INTRO | HIGHLIGHTS | FEATURES | FOCUS | PERSPECTIVES | BIOS
REGENERATING
BROWNFIELD LAND
USING SUSTAINABLE
TECHNOLOGIES
BRETT CHERRY investigates how a team of Durham scientists are
searching for methods to restore brownfield land sustainably
“Pollution is nothing
but the resources we
are not harvesting.
We allow them to
disperse because
we’ve been ignorant
of their value”.
RICHARD BUCKMINSTER FULLER
Land and industry underlie the development
of modern society. All around us there
are examples of industrial engineering,
manufacturing, building, innovation and
employment. At its foundation is land.
Prior to industry, much of the land was used
primarily for agriculture, including plant
cultivation and raising animals for food and
clothing. Over time, the materials produced
from agricultural-based economies shifted
dramatically in order to supply the growing
demand of cities created by industry and
technology.
After the first industrial revolution, land began
to undergo a rapid transition in a matter of
decades. It soon became home to a plethora of
industries including electric power generation,
coal mining, steel manufacturing, railroads, ship
building, automotive assembly lines, motorways,
airports and a host of others that have left a
deep impression on the world’s environment.
But like other forms of human intervention,
industry didn’t come without a price and despite
the technological age seemingly separating people
from the ‘natural world’ that gave birth to it,
today humanity is beginning to realise again the
importance of land.
Much of the land that was once used by
industry in the past is unusable today because
of the environmental contamination it has
left behind. While further industrialisation is
taking place all over the world, but especially
in rapidly developing countries like China
and %