The NICOLE workshop at Lille focused on two main themes: the management of “megasites” and “sustainable land management”. In broad terms the initial description for megasites has been that they are large conurbations of sites where contamination has arisen independently. However, often over time, as contamination has spread, these environmental problems caused by these sites have become inter-linked. The management of such conurbations may therefore be facilitated by taking an overarching approach, rather than trying to deal with each site on an individual basis. Even where contamination problems remain relatively discrete there may be economic, social or environmental advantages in an overall approach. Sustainable land management is a phrase that has been coined by NICOLE to describe a risk-based approach to land management that also takes into account the principles of sustainable development, a balanced environmental, economic and social approach.

These are only initial descriptions. Neither term, megasite nor sustainable land management has yet been explicitly defined, for example in a regulatory or spatial planning context. At this point in time, these are terms that describe a philosophical approach to land management. The purpose of the Lille workshop was twofold: to explore whether a consensus existed to define these terms more closely, and to see how these philosophies might be translated as more operational approaches.

The workshop included discussion groups and expert presentations. The presentations began with a review of the EC Welcome project, which opened the “megasites” debate in Europe. This was followed by a review of the legal, economic issues, policy, social and management issues surrounding megasites. The development of sustainable land management thinking in this workshop was linked to the megasites debate.