The main purpose of this paper is to develop a design guide for locating underground urban shelters based on the criteria that are used in the passive defense. Today, the passive defense alongside the defense is one of the security systems for residential settlements of interest to urban planners; underground shelters are one of the main examples of the passive defense among them. Underground shelters once more emphasize that sub-surface structures such as subway lines and spaces such as underground shops and shopping centers are defined as urban elements in the urban spatial structure.The multiple uses of metro stations, both in times of peace and in times of crisis, have increased their functional importance. Metro stations will be used as shelters in war, but in terrorist attacks, they will be considered as a place to kill people. In order to preserve human capital and reduce the vulnerability of people and places as much as possible, it is necessary to examine these cases and consider the effective role of passive defense in showing the subway station as a safe haven in crisis situations and creating a safe place. Therefore, by applying non-active defense in the metro station, the crisis can be better controlled to some extent and the metro station can be considered as a strategic and busy place to establish security.