Urban Geochemistry Project – URGE (Europe)
Country / Region: Europa
Begin of project: January 1, 2009
End of project: December 31, 2014
Status of project: March 1, 2011
Urban areas are presently being investigated within the scope of national and international research programs. Geochemical methods are part of all of these interdisciplinary programs. Worldwide urban areas are expanding rapidly.
The emphasis in the German Federal Government program “Research for Sustainability” is to reduce the increase in urban land use as well as on sustainable land management. A central part of this overall program is research on the efficient use of land in the BMBF research program REFINA. The objective is to reduce the increase of urban land use from 129 ha/day in 2000 (118 ha/day in 2005) to 30 ha/day in 2020 without decreasing economic growth. Consideration of potential subsequent land use and renewed utilization of fallow land (“land recycling”) are aspects for land management to achieve this objective (Keynote lecture at the 20th national seminar on hydrogeology and environmental geochemistry of Norway, Trondheim, 14-15 February 2011: “Environmental geochemistry analysis of German urban areas for sustainable development of cities”; http://www.grunnvaun.no/Seminar/2011/Program_11feb2011_lenker.pdf).
An example of this national research emphasis is a BMBF project in the Stassfurt urban region, a mining and industrial city. Project objective was to develop an interdisciplinary model concept for new and innovative land management measures based on the geochemical data.
International focal points within the programs of the Federal Government are concentrated in the sustainable development of metropolitan regions and conurbations. The global trend of increasingly large urban areas has far-reaching effects on the interaction of the natural environment and the anthropogenic environment. This trend of increasing population density is expected to lead to about two-thirds of the global population living in cities by 2030; already in 2007 half of the world’s population lived in cities. Trade in resources, goods, and capital are concentrated in these regions. The international focal points are reflected in various cooperation projects (e.g., China and Estonia), as well as in the increased application of geochemical methods. In these projects, geochemical methods were used to derive basic knowledge for sustainable development of urban areas, as well as for decision-making.
During the compilation of a proposal to the Directors of the EuroGeoSurveys Geochemistry Expert Group for a European-wide urban geochemistry project in the next 10 years, using a harmonized sampling and analytical methodology, it was discovered that many urban geochemical studies have been performed in Europe by the national Geological Surveys, that are not known to the wider geoscientific community. The EGS Geochemistry Expert Group decided to publish at least one case from each country. Chris Johnson, Alecos Demetriades , Juan Locutura and Rolf Tore Ottesen have edited a book on “Urban Geochemistry”, which will be published by Wiley-Blackwell in April 2011. The book presents a comprehensive overview of the methods currently being employed to map and interpret the distribution of chemical elements and organic compounds in our towns and cities.
The EGS Geochemistry Expert Group has started the Urban Geochemistry Project (URGE) in several European cities in different climate zones using the same sampling and analytical procedures. There is considerable interest in the national Surveys in the project. More than 10 cities will be sampled for the project. Acerra-Marigliano (Napoli), Aschersleben, Dublin (Flyer: Survey of Dublin Soils), Kristiansand, Hämeelinna, and Sisak have been sampled; Karlstad, Maribor, and Athens will follow in 2011.
Geological Surveys are the only institutions that can systematically map urban areas, and in a harmonized manner to produce comparable data sets across Europe, and have the know how to distinguish between the natural and the anthropogenic geochemical background. Sustainable urban development requires combined management and control of urban conditions of soils and chemical substances fluxes.