Underground systems. A framework for urban soil assessment

Bossard, Alexandre;Cavalieri, Chiara;Ska, Olivier
(2022) International Forum on Urbanism, IFoU 2022: INTERNATIONALIZING EDUCATION FOR THE ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION CHALLENGE — Location: Bordeaux (29.June.2022)

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(en) (This paper received the Best Paper Award at the 15th International Forum on Urbanism) Over the last years, in the framework of ecological transition, the question of soil has been critically revised in the fields of urbanism and urban planning. This paper focusses on how to integrate soil and subsoil sciences in urban assessment via a systemic reconceptualization of urban soils as a three-dimensional element composed by different strata: (a) the land, the place where urban policies and zoning laws apply, (b) the living soil, an ecosystem service that is often replaced by different urban utilities; the (c) subsoil, the hydrogeological structure that plays a crucial role for major urban functions. Although these strata are domains of different disciplines and regulations (urbanism, pedology, geology…), modifications of land use can cause major dysfunctions through these different layers, such as for example the pollution of both ground and surface water bodies, or the reduction of the natural soil capacity to infiltrate, store, and ultimately recycle water. Through data gathering (from land cover to urban plans, pedology, hydrogeomorphology and geology…) and integrated analysis (urban and soil sciences) this work describes, analyses and categorizes the transversal connections of this threefold system in the capital region of Brussels. A region where not only the pressure of densification entails the development of former productive areas for new dwellings, and thus where soil as such becomes crucial, but also where climate change is increasingly revealing major water dysfunctions as a result of an intensive process of urbanisation of waters (covering, piping, pumping, discharging…) that has progressively replaced the space of both soil and subsoil. The purpose of this paper is to unravel paths towards a deep soils-oriented classification of urban tissues based on the different interaction of the soil strata, as a basis for encouraging a better assessment of the environmental impact of urban developments, as well as to produce soil-oriented approaches for urban transformation. This work is part of the 3Dcit-is research (ABV Environment ; ELI UCLouvain ; LAB UCLouvain) funded by Innoviris (Join R&D Project, 2019).
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Bossard, A., Cavalieri, C., & Ska, O. (2022). Underground systems. A framework for urban soil assessment. Conference Proceedings of 15th Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism, 244-259. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/247346