Japanese City Planners Adopting Habitat concepts

It looks as though the scarcity of land in Japan is prompting a move
to relocate services, transportation, and infrastructure to a zone
120 ft underground. Surface property rights do not extend to this
zone so projects can be built without obtaining countless
permissions from property owners.

I tend to think that in a Habitat, the limited "surface" area will
be reserved for people's psychological enjoyment, and the mundane
necessities will be located in an "underground" level. Does your
office have to have a pretty view? Does your shopping experience in
a mall need to be surface based?

What do you think?

http://www.msnbc.com/news/978188.asp?0cb=-31e185641

TangoMan