Conveners: Andreas Hoppe, Dieter Schott and Volker Steinbach
Session language: English

Topic:
For the first time in human history, more than 50 % of the global population live in urban settlements and are thus trigger sustainable or non-sustainable societal development. However, geologists often try to circumvent cities because knowledge about the subsoil is difficult to obtain in an area covered by buildings and infrastructure. On the other hand, the metabolism of a settlement needs water and mass resources for their reproduction while emitting used materials like wastes and polluted water into the environment, and a settlement may be endangered by natural hazards.
This means that a thorough and, if possible, 3D investigation of the local geology is needed that is understandable for decision makers who are generally not  geologists. The session will discuss examples of urban areas with its surroundings as well as methods approaching these goals.