for the study of
underground space planning in the transition period. This
‘‘data-driven” method based on the ‘‘bottom-up”
approach, lays more emphasis on observational empirical
research of data sources, providing a new way to explore
the spatiotemporal characteristics and laws of research
objects.
This study attempts to make up for the deficiency of
spatiotemporal regularity and quantitative research in
underground space research, focusing on urban built-up
areas, improving research ideas, and innovating research
paradigms from the research methods. Using Baidu heat
map big data, from the human behavior and spatial distri-
bution perspective, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal
rules of USU in urban built-up areas from three aspects:
the relationship between urban population distribution
and USU, the spatiotemporal characteristics of USU,
and the spatial structure of USU, to provide a reference
for the stock-type planning of underground space in the
transformation context.
This study makes two specific contributions. On the one
hand, by revealing the relationship between urban popula-
tion distribution and USU as well as the spatiotemporal
characteristics of USU, it is helpful to better understand
the rules of USU in built-up areas and improve the theore-
tical research of underground space. On the other hand, it
provides useful guidance for relevant departments and
planners to formulate policies and plans regarding USU,
and helps the transformation of underground space plan-
ning in the transformation context.
2 Research area and data processing
2.1 Overview of the research area
This study considered the central city of Nanjing as the
research area. Nanjing, located in the southwestern part of
Jiangsu Province and the lower reaches of the Yangtze
River, is the capital city of Jiangsu Province and one of Chi-
na’s megacities. The satellite images are shown in Fig. 1.
The central city is the core area of the Nanjing
metropolitan area, with a total area of approximately
846 km2. It includes the main urban districts of Old Town,
Hexi District, East District, South District, and North Dis-
trict and the three sub-cities of Jiangbei, Dongshan, and
Xianlin (Fig. 1). Old Town is the commercial center of
the entire city where historical and cultural elements are
concentrated. The Old Town is fully built up. The Hexi
District is located south of Old Town and is used for com-
mercial, cultural, and sports purposes. All of the northern
parts of Hexi are built up, the central part is basically com-
pleted, and the southern part is a new urban area and is rel-
atively less developed. Most areas in the East, South, and
North districts are built-up areas; thus, there are many
opportunities for renovation. The built-up area of the
Dongshan Sub-city coexists with the new area, while small
parts of the Jiangbei and Xianlin sub-cities are built up,
and most are new urban areas.
2.2 Data source and processing
The research data in this study mainly include the pop-
ulation distribution data reflected by the Baidu heat map
and underground space data. Usually, only in built-up
areas, people can gather, and underground space can be
distributed. Both the static data of the underground space
and the Baidu heat map data reflect the spatial state of the
urban built-up area. Therefore, both sources can be used in
the analysis to investigate the characteristics of USU in
urban built-up areas.
The population distribution data mainly came from the
Baidu heat map. The heat map calculates the crowd density
and flow speed of each cluster site according to the location
clustering of smartphone users when they visit Baidu prod-
ucts (such as maps, searches, weather, music, etc.) and visu-
alizes the calculated population thermal index on the base
map through different colors and levels of brightness,
showing the spatial difference of the population distribu-
tion density. The heat map was provided in real-time and
updated every 15 min. It adds time dimension information
to the geographical location information of the population
distribution, which is of great significance for the spa-
tiotemporal dynamic research of underground space.
According to the data of major mobile mapping applica-
tions in China in 2018, the Baidu map is downloaded
approximately 1.85 billion times and has 320 million
monthly users (Baidu News, 2019). The most recent data
show that the Baidu map responds to approximately 80 bil-
lion location service requests every day (Doc, 2019). The
large database offers strong credibility for research based
on the Baidu heat map. However, the heat map cannot
reflect the real population density, but can only approxi-
mate the population distribution trend and the spatial dif-
ferences in the population density. Therefore, this study
emphasized the relative situation of population agglomera-
tion and distribution in different areas in different periods.
Considering the periodic variation of population activi-
ties weekly and the difference in activities between working
days and rest days, this study selected two days, July 4,
2019 (working day) and July 6, 2019 (rest day), and inter-
cepted the Baidu heat map every two hours from 7:00 to
23:00. A total of 18 heat maps were obtained as the basic
data for this study (Fig. 2). According to the needs of the
data analysis, the heat map data were vectorized based
on the GIS platform, and the density of the population dis-
tribution was assigned by heat intensity values ranging
from 1–7—corresponding to different color zones in the
heat map (Fig. 3). When, the population density increases,
the number is higher. To facilitate the latter analysis, the
zones with heat intensities of 6–7 are collectively referred
to as urban high heat zones (HHZs), and the zones with
heat intensities of 4–5 are collectively referred to as urban
secondary heat zones (SHZs) (Figs. 3 and 4)—representing
 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766 751

Fig. 1. Satellite photo and district structure of Nanjing central city (data source: drawn based on Amap).

