Digging Up and Digging Down

Urban Undergrounds

Abstract

This article explores the intersections between history, urban geography and archaeology in the context of the question “are we all archaeologists now?” Amongst scholars doing research around questions of space and place, increasingly consideration is being given to vertical architectures, including tunnelling infrastructures. The vertical stretch of human imagination and habitation, even upward, inevitably involves excavation that triggers encounters with material remains of the past. However, the construction of subterranean realms also creates archaeologies of the future. Here we outline the significance of a dovetailing of disciplines through vertical stretch.