Inventorying heavy metal pollution in redeveloped brownfield and its policy contribution: Case study from Tiexi District, Shenyang, China

As the pollution of urban soil in brownfield redevelopment sites can adversely affect the surrounding ecosystems and human health, China's rapid urbanization and industrialization necessitates the remediation, treatment and redevelopment of contaminated urban soil. This study aims to address the policy implications of inventorying and mapping soil heavy-metal pollution in brownfield redevelopment sites in China, using the Tiexi district in Shenyang as a case study. Enrichment factors analysis of the soil samples proved that the soil in the brownfield sites was highly enriched with copper, cadmium, lead, zinc, arsenic and nickel relative to background values. Furthermore, the analysis of the pollution index and the integrated Nemerow pollution index also indicated that the soil was most heavily polluted by cadmium. The hot-spot metal contamination areas, determined using geographical information system technology, were mainly located near historical high-pollution enterprises. Based on our findings, policy recommendations for further brownfield management are proposed.