After much deliberation along the past few years, I have reached this incredible conclusion: we should all live in caves again. Yes, it would be fantastic! This would definitely be on my list of radical changes to humans' current way of living. Living in caves has, from my perspective, great advantages over living in apartments and houses. Let me try to explain some of the reasons for that.
Firs of all, and most importantly, if we lived underground we would actually free up a lot of the earth's surface to be used for other purposes. The first thing that comes to my mind is to use that space for our raising crops. Doing this would, hence, reduce our footprint on earth's crust and as consequence free up more space for forests and wildlife.
Secondly, living in a cave saves energy. Moist soil or rocks would keep our abodes at just the right temperature in whatever season we are exposed to. Allied to good ventilation and illumination, there is nothing better than the tranquil shade of a cave. Not only that, it also isolates us from external noise, and bad weather.
Thirdly, we would spend a lot less money on aesthetically pleasing facades for our homes and worry more about the comfort on their inside.
Fourthly, the outer world would look a lot lusher with vegetation on cities, even if such lushness comes simply from our own crops. I believe this would really make cities a more pleasant place to live.
Last, it would also bring the problem of use of land and natural resources to the urban reality of the city consumer, which will make human population more socially aware.
I am cognizant of the problems related to living in a cave. It might not lead you to a shiny happy life, literally, especially because providing natural sun light to a cave is not as easy as in a house. However, it is not impossible. There is already technology being developed nowadays to replace electrical light with direct sun light through the roofs of houses. Similar technology could be used to cave abodes. And even ordinary mirrors help to the work of spreading light around.
Another important issue is ventilation. But we have also developed technology related to that. Such is the case the skyscrapers can make air breathable even at amazingly high floors. It is really just a matter of finding the right design. And we can also leverage from nature's solutions to ventilation in similar situations.
There has actually been evidence of successful cave houses in Switzerland, France and many other places worldwide. I believe the idea should be brought to a larger public other than tourist, rich adventurers or locals from such places. However, bringing cave houses to a more urban environment and in a larger scale would be quite a challenge. Media and government would play a key role role in making that feasible and accepted by ordinary citizens.
In conclusion, if I were to rule humankind, one important change I would make would be to put people back in caves. It saves so many resources that it is ridiculous we have not done that yet. I must admit, however, that although large cave buildings are viable from an engineering point-of-view, having them implemented might generate urban problems similar to the ones ordinary residence buildings generate, such as increase in local traffic. Hence, such an idea would probably not be worth it. Perhaps suburban single-family caves are mode ideal. But I will take that hint to lead me to my next fix in human society: the issue of transportation.
P.S.: I myself have been thinking of a cave house design for me to live in (as if my wife would ever agree on that). Perhaps, it will be the subject of a later post when the house plan is better polished.
