BIOSOIL Project
ENV/ES/000263
INKOA SISTEMAS S.L.
C/ Ribera de Axpe, 11
Edificio D-1 Local 208
48950 Erandio (Bizkaia)
Spain
Tel: +34 902 998 367
Fax: +34 902 998 366
Despite the progress made for the integration of environmental considerations and the promotion of sustainable urban development in European cities, many problems still remain unresolved.
One of the major concerns is the rate at which land, a finite resource, is being consumed by urban development in Europe. In many industrialised countries, the current practice still involves a significant level of development on greenfields for future urban developments. In this context, it is estimated that in Europe the 2% of agricultural land and greenfields is lost because of urbanisation processes every ten years.
At the same time, many countries recognise the presence of brownfields, most of them in inner-city locations, and the need of redevelopment of these urban sites. These brownfields represent an important potential resource that could be reused for urban development and its reintegration into the economic cycle, what would drastically decrease the consumption of greenfields. However, in most cases, the redevelopment of brownfield sites is not straightforward because land contamination problems and the high costs of the implementation of the actual decontamination procedures for the remediation required. Brownfields present particular challenges to national and regional policy makers in terms of bringing the land back into beneficial use and in terms of cleaning up contaminated land and groundwater.
Therefore, the development of innovative, environmentally friendly and cost-effective solutions for the treatment of contaminated soils can contribute to solve environmental problems related to the presence of contaminated sites in urban areas and, in consequence, promote the integration of new initiatives in the context of spatial planning, economic and environmental restoration of these areas.