The Politics of Contaminated Sites Management

Contaminated sites became a critical environmental issue by the late 1970s, affecting even prosperous nations like Switzerland, which has around 38,000 such sites due to historical waste management practices. The authors emphasize the importance of inclusive, polycentric decision-making involving civil society in addressing this challenge. They argue that managing contaminated sites should be viewed as a political process, where institutions shape the interactions among various stakeholders with often conflicting interests.