Fig. 2. Baidu heat map of Nanjing central city (part) (data source: drawn based on a Baidu map).

the urban areas with the highest population density (Wu &
Ye, 2016).
The underground space data are mainly derived from the
Master Plan for the Development and Utilization of Urban
Underground Space in Nanjing (2015–2030). Such data are
obtained through the current land use interpretation, topo-
graphic data verification, on-site verification, online prop-
erty information queries, and other channels, and the
construction data of some underground spaces are included
in the existing planning information platform. Urban
underground space comprises functional structures with
mainly linear or point-shaped characteristics. The develop-
ment and utilization of linear underground facilities, such
as rail transit and underground pipelines, are mostly led
by the city government for planning, construction, and
management. The development and utilization of point-
shaped underground facilities, such as parking, commercial,
office, and entertainment facilities, are mostly driven by the
daily activities of the urban population. Therefore, to effec-
tively investigate the characteristics of USU based on the
dynamic distribution of the population, this study chose
parking, commercial, sports, entertainment, and other
point-shaped underground facilities in direct supply–
demand relationships with the population distribution as
research objects. Through the ArcGIS platform, the data
of the status quo of the underground space are transformed
into spatial vector data, and attributes are assigned, includ-
ing functions, the number of layers, and areas.
The underground space facilities in the central city
are mainly parking and commercial facilities—primarily
distributed in the main urban districts. The underground
space facilities in the sub-cities are combined with the
layout of public buildings and residential areas, and
the construction volume increases annually. The under-
ground space in the central city is mainly developed
in shallow layers, among which underground commer-
cial and underground parking facilities are mainly
distributed in the first and second floors of the under-
ground, with less development in the middle layers
(Figs. 5 and 6).
752 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766
Fig. 3. Vectorized Baidu heat map of Nanjing central city (2019–07-06,
9:00).
3 Analysis and results
3.1 The relationship between the urban population
distribution and USU
For this part of the analysis, the function distribution
map of the underground space in the central city was
superimposed with the Baidu heat map at each moment
of the working day and the rest day. Through a compre-
Fig. 4. Vector map of HHZs and SHZs during the working day (2019–07-04).
hensive analysis, notably, from the distributional pattern
perspective, the underground space presents characteristics
of agglomeration and clustering that closely match the
population distribution. Underground space in areas with
population agglomeration has been fully developed, while
that in areas with low population density is poorly devel-
oped. The development density of the underground space
is higher in HHZs than in other zones. Regarding the func-
tion distribution, the HHZs are highly consistent with the
underground public facilities distribution. Almost all
underground public facilities are concentrated in HHZs,
and the underground space in HHZs has more diversified
functions. To further investigate the relationship between
the vertical distribution of the underground space and the
population distribution, the vertical stratification map of
the underground space was superimposed with the Baidu
heat map at each moment of the working day and the rest
day. Notably, there is a certain relationship between the
HHZs and the number of layers in the underground space.
Most multilayer underground facilities are located in
HHZs. Through further investigation of the relationship
between underground space and the location of the rail
transit site, most underground space and most HHZs are
aggregated around subway stations because the under-
ground space combined with subway stations can create
more commercial opportunities and transportation space
to attract more people and promote economic and social
development around the stations (Durmisevic, 1999).
To further determine the supply effect of underground
space resources, the relationship between the population
distribution density and the underground space develop-
ment intensity was quantitatively analyzed. As mentioned
above, the HHZs and SHZs are the areas with the highest
density of the urban population; thus, the scales of the
HHZs and SHZs can be used to measure the population
distribution density. However, because of the different land
areas in each district, the statistical areas of HHZs and
SHZs in each district are not comparable. Based on the
planned construction land area, the HHZ and SHZ areas
 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766
Fig. 5. Function distribution of the underground space in the central city
(data source: drawn based on the Master plan for the development and
utilization of urban underground space in Nanjing [2015–2030]).
in each district were normalized, and the calculation for-
mula is
mjx ¼ ajx =Aj ; ð1Þ
where mjx is the normalized standard value of the HHZ or
SHZ area in the district j at time x, ajx is the HHZ or SHZ
