Towards soils urbanism: challenges and recommendations for urban players

Numerous voices are warning of the rapid degradation of soils worldwide by human activities: urban sprawl, disappearance of agricultural land, scarcity of resources, erosion of biodiversity, pollution, etc. are all topical issues in which soils play a predominant role, often to their disadvantage.

Having reached the end of the Soil Decade begun in 2015, the European Union has set a Soil Strategy 2030, which aims to ensure that all soils are in good condition by 2050, and that soil protection, restoration and sustainable use become the norm. . In France, soil is making a comeback in debates on the planning of our countryside and cities, as evidenced by the revision of the World Soil Charter or the 2021 Climate and Resilience Act with the goal of zero net artificialization of soils (ZAN) to be achieved by 2050.

So much attention and determination for a situation that continues to deteriorate: in France, between 20,000 and 30,000 hectares are artificially developed every year. This artificialisation is increasing at almost four times the rate of population growth. and has direct repercussions on the quality of life of citizens, but also on the environment. Essentially quantitative, ZAN appears to be an objective without doctrine, understood as a new constraint on regional development.

While the aim is to preserve the soil, there is little mention of what will be achieved from this laudable objective. The question of the urban forms that will result from soil conservation is rarely raised. Will we continue to "produce" the same developments, the same neighborhoods, the same buildings?

Beyond the injunction to do things differently, to consider urban planning differently, don't we need to create a theoretical and practical framework to envisage transformations that are commensurate with the stakes?

Soil provides not only the support, but also the substrate for these new project approaches. Because ZAN is not just an obligation. It's a radical upheaval in the way we do things and, above all, in the way we look at situations that we haven't yet come to grips with. Like other disciplines, urban planning needs to rethink itself in order to respond to the issues facing territories and their human and non-human populations.