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Topic · Building and Construction

Underground infrastructure and sustainability

Underground infrastructure and sustainability is a research topic within Building and Construction. Science Explorer counts 11k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the development, sustainable management, and utilization of urban underground space, with an emphasis on sustainable development, utility tunnels, spatial planning, subsurface resources, infrastructure, and resilience. It addresses challenges such as sustainability assessment, governance issues, social costs, and the integration of underground space into urban planning. The research also explores the potential for urban resilience, GIS-based evaluation methods, and integrated planning concepts.

  • Urban Underground Space
  • Sustainable Development
  • Utility Tunnels
  • Spatial Planning
  • Subsurface Resource
  • Infrastructure
  • Sustainability Assessment
  • Urban Resilience
  • GIS-based Evaluation
  • Integrated Planning
Research works
11k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+26%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
54% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Underground infrastructure and sustainability

Which countries lead Underground infrastructure and sustainability research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.1k and 309 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.1k works
  2. 2 United States 309 works
  3. 3 Russia 120 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 101 works
  5. 5 India 95 works
  6. 6 Canada 73 works
  7. 7 Australia 55 works
  8. 8 Italy 53 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 51 works
  10. 10 Poland 48 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 54.5%United States: 15.6%Russia: 6.0%United Kingdom: 5.1%6 others listed: 18.8%54%largest
China1,080 · 54.5%United States309 · 15.6%Russia120 · 6.0%United Kingdom101 · 5.1%6 others listed374 · 18.8%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Underground infrastructure and sustainability research?

By volume in 2022-now, China University of Mining and Technology publishes the most Underground infrastructure and sustainability research, followed by Tongji University and Southeast University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 45 works
  2. 2 Tongji UniversityChina 38 works
  3. 3 Southeast UniversityChina 19 works
  4. 4 National University of Architecture and Construction of ArmeniaArmenia 18 works
  5. 5 Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 17 works
  6. 6 Moscow State University of Civil EngineeringRussia 15 works
  7. 7 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 15 works
  8. 8 Chongqing UniversityChina 14 works
  9. 9 Shenzhen UniversityChina 14 works
  10. 10 Xi'an University of Architecture and TechnologyChina 13 works

Who are the leading researchers in Underground infrastructure and sustainability?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Underground infrastructure and sustainability include Xiaogang Wang, Lídia Morawska and Paul D. Thompson.

  1. 1 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  2. 2 Lídia Morawska Australia 244k citations
  3. 3 Paul D. Thompson France 159k citations
  4. 4 Yadong Li China 155k citations
  5. 5 O. Schneider Switzerland 141k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Underground infrastructure and sustainability?

The most cited paper in Underground infrastructure and sustainability is "Review on multi-criteria decision analysis aid in sustainable energy decision-making" (Jiangjiang Wang, Youyin Jing, Chunfa Zhang et al., 2009), with 2,354 citations. Next come "Underground hydrogen storage: A comprehensive review" (1,279) and "Underground hydrogen storage: Characteristics and prospects" (1,223).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Review on multi-criteria decision analysis aid in sustainable energy decision-making Jiangjiang Wang, Youyin Jing, Chunfa Zhang et al. · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 4 Jul 2009 2,354
2 Underground hydrogen storage: A comprehensive review Davood Zivar, Sunil Kumar, Jalal Foroozesh · International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 8 Sep 2020 1,279
3 Underground hydrogen storage: Characteristics and prospects Radosław Tarkowski · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 31 Jan 2019 1,223
4 Coal mine methane: A review of capture and utilization practices with benefits to mining safety and to greenhouse gas reduction C. Özgen Karacan, Felicia A. Ruiz, Michael Cotè et al. · International Journal of Coal Geology Mar 2011 1,115
5 How common and how large are cost overruns in transport infrastructure projects? Bent Flyvbjerg, Mette K. Skamris Holm, Søren L. Buhl · Transport Reviews 2003 790
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Underground infrastructure and sustainability research done?

The largest centres of Underground infrastructure and sustainability research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Wuhan (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Xuzhou.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 211 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 79 works
  3. 3 WuhanChina 58 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 57 works
  5. 5 Xi'anChina 52 works
  6. 6 MoscowRussia 48 works
  7. 7 XuzhouChina 48 works
  8. 8 ChengduChina 44 works
  9. 9 ChongqingChina 36 works
  10. 10 GuangzhouChina 35 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. XuzhouCN · 48.3 works19×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Underground infrastructure and sustainability than the world average.

See Underground infrastructure and sustainability on the map

Where is the best place to study Underground infrastructure and sustainability?

Among universities, judged by research, China University of Mining and Technology, Tongji University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 21.99%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Hong Kong Polytechni…Shenzhen UniversityChina University of …Tongji University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1China University of Mining and TechnologyChina 82.623.3%23.9×45 +43.8%
2Tongji UniversityChina 76.523.1%10.3×38 +30.8%
3Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityChina 67.726.0%4.6×10 +35.9%
4Shenzhen UniversityChina 61.924.4%7.8×14 +227.6%
5Southeast UniversityChina 61.821.2%5.2×19 +118.0%
6University of Science and Technology BeijingChina 57.130.2%5.8×11 +147.7%
7Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 50.014.5%9.0×17 +66.1%
8Beijing University of TechnologyChina 48.422.0%6.0×10 +161.9%
9Beijing Jiaotong UniversityChina 45.614.7%8.8×13 +23.3%
10Tsinghua UniversityChina 44.420.5%2.2×12 +52.6%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Underground infrastructure and sustainability, country by country

Is Underground infrastructure and sustainability research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 26% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Underground infrastructure and sustainability.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Underground infrastructure and sustainability as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.012% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Underground infrastructure and sustainability0.011% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Underground infrastructure and sustainability over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Underground infrastructure and sustainability10.3% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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