History Main / UndergroundCity

** ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'': During its peak, the (first) [[GalacticSuperpower Galactic Empire]] made Trantor its capital planet. It city grew [[CityPlanet to encompass the world]], and developed [[LayeredMetropolis multiple layers]] as well. However, the topmost layer is domed over, and ironically creating habitable areas; plant life has even managed to gain a foothold on the surfaces of the artificial structures. Everybody just chooses to live in enclosed sectors. This is inherented behaviour from their ancient ancestors on Earth, as depicted in ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel''.

* In the 1952 ScienceFiction novel ''Literature/{{Limbo}}'' by Bernard Wolfe (set in post-WWIII 1990's) the protagonist is surprised to find himself driving through a vast factory built under the ShiningCity above. The whole set-up is automated, though discrimination still continues with the Negro population being used for the cleaning and maintenance crew. During the subsequent war, sabotage--or just destruction from atomic bombs going off--causes the whole city to collapse into a massive trench.

* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'': Almost all of planet Ix's industries are built underground, leaving the surface to more agrarian pursuits. All the better to hide their pursuit of forbidden technologies.

* ''Film/ABoyAndHisDog'' features fundamentalists living underground in simulated Americana
* ''Film/DemolitionMan''. The part of the Los Angeles population that doesn't accept Doctor Cocteau's rule lives in an underground city below the city's streets. They survive by eating stolen food and rats.

* ''Literature/TheCityOfEmber'' is set in an apocalypse bunker type of city where their supplies and power source are failing.

* In another Creator/LeijiMatsumoto anime, ''Manga/QueenMillennia'', the aliens infiltrating Earth set up underground cities to survive the coming apocalypse.

* The Monsters Association from ''Manga/OnePunchMan'' have built their base in one of these below City Z. It is a sprawling underground network complete with tunnels, secret labs, gold mines, even ''plumbing''. It is revealed that this was initially created by the Underground King and his army who tried to invade the surface at the beginning of the series...only to be eradicated by a single punch from [[ComicallyInvincibleHero Saitama]].

* In TheEighties pulp series ''Literature/DoomsdayWarrior'', hidden under the Rocky Mountains is Century City, which evolved from a road tunnel that was buried when the nukes went off; those trapped inside joined their resources and swore to [[InvadedStatesOfAmerica liberate America]] even if it took a century. Thanks to good 'ole American ingenuity Century City is more technologically advanced than the Soviet-occupied cities outside (exactly how this was achieved is left a bit vague).
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' has the Loonies living primarily in underground warrens, with all cities carved out of the Lunar regolith instead of being built atop it, with a few surface installations for access points. This is primarily because the moon being an airless environment, keeping the livable areas pressurized and comfortable is easier when they are built into the ground.

* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', [[spoiler: District 13]] is a former Apocalypse Bunker that acts as a semi-independent city-state. Daily life is extremely regimented; presumably this lifestyle, along with a diet of [[FutureFoodIsArtificial future food]] enables humans to survive underground for long periods.
* The ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' have the [[HeavyWorlder high-gravity world]] Lusus, where all settlements are for some reason underground "Hives" carved into the rock. These are quite extensive; Lusus is a major center of economic and political power in the Hegemony and subsequently (the detective and central character Brawne Lamia's father was a powerful Hegemony Senator).

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' has Blackreach, an underground Dwemer ruin so massive it has four separate surface entrances, its own BonusBoss, and an entire castle. There are other, smaller Dwemer ruins throughout the game as well.

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has several underground cities. The Dwarvern city of Keldagrim and the cave goblin city of Dorgesh-Kaan are the inhuman type occupied primarily by thier respective species. The city of Senntisten was the former capital of the Zarosian Empire until it was buried during the god wars.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. In "Spock's Brain", the Eymorg inhabit an underground city built after their planet suffered an ice age. Because all their needs are catered for in the city, over thousands of years their intelligence has atrophied until they have the mental age of children. Their society is also split on gender lines, with the Eymorg being a LadyLand that periodically captures Morg (the tribes of male primitives who live on the frozen surface) for breeding purposes.

* ''Series/TheAvengers1960s''. In "The Living Dead", the VillainOfTheWeek has an army in a city built inside an abandoned mine, to seize control of Britain after the country has been obliterated by a nuclear strike from an [[HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection unnamed enemy]].

'''Belu-be:''' Hmph! More like an ants nest.

* In another Creator/LeijiMatsumoto anime, ''Anime/QueenMillennia'', the aliens infiltrating Earth set up underground cities to survive the coming apocalypse.

->'''Haruo:''' An entire civilisation... Underground!\\

->'''Haruo:''' An entire civilisation... underground!\\

->'''Haruo:''' An entire civilisation...underground!\\

->''Proton looked up and saw the rocky cone of Mount Terror, the solar reflector leaning over the armorcrete rim, and the curved magnalloy blades of a blast iris retracted into the sides. The purpose of this construction was suddenly clear. They were inside a depthscraper -- a legacy of the time when entire cities were built underground in fear of another atomic war.''
-->-- ''Fanfic/Plan7Of9FromOuterSpace''

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

%%* An early example is Creator/JulesVerne's novel ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Child_of_the_Cavern Les Indes noires]]'', which appeared in English under the titles "The Child of the Cavern, or Strange Doings Underground", "Black Diamonds'' and "[[TropeNamer The Underground City]]".