area in district j at time x, and Aj is the planned construc-
tion land area of district j. j represents the districts in cen-
tral city—Old Town, Hexi District, South District, North
District, East District, Dongshan Sub-city, Jiangbei Sub-
city, and Xianlin Sub-city; x=7:00, 9:00, 11:00, 13:00,
15:00, 17:00, 19:00, 21:00, and 23:00.
Considering the particularity of population activities at
7:00, the average value of the population distribution den-
sity from 9:00 to 23:00 was calculated, and the formula is
X
dj ¼ mjx =8; ð2Þ
where d j is the average value of the day-long population
distribution density in district j, mjx is the normalized stan-
dard value of the HHZ or SHZ area of district j at time x,
and x = 9:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 19:00, 21:00, and
23:00.
The development intensity of underground space is
expressed as the ratio between the underground space area
and the planned construction land area of each district, and
it is calculated as
753
Fig. 6. Vertical stratification of the underground space in the central city
(data source: drawn based on the Master plan for the development and
utilization of urban underground space in Nanjing [2015–2030]).
I j ¼ U j =Aj ; ð3Þ
where I j is the development intensity of the underground
space in district j, U j is the area of the underground space
of district j, and Aj is the planned construction land area of
district j.
According to the above formulas, the development
intensity of the underground space and the population dis-
tribution density of each district were calculated (Tables 1
and 2). SPSS software was used to draw scatter diagrams,
with the population distribution density as the abscissa and
the development intensity of underground space as the
ordinate (Fig. 7).
According to Tables 1 and 2 and Fig. 7, the population
distribution density of the SHZ is positively correlated with
the development intensity of the underground space, while
there is an obvious abnormal point in the HHZ—Old
Town. The population density in Old Town is very high,
but the intensity of underground space development is rel-
atively low, and the supply of underground space resources
is scarce. This is because of the restrictive factors of capital
and property rights in the renewal and reconstruction of
Old Town, the difficulty of underground space develop-
ment, and the high development cost—resulting in an
imbalance between the supply and demand of underground
space. Therefore, the redevelopment of underground space
754 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766
Table 1
Data on the average density of the population distribution (d j ) during the
working day and the development intensity of underground space (I j ).
j d j of HHZ d j of SHZ Ij
Old Town 0.790 0.270 0.085
Hexi District 0.378 0.328 0.146
South District 0.155 0.248 0.099
North District 0.105 0.264 0.074
East District 0.047 0.185 0.136
DongshanSub-city 0.066 0.164 0.039
JiangbeiSub-city 0.012 0.055 0.030
XianlinSub-city 0.005 0.031 0.014
in Old Town must be undertaken to improve the supply of
underground space resources and to meet the needs associ-
ated with the activities of the high-density population.
As seen in Fig. 7(a) and (c), the development intensity of
the underground space in the Hexi District is the highest
among all districts. However, compared with the other
six districts, it is still not sufficient because the Hexi District
government adopted the strategy of restricting the con-
struction of underground parking facilities considering that
the presence of too many underground parking spaces will
aggravate aboveground traffic congestion. According to
the traffic situation released by Amap (AutoNavi
Software, 2019), the traffic situation is better in the Hexi
District than that in other similar districts, and the traffic
flows within the region are efficient and fast. Although this
condition is closely related to reasonable urban planning, it
also proves the efficacy of restricting underground parking.
Through the above analysis, the urban population dis-
tribution and USU show an obvious positive correlation
regardless of form or quantity, which demonstrates the
positive predictive ability of population density to deter-
mine the demand for underground space, indicating that
population distribution density reflects the demand and
utilization intensity of underground space to a certain
extent. It provides the basis for the analysis of USU spa-
tiotemporal characteristics in urban built-up areas based
on the Baidu heat map.
3.2 Spatiotemporal characteristics of USU in urban built-up
areas
3.2.1 The spatiotemporal characteristics of USU demand
The changes in the population concentration at different
times of the day are associated with a variety of factors,
such as urban land-use types (Liu et al., 2020), different
activities, and locations. However, regardless of the factors
that the changes in population concentration depend on,
high concentrations of the population at any time of the
day signal a relatively high demand for space, including
aboveground space and underground space. From the
above analysis, the urban population distribution and
USU show a positive correlation; therefore, the HHZs
and the SHZs are the areas with the highest population
density, which, in turn, represent the high demand intensity
Table 2
Data on the Average density of the population distribution (d j ) during the
