Land Reclamation and Technologies

This seminar provides an in-depth study of the technologies and tools of environmental cleanup and reclamation used to remediate and regenerate polluted and impaired sites. The technologies to be examined include current established industry methods for the treatment of soils and groundwater (removal, encapsulation and pump and treat), innovative technologies (thermal absorption, vapor extraction, asphalt batching) and emerging insitu techniques and tools currently under review by federal and local environmental agencies (phytoremediation and bioengineering). The course will focus on the application and comparison of these technologies and tools on three types of contaminated land: urban brownfields, derelict waterfronts and closed waste landfills. Presentations from the instructor and invited guests will take place followed by class discussion. There will be local field trips to visit remediation and reclamation engineering activities on site. Case study assignments will require class members to select and apply established, innovative or emerging technologies to studio design projects and sites and prepare a short technical research paper based on the results.PEDAGOGIC OBJECTIVES: Establish familiarity with the range of key site remediation technologies and tools used in environmental site cleanup and reuse. Explore the relationship between environmental remediation technologies and progressive site design. Examine new directions in innovative technologies utilizing soft engineering and natural landscape tools. BASIS OF GRADEWeekly attendance and full participation during class meetings, and field trips (60%); successful completion of case study and technical paper assignment (40%).