ABSTRACT
Urban soil differs from the agricultural one by the fact that the former is more strongly influenced by continuous and intense anthropogenic contaminating activities. Metals such as Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn are commonly found at high concentrations in urban soils, thus jeopardizing the safety production of crops. An alternative to reduce metal bioavailability and toxicity in urban soils is phytoremediation, a gentle strategy that maintains the agronomical properties of soils and preserves its function. Phytoremediation can be suggested, therefore, as a low-cost and environmentally friendly strategy to remediate urban soils contaminated with trace metals with two major aims: (i) to maintain the crop potential of soils, and (ii) to reduce the huge amounts of slightly contaminated soils that are commonly excavated and evacuated from the cities where they become wastes. In this chapter, the authors provide an overview on the health risks derived from cropping in urban soils and how these risks may be reduced by biological approaches. Among them, the advantages and limitations of using phytoremediation in metal-polluted urban soils are discussed. The potential application of this bioremediation approach in the urban ecosystem is described through selected case studies.