rest day and the development intensity of underground space (I j ).
j d j of HHZ d j of SHZ Ij
Old Town 0.785 0.254 0.085
Hexi District 0.381 0.272 0.146
South District 0.163 0.221 0.099
North District 0.134 0.281 0.074
East District 0.061 0.246 0.136
DongshanSub-city 0.081 0.177 0.039
JiangbeiSub-city 0.019 0.071 0.030
XianlinSub-city 0.004 0.035 0.014
of underground space. Therefore, the spatiotemporal char-
acteristics of the demand for USU can be analyzed based
on the dynamic changes in the HHZ and SHZ in different
districts. The normalized standard values of the HHZ and
SHZ areas in different districts (Eq.(1)) are plotted as line
charts for comparative analysis, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9.
The line charts show that the HHZ area in each district
during the working day is at its lowest at 7:00, probably
because fewer people are using smartphones as people are
still resting or just getting up. By 9:00, the HHZ area rises
rapidly, and then maintains a steady fluctuation state. At
21:00, there is a trough, and the area rises again by
23:00. Some districts even reach their peak at 23:00. The
change rules of the HHZ area are similar on the rest day
and the working day. Overall, the HHZ covers a larger
area during the rest day than during the working day,
but there is a lag in the timing of the changes compared
to the working day. This is because people’s activities dur-
ing rest days lag behind their activities during working
days, and during rest days, people engage in a wider range
of activities.
The variation in the SHZ during the working and rest
days presents a similar rule. The SHZ areas in the seven
districts other than Old Town are the lowest at 7:00, and
it fluctuates steadily during the rest day. However, the
SHZ area in Old Town is the highest at 7:00 and declines
rapidly by 9:00, after which it presents a stable fluctuation.
This is because of the high degree of population agglomer-
ation in Old Town. Most of the districts after 9:00 are
HHZ, while the SHZ areas are relatively small.
The HHZ and SHZ areas in the entire central city reveal
a similar change rule in each district. A comprehensive
observation of the line charts shows that each district pre-
sents an upward trend after 21:00 and reaches a peak at
23:00—quite different from people’s usual activity habits.
The reason for this phenomenon is probably because most
people in the city are still up after 21:00, and more people
use smartphones at night than during the day—leading the
Baidu heat map to reflect the HHZ and SHZ over a large
area.
According to the above analysis, regarding spatial distri-
bution, Old Town has the highest population density, fol-
lowed by Hexi district, and the population density in the
sub-cities is very low showing the demand for USU in
 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766
Fig. 7. The relationship between the population distribution density and the underground space development intensity.
the main urban district is much higher than that in the
sub-cities. Concerning time variation, the population distri-
bution density of each district presents dynamic spatiotem-
poral variation characteristics—because of the change in
the population spatiotemporal distribution caused by the
separation of the urban occupation and residence, housing
and schooling, and urban function division, and reflects the
spatiotemporal law of the demand for underground space
in different districts. In the planning of underground space,
we can make full use of the spatiotemporal law of urban
population distribution, study the USU demand degree in
different districts at different times, and make use of the
time-elasticity of underground space demand in different
districts to provide a reference for the interval sharing
and off-peak utilization of underground space resources.
The geographical location of the continuous HHZ was
investigated to further analyze the spatial characteristics
of the demand for USU. For this analysis, the central city
of Nanjing was divided into 50 m  50 m raster units
through the ArcGIS platform, and a raster calculator
was used to calculate the average value of the Baidu heat
map. According to the above analysis, the data error at
7:00 is relatively large; thus, the average value of the heat
755
intensity of each unit from 9:00 to 23:00 was calculated
(Figs. 10 and 11). The formula is
X
Hk ¼ H kx =8; ð4Þ
where H k is the day-long average heat intensity of unit k,
H kx is the heat intensity of unit k at time x, x=9:00,
11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 19:00, 21:00, and 23:00, and k
= 1, 2, 3, ∙∙∙, n.
There were 25 continuous HHZs in the central city of
Nanjing during the working day. The average heat map
was superimposed with the Baidu map to identify the speci-
fic geographic locations of the HHZs. The HHZs are
named according to their geographical locations and iconic
sites, and their order by area from large to small is Xin-
jiekou, Hunan Road, Confucius Temple, Hexi Center,
Nanjing South Railway Station, Longjiang Business Dis-
trict, Hong Yue, Oil Mill Bridge, Hongyang Plaza Business
Circle, Dongshan Sub-city Center, Jiangning Wanda Plaza,
Nanjing Station, Xinzhuang Square, Yin Hua Street of
Integrity Avenue, Nanjing Yiwu Commodity City, Maigao
Bridge Square, Shuanglong Avenue, Maqun Business Cir-
cle, Dingjia Village, Nanjing University of the Arts, Tian-
756 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766

