## "The Light of Commerce Reviving on Untilled Land"--Light and Shadow of Contaminated Soil Business, November 2007

## "The Light of Commerce Reviving on Untilled Land"--Light and Shadow of Contaminated Soil Business, November 2007

In 2007, Japanese cities were quietly at a major turning point. In the rapidly advancing trend of real estate securitization and development investment, a former industrial legacy - contaminated land - stood in the way of development plans.

The Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law, which came into effect in 2003, mandated that former factories and other sites that had used specified toxic substances be surveyed and cleaned up. But it was not just about environmental preservation. In order to promote urban redevelopment, it became essential to know the history, or "memory," of the soil, and an era in which investigation and remediation were key to economic rationality had arrived.

The number of companies undertaking investigation and diagnosis of contaminated soil has increased rapidly. In particular, the development of real estate securitization has led to an increase in the number of cases where a third-party "second opinion" is sought for risk assessment of land. A Kyoto-based firm handled more than 300 soil surveys a year, 15% of which were for this new demand for independent evaluation.

Meanwhile, technological innovation is also advancing. The electrolytic treatment of lead-contaminated soil developed by EBARA has enabled cleanup at nearly half the cost of conventional methods, making it a realistic option for on-site treatment. In addition, major companies such as DOWA and Shimizu Corporation developed their own treatment facilities, and "soil remediation as a business" became a reality against the backdrop of cooperation between the public and private sectors.

The biggest challenge, however, was "brownfields. Brownfields are groups of land where the cost of remediation exceeds 30% of the land price due to contamination, making it virtually impossible to buy or sell. These were left as urban wastelands, and were an obstacle to redevelopment.

The Ministry of the Environment estimates that there are approximately 28,000 hectares of brownfields throughout Japan, with an asset value of over 10 trillion yen. In the U.S., legislation and risk exemption systems were already in place to revitalize the land, but in Japan, discussions had only just begun.

A Shiga Prefecture venture, Awami Kankyo Design, has developed a simplified risk assessment service for utilizing such land, and in October 2007 obtained a building contractor license, expanding its business from research to real estate distribution and development support. The year also coincided with symbolic issues in urban restructuring, such as the soil problem in Toyosu over the relocation of the Tsukiji market, bringing "soil" back into the spotlight as the interface between the environment, the economy, and society.

Now, a new urban and economic ethic is about to sprout on the dirty soil. Soil remediation is not just a technological solution. It is a story of another Japanese urban planning project that confronts the past and reexamines the environmental values of the future.