Berisp - Breaking Ecotoxicological Restraints In Spatial Planning

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This project aims at developing new approaches to soil contamination. There are about 2,000 km2 of brownfield sites in Europe today and the NWE region, with its high population density, faces increasing demand for open natural space. Many local authorities are confronted with problems regarding site conversion and soil pollution. The transnational partnership led by the University of Antwerp, brings together eight organisations including major planning authorities, leading organisations in the field of brownfield site redevelopment, and applied research institutes that already assess contamination risks. The partners consider that current methodologies to assess soil contamination risks are defined essentially from a scientific perspective and not sufficiently from a planning standpoint. This scientific approach provides limited alternatives: either a drastic restriction of possible land uses or an expensive decontamination programme which in most cases is not feasible. The main objective and output of this project is the development of a Decision Support System (DSS). The latter will allow an iterative process whereby planning authorities will be able to test different types of landscape uses and habitat distribution against scientific data regarding potential risks of pollutants on living organisms. The software will include latest GIS technology to model accurately specie distribution, etc…Field studies will be carried out around two different landscape regeneration projects in Belgium and the Netherlands to validate the model and ensure that it meets with end-user needs and expectations at transnational level. The field studies will focus on hedgehogs and little owls which are key indicators on soil contaminants because they are at the top of the food chain. Once the system is developed and tested it will be widely promoted to potential end-users through relevant networks and organisations at European level.

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