Fig. 8. Area changes in the HHZs or SHZs in every district.

Fig. 9. Area changes in the HHZs or SHZs in the central city.

long Temple, World Trade Riverside, Fengxiang Garden
and Cuiping Mountain Mass Transit Rail Station (Fig. 12).
Through further observation of the land use functions,
the HHZs are mostly distributed among commercial cen-
ters, transportation hubs, and employment centers on a
working day—showing an obvious work orientation. The
distribution of HHZs on the rest day is like the distribution
of HHZs on a working day but more extensive. Tianlong
Temple and Fengxiang Garden are no longer HHZs for
the rest day, but four commercial leisure regions are
added—specifically, Southern Times Plaza, Tian Run,
Mingfa Bund Plaza, and Wutang Plaza, reflecting the lei-
sure orientation of the population distribution during the
rest day (Fig. 13).
Owing to the positive correlation between population
distribution density and USU, the distribution of these per-
sistent HHZs represents the high-demand areas of under-
ground space and the spatial structure of the USU. The
optimization and improvement of the underground space
structure system should be based on this. On the one hand,
 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766 757

Fig. 10. Average heat intensity of the working day.

it can reflect the people-oriented planning orientation; on
the other hand, it can effectively meet the actual space
demand of the city.
3.2.2 Spatiotemporal characteristics of USU
The HHZ is the area with the highest urban population
density, and it represents a high demand for urban space,
including underground space. The function and scale of
the underground space covered by the HHZ reflect the
demand degree and utilization intensity of spaces with dif-
ferent functions among the urban population. Therefore,
the spatiotemporal characteristics of the USU can be inves-
tigated by analyzing the area change in the underground
space covered by the HHZ. By using the clipping tool in
GIS, the vector data of the underground space in each dis-
trict were clipped and counted with the HHZ at different
time points as the boundary. In the underground space
of the central city, the three functions, namely, residential
underground parking facilities (RUPFs), public under-
ground parking facilities (PUPFs), and underground com-
mercial facilities (UCFs) account for more than 97% of the
total area of underground space and are distributed across
every district. However, the areas with other functions
account for less than 3% (Fig. 14) and are mostly dis-
tributed in Old Town—making it difficult to mine the data
rules. Therefore, only the areas of RUPFs, PUPFs, and
UCFs at different times were counted and plotted as line
charts (Figs. 15 and 16).
758 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766

Fig. 11. Average heat intensity of the rest day.

According to Figs. 15 and 16, for either the whole cen-
tral city or each district, the area of underground facilities
in the HHZ shows a similar change trend. During the
working day, the scale of RUPFs varies from 9:00 to
23:00 according to the ‘‘high-low–high” rule. The area of
RUPFs is at its minimum at 7:00; after which it rapidly
increases reaching a peak at 9:00, then decreases slightly
and fluctuates on a small scale, but quickly increases again
after 21:00 and reaches its maximum at 23:00. The scale of
PUPFs presents an opposite trend and varies from 7:00 to
23:00 according to the ‘‘low–high-low” rule. The area
changes are similar in the UCFs and PUPFs.
During the rest day, the RUPF area in the HHZ rises
from 7:00 to 23:00, except for slight fluctuations, and
reaches its maximum at 23:00. The variation rule of PUPFs
is similar to the rule during the working day, but with a
slight time lag. The UCF area varies similarly to the work-
ing day from 7:00 to 23:00 according to the ‘‘low–high-lo
w” rule.
As shown in Fig. 16, in the entire central city, from 9:00
to 22:00 during the working day, the PUPF area far
exceeds the RUPF area. Moreover, the RUPF area varies
greatly from day to night—indicating that a considerable
portion of RUPFs are vacant during the daytime and result
in a waste of space resources. After 22:00, the scale of the
RUPFs far exceeds the scale of the PUPFs. During the rest
day, the scale of RUPFs far exceeds the scale of PUPFs
after 15:00.
The underground space in the HHZs is highly utilized
due to the high population concentration and the high
 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766 759

Fig. 12. Locations of high population concentration during the working day.

