Drivers and mitigation

Over recent decades, growing wealth and changing lifestyles have increased the demand for built-up land. On average, each person today uses more land than in the past — homes are larger, cities spread outward, infrastructure networks expand.

To reverse or avoid the negative impacts of sealing, there are three main categories of measures: prevent, limit, and compensate. An emerging fourth category is de-sealing — reversing soil sealing.

EU policy is moving toward no net land take, re-use of artificial land, and restoration-oriented approaches. The Soil Strategy and the Soil Monitoring Law both explicitly tackle soil sealing.

Watch how Vienna is mitigating soil sealing: video.