- Phytoremediation and sustainable urban design methods    821 kb by    Movahed, Nooshin & Maeiyat, Mohammad Mehdi | nushin1985@yahoo.com    Short Outline Phytoremediation is the use of living green plants for insitu risk reduction and/or removal of contaminants from contaminated soil, water, sediments, and air specially selected or engineered plants are used in the process. Abstract Organic substances comprise a potentially large group of air pollutants, particularly in urban environments. Motor vehicle emissions are a major source of these pollutants together with the petroleum and chemical industries, emissions from waste incinerators, service stations, domestic solid fuel and gas combustion, spray painting, dry-cleaning and other solvent usage, and cigarette smoke. Even at low levels, some of these organic pollutants can be hazardous to human health, particularly if the exposure is long term. We have to reduce our impact on the environment very seriously. And we have to be committed to taking action on this important issue. We should take steps to preserve the environment through responsible management; and develop programs and initiatives to evaluate and address environmental challenges. One big step to have low carbon cities is the Plant Elements of urban design program which is developed to support the landscape design process by providing designers and architects the opportunity to select plants with specific characteristics. Phytoremediation is the use of living green plants for insitu risk reduction and/or removal of contaminants from contaminated soil, water, sediments, and air specially selected or engineered plants are used in the process. The present study is under taken with the aim of recommending Phytoremediation as a method of reducing the level of carbon in cities, which is energy efficient, aseptically pleasing method of remediation sites with low to moderate levels of contamination and it can be used in conjunction with other more traditional remedial methods as a finishing step to the remedial process. One of the main advantages of phytoremediation, in addition of the application of plants to ornament the city, is its relatively low cost compared to other remedial methods such as excavation. In many cases phytoremediation has been found to be less than half the price of alternative methods. As different plant have different abilities to uptake and withstand high levels of pollutants many different plants may be used. This is of particular importance on sites that have been polluted with more than one type of contaminant. Hyperaccumulator plant species (species which absorb higher amounts of pollutants than most other species) are used on many sites due to their tolerance of relatively extreme levels of pollution. Once the plants have grown and absorbed the pollutants they are harvested and disposed of safely. Some plants which are recommended to be used as a Hyperaccumulator, landscape plant species are Alfalfa, poplar, juniper, Fescue, Hybrid poplar, grasses, Sunflower, Indian mustard, cabbage, which can be used for soil and groundwater medium which are polluted by petroleum and hydrocarbons. Keywords Phytoremediation,Hyperaccumulator plant ,landscape design, Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2009: Low Carbon Cities   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper