Psychological effects of working underground

Abstract Although some studies concerning the psychological effects of working underground have been done, very few of them have included experimental and quantitative analyses of such effects. This paper surveys the psychological effects of working in underground spaces (e.g., subway stations, shopping centers) in Japan, analyses the psychological and physiological effects of the space in several laboratories, both below- and above-ground, and measures the effectiveness of some environmental systems (e.g., sunlight guiding system, television monitoring). The authors conclude that the psychological effects of working in underground space vary depending on several conditions, and that “change effects” in the laboratory are very substantial.