Urban brownfield land is property whose reuse or redevelopment is complicated by the actual or potential presence of contaminants. It may include former workshops, fuel facilities, factories, industrial yards, railway land, dumping areas, service stations and sites filled with demolition debris or imported soil. The contamination is rarely a single, neatly defined problem. Petroleum hydrocarbons … Read more
Urban councils manage a constant movement of environmental materials: stormwater flows from streets into drains and waterways; green waste is collected from parks and verges; sediment accumulates in channels and treatment areas; soils are disturbed by construction, erosion and compaction; and contaminated land may require investigation, containment or remediation. These systems are already managed through … Read more
When rain falls on a forest or open soil, much of it can infiltrate, evaporate or move slowly through vegetation. In a city, roofs, roads, driveways, car parks and other impervious surfaces interrupt those pathways. Water runs off more quickly and in greater volume, often reaching drains, streams and coastal waters before soil, plants or … Read more
Urban green infrastructure already works through living systems. Rain gardens, bioswales, urban forests, planted drainage systems, wetlands, green corridors, parks and other soil-based stormwater features bring together water, plants, soil, microbes and organic matter. Their performance depends on how these components interact: vegetation slows and uses water, soil stores and filters it, organic matter supports … Read more
Rain gardens, bioswales and other vegetated stormwater features are often described as hydraulic infrastructure: they slow runoff, hold water temporarily and help protect streams from sediment and pollutants. They are also living soil systems. Beneath the plants and mulch, fungi form part of a wider community that includes bacteria, plant roots, earthworms and other soil … Read more
Roads, car parks and other paved urban surfaces are efficient at moving rainwater—and at carrying whatever has accumulated between rainfall events into drains, waterways and receiving soils. Mycofiltration, which uses fungal-rich organic media such as woodchips or straw, is being explored as one possible biological layer in the management of this runoff. Its potential is … Read more
Urban tree maintenance produces a varied stream of woody material. Pruning, storm response, parks management and arboricultural work may generate branches, logs, woodchips and chipped pruning material. When these materials are clean and correctly sorted, they can support useful fungal and biological processes rather than being treated as a single undifferentiated waste stream. Potential applications … Read more