demand for urban space in the HHZ compared with other
zones. As stated earlier, this study focused more on relative
comparisons than absolute ones of the data. Therefore, the
utilization efficiency of underground space with different
functions can be measured by the proportion of the total
underground area occupied by the underground area in
the HHZs. The calculation formula is
eix ¼ uix =U i ; ð5Þ
where eix is the utilization efficiency of the underground
facilities of function i at time x, and uix is the underground
facility area of function i in the HHZ at time x. U i is the
total area of the underground facilities of function i. i rep-
resents the three functions of RUPFs, PUPFs, and UCFs.
x = 7:00, 9:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00, 19:00, 21:00, and
23:00.
The utilization efficiency of underground facilities at dif-
ferent times of the day is shown in Fig. 17. From the
change trend perspective, the change rule of the utilization
efficiency of underground facilities is like that of the under-
ground facilities area in the HHZ. The utilization efficiency
of UCFs and PUPFs is low in the morning and at night but
high in the daytime, while the utilization efficiency of
RUPFs is low in the daytime and high at night. Regarding
value, UCFs have the highest utilization efficiency, fol-
lowed by PUPFs and RUPFs. This phenomenon reflects
people’s space use rules, that is, people use more public
space in the daytime and more living space and supporting
760 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766

Fig. 13. Locations of high population concentration during the rest day.

parking facilities in the morning and evening. Conversely,
it reflects the uneven utilization efficiency of underground
facilities with different functions—causing the waste of
space resources to some extent.
Through the above analysis, PUPFs are like UCFs in
terms of space utilization. This is because urban service
places such as commerce and business are the main destina-
tion and return-starting point of urban transportation, and
the attribute of service places (such as UCFs) has a signif-
icant impact on PUPFs, therefore they show a relatively
similar spatiotemporal law regarding USU. However, the
utilization rule of RUPFs and PUPFs are contrary. The
vacancy rate of RUPFs is high during the day, while the
utilization rate of PUPFs is high during the day, leading
to a shortage of PUPFs in urban public service places.
Therefore, in the planning of underground space, the
multi-function configuration and flexible layout design of
underground space should be strengthened to meet the
functional utilization requirements of different periods.
Additionally, the time-elasticity of USU should be fully
exploited to realize the sharing of RUPFs and PUPFs stag-
gered peaks in a certain area, to improve the utilization effi-
ciency of underground space resources.
3.3 Spatial structure of the USU
The population distribution density reflects the charac-
teristics of the urban spatial structure and the actual space
 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766 761

Fig. 14. Underground facilities area in the central city of Nanjing (data source: drawn based on the Master plan for the development and utilization of
urban underground space in Nanjing [2015–2030]).

Fig. 15. Area changes of the underground facilities in the HHZ in every district.
762 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766

Fig. 16. Area changes of the underground facilities in the HHZ in the central city.

Fig. 17. Utilization efficiency changes of underground facilities.

needs of urban built-up areas. Therefore, regions with a
high population density can be used to determine the
important nodes of underground space. The continuous
HHZs are the regions with the highest population density,
and their geographic locations can be considered important
nodes in urban space, which can provide a reference for the
planning and layout of urban underground space. Accord-
ing to the Master Plan for the Development and Utilization
of Urban Underground Space in Nanjing (2015–2030), the
key development regions of underground space are divided
into three levels: level 1 and level 2 centers are all dis-
tributed in the central city, and level 3 centers are mostly
located in the central city (Table 3 and Figs. 18 and 19).
By superimposing the average heat maps of the working
and rest days (Figs. 10 and 11) with the planned structure
of underground space (Fig. 18), the HHZs in the main
urban districts comprise three level 1 centers (Xinjiekou,
Nanjing South Railway Station, and Hexi Center), two
level 2 centers (Confucius Temple and Hunan Road), and
five level 3 centers. In the sub-cities, except for the level 1
center of Dongshan Sub-city Center and the three level 3
centers located in HHZs, all the other planned centers
are in the general zones of population agglomeration.
Overall, the planned centers in the main urban districts
are the most consistent with the HHZ, followed by the
Dongshan, Jiangbei, and Xianlin sub-cities. The regions
with high population density in the main urban districts
correspond to the planned underground space centers,
while the centers planned for the sub-cities greatly deviate
from the HHZs on the heat map. This is because most
regions of the main urban districts are built up, all types
of urban infrastructure are complete, and the urban spatial
structure has been established. The location, land use,
transportation, and other factors considered in the plan
for underground space are highly coupled with the popula-
tion distribution density, and the important nodes of
underground space determined on this basis are in regions
with a high population density. However, the sub-cities
 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766 763

