Engineering Geology of Sustainable, Risk Based Land Quality Management
| Organised by: | East Midlands |
| Date: | 23 March 2010 |
| Event Type: | Lecture |
| Venue: | BGS, Keyworth |
Based on 10th Glossop Lecture. 6:30pm for 7pm.
Optimal urban land reuse relies on visionary planning and a sound conceptual understanding of the nature of the land and how it will interact with engineering and thereby society. The current ecological footprint of Homo sapiens cannot be supported for long and that of developed societies is becoming increasingly unacceptable worldwide. If we accept that you cannot successfully manage what you cannot understand, then we need to understand the land beneath our feet if we are to be judged as wise stewards of the land by succeeding generations.
A risk based approach to land management was thought to be more cost effective than seeking to recover any historic spills or releases of hazardous substances. However, the required skills base is still being built and endemic inefficiency results. Engineering geology’s principles of ground characterisation developed for construction and mining projects equally apply to formulating conceptual models of the spatial and temporal distribution of, and uncertainties in, contaminant sources, receptors and connecting pathways or isolating barriers. Such a model informs scientific risk estimation and underpins value-laden risk evaluation.
Risk reduction, whether by pathway interruption or source removal, benefits from detailed engineering geological understanding. Such remediation presents wider environmental and economic opportunities. Brownfield sites, whether contaminated or not, offer local non fossil fuel energy generation, storage and distribution opportunities which can only be exploited if they are integrated. Engineering geologists communicate complex ground conditions and associated uncertainties to other professionals: They are well placed to foster the integration of risk based land management into sustainable redevelopment.
Prof Paul Nathanail (University of Nottingham)
Optimal urban land reuse relies on visionary planning and a sound conceptual understanding of the nature of the land and how it will interact with engineering and thereby society. The current ecological footprint of Homo sapiens cannot be supported for long and that of developed societies is becoming increasingly unacceptable worldwide. If we accept that you cannot successfully manage what you cannot understand, then we need to understand the land beneath our feet if we are to be judged as wise stewards of the land by succeeding generations.
A risk based approach to land management was thought to be more cost effective than seeking to recover any historic spills or releases of hazardous substances. However, the required skills base is still being built and endemic inefficiency results. Engineering geology’s principles of ground characterisation developed for construction and mining projects equally apply to formulating conceptual models of the spatial and temporal distribution of, and uncertainties in, contaminant sources, receptors and connecting pathways or isolating barriers. Such a model informs scientific risk estimation and underpins value-laden risk evaluation.
Risk reduction, whether by pathway interruption or source removal, benefits from detailed engineering geological understanding. Such remediation presents wider environmental and economic opportunities. Brownfield sites, whether contaminated or not, offer local non fossil fuel energy generation, storage and distribution opportunities which can only be exploited if they are integrated. Engineering geologists communicate complex ground conditions and associated uncertainties to other professionals: They are well placed to foster the integration of risk based land management into sustainable redevelopment.