Since 1990s

land subsidence accelerated again although net withdrawal volume of groundwater did not increase in urban center of Shanghai. Net withdrawal volume of groundwater in urban center

however

is not the crucial factor controlling the land subsidence. At the same time

more and more infrastructures

such as high and super-high rise buildings

deep building foundations

underground structures

subway tunnels

underground path structures

were constructed in the multi-aquifer-aquitard system (MAAS) in Shanghai. Land subsidence in Shanghai is correlated with activities of urban construction according to correlation anaylsis of land subsidence and urban construction. Investigation on urban construction induced land subsidence is now receiving a great concern. However

mechanism of how urban construction affects the acceleration of land subsidence in Shanghai has not been well addressed. This study was undertaken to evaluate the influential factors on the development of land subsidence with the process of urbanization in Shanghai. The influential factors include additional load consisting of static load and dynamic load during and after structures construction

underground structures construction involving foundation engineering and construction of tunnel

drawdown of groundwater level due to leakage of underground structures

decrease of recharged volume of groundwater from surroundings

and cut-off or partially cut-off effect of underground structures in aquifers.