Table 3
Structure of Nanjing’s underground space in the Master plan (data source: Master plan for the development and utilization of urban underground space in
Nanjing [2015–2030]).
Planning center Location
Level 1 center Xinjiekou Center, South Station-Honghua Airport Center, Hexi Center, and Pukou Center
Level 2 center Hunan Road, Confucius Temple, Xiaguan Riverfront, Dongshan Sub-city Center, Xianlin Sub-city Center, Xiongzhou Center, and
Nanjing North Station
Level 3 center Nanjing Station, airport and other transportation hub stations, and other regional business centers

Fig. 18. The planned structure of the underground space in the central
city (data source: Master plan for the development and utilization of
urban underground space in Nanjing [2015–2030]).
have fewer built-up areas and a lower population density.
The planning of underground space in the sub-cities is
mainly based on regional development positioning, and
the determination of important nodes is often influenced
by mechanism factors that are not completely consistent
with the objective of development laws and their
requirements.
According to the geographical location of the sustained
HHZs, the important nodes of underground space develop-
ment can be delimited, and the planning layout of under-
ground space in the central city of Nanjing can be
supplemented and optimized (Fig. 20). The important
nodes are divided into two types, and different develop-
ment strategies are proposed for each type. One type of
node is consistent with regions with a high population
agglomeration. As their construction is intended to meet
the space demand of the high-density population, they
are called demand-type nodes. The other type concerns
Fig. 19. Planned layout of the underground space in the central city (data
source: Master plan for the development and utilization of urban
underground space in Nanjing [2015–2030]).
the nodes in the regions with an average level of population
agglomeration, which are planned according to various
mechanism factors. The purpose of their construction is
to guide the development of the region; thus, they are
called guiding-type nodes (Fig. 21).
Demand-type nodes are mostly in urban built-up areas
with relatively complete urban spatial structures. The plan-
ning of demand-type nodes is intended to improve and
optimize the existing underground space and integrate sur-
face functions with underground space resources to solve
urban development constraints. Therefore, the structure
of the surface space should be considered in the develop-
ment of demand-type nodes in underground space to
ensure the continuity and integrity of the overall spatial
structure in the region. Such consideration promotes rea-
sonable reorganization and intensive utilization of under-
ground space resources to solve surface problems.
The guiding-type nodes are located mainly in the new
urban area, and the planning of these underground spaces
should guide land development based on the regional
764 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766
Fig. 20. Optimized plan of the underground space in the central city.
development orientation. By relying on the construction of
rail transit, guiding-type nodes should be developed as the
core of the new urban area to gradually drive the develop-
ment of underground space in the entire region. Further-
more, underground space should be developed in advance
around important nodes to form a relatively complete
underground spatial structure that provides sufficient
reserves of public space and support the infrastructure of
the region.
According to the above analysis, in the recent under-
ground space construction, the underground space of the
three level 1 centers (Xinjiekou, South Railway Station-
Honghua Airport, and Hexi Center) and the three level 2
centers (Hunan Road, Confucius Temple, and Dongshan
Sub-city Center) must be reorganized and used intensively
based on the function and structure of the surface. Accord-
ing to the spatiotemporal characteristics of the under-
ground space in these areas, the sharing of underground
facilities and multi-function configurations can be imple-
mented to improve the utilization efficiency of under-
ground space. Planned centers, such as the Pukou Center,
Xiaguan Riverfront, Xianlin Sub-city Center, Xiongzhou
Center, and Nanjing North Railway Station, should be fur-
ther investigated to determine whether they are suitable
centers. If found suitable, the underground space needs
to be developed in advance and become the core of the
underground space development in the entire region; other-
Fig. 21. Types of important nodes in the planned underground space of
the central city.
wise, it is the underground space structure that needs to be
re-optimized.
As the contradiction between supply and demand of
underground space resources in Old Town is the most
prominent in the whole central city, it is necessary to con-
sider the redevelopment of underground space. In Old
Town, there are a large number of underground space
stock resources, and the redevelopment of underground
space includes not only the new construction of under-
ground space on the stock land, but also the renewal and
transformation of existing underground space. In the hor-
izontal dimension, concerning the fragmentation and poor
systematization of the underground space in Old Town, the
network construction of the underground space should be
considered, the time sequence of the redevelopment of the
underground space in different periods should be coordi-
nated, and the connecting channels should be reasonably
reserved. Vertically, the underground space stock resources
in Old Town are mainly concentrated in the shallow and
middle layers, and the shallow and middle underground
space resources in the core area tend to be saturated.
Therefore, further consideration should be given to the
development and utilization of deep underground space
to supplement urban infrastructure and public welfare
facilities.
 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766
