Urban Land

Urban land is developed, utilised, abandoned and left to degradation in many different ways. These processes are closely related to four aspects of human activities: the extraction of resources, their transformation into goods, the production of waste and the conflicts that arise when population grows and demands increase while resources remain limited. Urban land is developed and deteriorates in the course of these activities, while cities keep spreading, consuming the green spaces surrounding them. Sustainable city development aims at protecting the environment by reusing urban terrain. The author brings together the different aspects of this transdisciplinary endeavour by discussing the causes of degradation, the strategies of investigation and the techniques of remediation of urban land. TOC:Degradation: Impacts; The Impact of Producing Goods; The Impact of Disposing Waste; The Impact of Extracting Resources; The Impact of Warfare.- Investigation: Site Investigation Strategy; Desk Study; Field Reconnaissance; Field Investigation.- Remediation: Restoring Urban Land Versus Brownfield Aesthetics; Remediating Industrial Wasteland; Waste Disposals; Remediating Sites of Resource Extraction; Remediating Sites of Warfare; Sustainable Urban Land Recycling.- References.- Appendices: Tools of Statistics; Contaminants in Soils; Principles of Bioremediation; Subject Index; Locations.