The first biannual meeting
in 2026 of the Urban Geology Expert Group (UGEG) took place
in Utrecht, Netherlands from the 25th to the 27th of
March. The meeting was organized by TNO innovation for life https://www.tno.nl/en/
The meeting was attended
by two members of the Urban
Geology programme from
Geological Survey Ireland.
The meeting evaluated progress of the following tasks and
activities the expert group is working on:
- Coffee
breaks Initiative. There was an update on the online coffee breaks
that encouraged further engagement between different members of the expert
group.
- Integrated
Urban Subsurface Planning (IUSP) Position paper. Much discussion led
to significant progress on the paper. The paper will serve as a practical
guide for cities and policymakers.
- Utrecht
Statement: The rationale for
the mission statement was considered.
- Geo
communication. It was agreed to develop an Urban Geology factsheet.
- Urban
Geology and EGDI. An update of the EGDI editorial meeting that took
place in Brussels in February. That includes the creation of an Arc layer
linking the cities from the UGF with the reports done in the Sub-Urban
action.
There was also a half a day trip to classical Dutch
human-made polder landscape and to a large-scale urban development on recently
reclaimed land, Almere.