4 Discussion
Based on big data of the Baidu heat map, this study dis-
cussed the spatiotemporal distribution of urban population
aggregation degree in a certain research period, analyzed
the relationship between urban population distribution
and USU as well as the spatiotemporal characteristics of
USU, and proposed a USU structure optimization strategy
for the application of big data—providing a reference for
underground space planning in Nanjing.
The location-based big data represented by the Baidu
heat map provides a new perspective for the research of
underground space in the context of urban transformation.
Through the analysis and application of the Baidu heat
map, we can reveal the spatiotemporal distribution and
spatiotemporal behavior modes of urban populations,
and the gathering information of people in various places
in different periods largely reflects the demand and utiliza-
tion of underground space. This information is important
for understanding the operation of USU and optimizing
the layout of underground space.
The research presented in this study has reference signif-
icance for the planning and policymaking of USU. First,
for decision-makers, obtaining and analyzing the dynamic
data of the Baidu heat map enables them to investigate
the changes in urban population distribution and the uti-
lization of underground space resources from a more
detailed and dynamic perspective, which is of great help
to objectively understand the spatiotemporal law of USU
and its structure, reducing the risk of dislocation between
underground space and urban space structure; from a big
data perspective, it explores the ideas for underground
space planning, construction, and management; Second,
for planners, big data application provides data and
method support for guiding urban underground space
planning from material space with ‘‘land use” as the core
to urban socio-economic comprehensive evaluation with
‘‘individual daily activities” as the core. The rule of USU
and its structure optimization strategy for big data applica-
tion proposed in this study provide a reference for under-
ground space stock-type planning; third, for the public,
in the current underground space planning, the public is
mostly a passive waiting role. Conversely, in this study,
because Baidu heat map is the digital footprint when users
visit Baidu products, it contains the ‘‘public participation”
in urban planning, which is the public’s unconscious partic-
ipation in planning decisions. The combination of bottom-
up demand mechanism and top-down decision-making
mechanism improves the accuracy and authority of
planning.
This study used big data to conduct regular mining of
USU in urban built-up areas—making up for the defects
of traditional data and providing a research example for
stock-type planning of underground space. However, it
is impossible to identify whether the population actually
uses the underground space, and only measures the
‘‘quantity” balance between population distribution den-
765
sity and USU in the study area directly. In future work,
the utilization rule of underground space will be discussed
substantively in combination with ‘‘small data” such as
field investigations and questionnaire surveys. As an
attempt using the big data to analyze urban underground
space, although there are still many undeveloped places in
research methods and processing of big data, this study
provides a possible idea for the transformation of under-
ground space research paradigm and the innovation of
method systems in the transition period from a new
perspective.
5 Conclusion
Based on the population dynamic distribution data of
the Baidu heat map, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal
law of USU in urban built-up areas from three aspects: the
relationship between urban population distribution and
USU, the spatiotemporal characteristics of USU, and the
spatial structure of USU, and the following conclusions
are drawn:
(1) The urban population distribution and USU show an
obvious positive correlation regardless of form or
quantity—demonstrating the positive predictive abil-
ity of population density to determine the demand for
underground space, that is, the population distribu-
tion density reflects the demand and utilization inten-
sity of underground space to a certain extent.
(2) The utilization efficiency differs notably among
underground facilities with different functions. Over-
all, UCFs have the highest utilization efficiency, fol-
lowed by PUPFs and RUPFs. UCFs and PUPFs
show a relatively similar spatiotemporal law regard-
ing USU; however, the utilization rules of RUPFs
and PUPFs are contrary. The vacancy rate of RUPFs
is high during the day, while the utilization rate of
PUPFs is high during the day.
(3) According to the spatial structure of the USU
reflected by the continuous HHZs of the population,
the regions with high population density in the main
urban districts correspond to the planned under-
ground space centers, while the centers planned for
the sub-cities greatly deviate from the HHZs on the
heat map.
Against the background of urban transition in China,
the underground space of urban built-up areas, with con-
centrated human activities, presents great development
demand. In the planning of underground space in urban
built-up areas, not only the physical space but also the
human activities and demands in the area must be consid-
ered. Besides considering the overall arrangement of space
resources, it is important to evaluate and provide feedback
regarding the activities of the people who use these spaces
and combine the top-down regional development orienta-
tion with the bottom-up space use characteristics.
766 Y. Chen et al. / Underground Space 7 (2022) 748–766
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the
National Natural Science of China (Grant No.
51878660), the National Natural Science of China (Grant
No. 51608527) and the Natural Science of Jiangsu Province
(Grant No. BK20191330).
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