Numerous studies have been conducted on urban
soils for a variety of reasons and from many different perspectives. These
studies usually focus on:
- The effect that soil type has on various engineering or building projects;
- The interaction of soil type and public land use (i.e., parks and traffic ways);
- The effect of soil type on arboricultural or urban horticultural projects;
- The environmental impact of human activity on the surrounding areas.
Little seems to have been done, however, in studying land use effects on
soils at the level of individual land tracts within residential areas in
the urban landscape. Such areas have apparently been assumed to be so uniform
and artificial as to prove useless as a subject of study.
While such an assumption might be valid for very new neighborhoods built
on a previously stripped and reconstructed surface (as most modern suburban
subdivisions have been) it might not hold true for urban areas that firstly,
were built up gradually, with little disturbance of the previous soil profiles
and secondly, have been occupied long enough for human activity to leave
its mark on the soils in these areas. It is the purpose of this study, then,
to focus on the variation in soil types and conditions between selected
sites of differing land use at close proximity to one another in an urban
residential neighborhood.
What was the objective of the project?
Where did the project take place?
What were the methods used in the project?
What were the results of the tests?
Discussion of the results.
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