During the last decades, contaminated soil has become of both public and scientific concern. National inventories have shown very large numbers of potentially contaminated sites originating from various industrial activities. Industrial technologies in the old days were often based on open systems designed without the insight of their being potential environmental threats. Legal actions taken against organizations responsible for water and air pollution have led to the development of new water and flue gas cleaning technologies. Today, contaminated land plays a major role in sustainable future land use, not only with regard to pollution resulting from old industrial activities but also with regard to the management of present industrial technologies and waste products.Issues related to contaminated soil are by definition interdisciplinary. In the Northern Sweden Soil Remediation Center (MCN), scientists from three universities (Umeå University, Luleå University of Technology, and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) and the Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI) have focused on developing a detailed understanding of the mechanisms and processes in the soil system. Fundamental and applied research in collaboration with enterprises has been performed concerning critical knowledge gaps.The MCN was initiated in 2001 and consists of scientists, representatives from authorities, consultants, and entrepreneurs. The major goals of the MCN have been to increase the scientific basis for the risk assessment of contaminated soil and, by improved knowledge of the interactions between different contaminants and the soil system, to guide the development of remediation methods. New scientific results have been implemented by collaboration enterprises and authorities that have added strategic value for the whole sector in general.This issue of AMBIO summarizes the MCN's research activities, which have focused on inorganic and organic pollutant behavior, analytical methods, and risk assessments of brownfields. In addition, invited contributions from research groups outside the MCN have added other valuable aspects to the multidisciplinary research field.