Author Description

All books are a portal into the time of their creation. This book, too,is a product of its time, although we would argue that this standard moreaptly characterizes The Undercampus and COVID-19: A SymposiumVolume than others. This book is a product of the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.Dr. Jon Cawley’s course Science for Underground Design, at itssurface, explores the intricacies of underground design. For centuries, societieshave flourished underground, often in response to physical and climateinstability. Underground cities and spaces, in places ranging fromJordan to Australia, from Singapore to North America, have flourishedthroughout history and some continue to flourish today with more to comein the future.The crux of the course, however, is not the intricacies of undergrounddesign. Rather, the course urges one to study and create worlds thatat the surface, look nothing like our own. Through the study of unfamiliarworlds, we ultimately come to better understand our own—in both its gloryand imperfection. Through studying concentricity and systems dynamics,this course has offered a nuanced glance at the inner-workings of worlds.