URBSOIL Year 1 ..

1
URBSOIL Year 1..

• Where we have been and where we have to go?

2
HEALTH WARNING!

• The views and comments expressed here are those
  of the author and do not reflect (intentionally
  or otherwise) those of the wider URBSOIL network.

(or anyone else on planet earth for that matter!)
3
What is URBSOIL?

• Soil quality
• Soil variability
• Soil comparability
• Soil function
• Focus on pollutants
• remember source v sink
• All of these in terms of
• our sites,
• our parameters and
• our experiments
• Not a survey

4
Where is URBSOIL going?

• To inform decision makers about
• Soil quality and variability
• Function and relevance
• To investigate the link between a neglected part
  of environmental quality and the urban management
  processes
• To allow more sustainable urban management
  decisions to be made (perhaps?)

5
What have we done?

• Built a team of researchers (capacity
  capability)
• Collected and compared sampling and analytical
  methods
• Identified and executed a soil sampling pilot
  study
• Applied analytical methods
• Identified and contacted end users
• Identified and collected other information
• Consulted and identified the DST structure and
  consultative methods
• Established an (interactive) website

6
Experiences from Year I

• Information is harder than technology
• Technology is not so predictable,
• Capacity and capability of full group to balance
  aspirations of applicants and sponsors,
• Engaging end users takes time you need the
  answer before you start
• Decision making process within the network
• Gantt charts are useless unless they are updated
• Time marches on
• but we have done much!

7
What Next?

• Pilot Study data assessment
• Main Sampling analysis/assessment
• Specialist Work
• DST development and application
  continues/evolves

8
The Pilot Study

• A controlled data set
• Common methods of sampling and analysis
• A chance to test data analysis procedures
• What can and cannot be said (statistically,
  visually)
• Based on real life examples
• An opportunity to make a statement about data
  variation within and between locations....And
  something else?
• Gets us ready for the main sampling phase
• Feeds into the DST - what?

9
The Workshop

• The aim of this workshop is to provide an
  informal working environment to discuss and apply
  statistical methods to evaluate soil quality
  data. This is to enable the URBSOIL network to
  define field variability on an intra and inter
  site basis.
• A secondary aim is to share knowledge and
  experience of the group and develop a common
  method of assessing spatially variable
  information. Underpinning this approach is the
  acceptance of a wide variation of participants
  experience in data handling and treatment and an
  expectation that progress will be made through
  collaborative working, facilitated by members of
  URBSOIL-Glasgow.

10
The Workshop

• Aim to produce an agreed procedure
• Summary data any results/conclusions
• undertaken by each group
• Share data, compare individual sets, look at
  combined data
• via Paisley

11
Main Sampling Campaign

• Selected surfaces
• Excluded surfaces
• Potential additional surfaces
• Not obviously contaminated
• But enough similarity between and within cities?
• Why do it?
• Maps?
• Learn about soil performance?
• DST?

12
Specialist work

• Additional soil quality parameters
• Microbiology, Hg, PAHs..Etc
• Reactivity of soil quality
• Metal speciation, leaching, response to climate
  change
• Programming, www, GIS development

13
Decision Support Tool

• The interface between urban soil and end users
• www (interactive) platform
• GIS data presentation
• What decisions to support?
• From end users
• what do they do? how do they think?
• From URBSOIL
• What can we do with our information? How useful
  is it?

14
DST needs

• Hard data on soil quality
• Data on external factors
• Social info, environmental/climate, other soil
  quality info
• Data manipulation and combination methods
• Models, scenarios, databases

15
DST process our problem?

• Two ends of the spectrum
• End user needs
• Research network activity

Finding the middle ground?
16
DST process our activity

• Find out about end user needs and consultation
  mechanisms to support transparent decision making
  
• Making connections, investigating processes
• Using URBSOIL data to improve the basis of
  decision making
• Synthesis and manipulation of information
• Making new data from old
• Restricted by our capacity

17
To DST from Soil Quality..a road map?

• e.g. Pb in soil
• How much and how did it get there?
• Is the level important?to whom? What?
• What happens with time?
• What happens if something changes?
• What impact does a land management decision have?

18
DST process whats needed?

• Soil data
• Factors influencing observations
• Processes influenced by data
• Remember Source v sink
• Transport, time, external factors
• Outline strategy from Sonja
• developing from previous discussions
• Details of the activity needed for our DST road
  map