Asset management of the subsurface: a new way to manage subsurface functions?

The pressure in urban areas increases by demographic and climate change. To enable healthy, adaptive and liveable urban areas different strategies are needed. One of the strategies is to make better use of subsurface space and its functions. Asset management of the Subsurface (AMS) can contribute to this. AMS is based on “traditional” asset management methods, but it does not only take the “standard” assets in the subsurface (e.g. sewer system, underground parking garage, cables) into account. AMS also considers the services that the subsurface, including groundwater, has to offer as an asset (ecosystem services). AMS can be used 1) to employ the subsurface in a sustainable way within urban spatial planning (using its benefits, avoiding problems) and 2) to manage and maintain the (urban) subsurface and its functions.