Abstract: The development of urban underground space is an important measure of alleviating the problem of “urban diseases”. Europe, the United States and other developed regions have gained rich experiences and learned their lessons in developing underground space. Through our investigation of major cities around the world, we summarized the current status of worldwide urban underground space development and analyzed the future directions to guide Chinas own development. Currently, the world has established a development model aiming at relieving urban traffic congestion, expanding urban living space, creating efficient cities and constructing a comfortable and livable urban environment. And the future development trend is to build a green, intelligent three-dimensional city. China should learn from the experience of other countries and develop its urban underground space efficiently according to its own cities characteristics.

Key words: urban underground space, international state of art, utilization model, development tendency