Soil as a Resource: Ecological Asset or Basis for Economic Development?

 

Prof. Dr. Angelika Krehl

Head of Niederrhein Institute for Regional and Structural Research, Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences

The socio-economic growth and spatial structural changes of the last 50 years or so have left their mark on our surroundings, our environment. This reveals a field of tension, because the provision of land for urban uses - for living and working - goes hand in hand with conflicts of use with regard to soil as a resource. The article first examines the functions attributed to soil and places them in the context of current changes in settlement and economic structures. Subsequently, the relationships between soil as a resource and the economic development of urban regions are analysed empirically. The paper concludes with a brief synthesis of these evaluations and places them in the context of the current discussion on sustainability and planetary boundaries.