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[Research Paper đŸ‡«đŸ‡·] Urban gardening: the challenge of soil quality for communities


March 9, 2023

How does urban gardening lead communities to question urban soil quality?

URBiNAT scientific partners from Nantes recently published an article in the Journal Projets de Paysage. 

Le sol, enveloppe superficielle de la Terre, est formĂ© par l’altĂ©ration des roches-mĂšres et d’apports exogĂšnes. Il est composĂ© de matiĂšre organique et minĂ©rale, d’eau, d’air et d’organismes vivants intimement liĂ©s. En milieu urbain, les sols, fortement influencĂ©s
par les activitĂ©s humaines passĂ©es et prĂ©sentes, se caractĂ©risent par une forte hĂ©tĂ©rogĂ©nĂ©itĂ© horizontale et verticale (BĂ©chet et al., 2009). Support indispensable des activitĂ©s humaines et des Ă©cosystĂšmes terrestres, le sol est paradoxalement le compartiment de l’environnement biophysique urbain le moins abordĂ©. Juliette Fournil, Juliette Kon Kam King, CĂ©line Granjou et Lauric CĂ©cillon (2018) parlent de « l’invisibilitĂ© du sol ». Pour les non-experts, il fait souvent l’objet de reprĂ©sentations erronĂ©es ou tronquĂ©es. Il est alors perçu comme un matĂ©riau inerte et associĂ© Ă  une surface sans considĂ©ration de son Ă©paisseur. Le scellement des sols par diffĂ©rents revĂȘtements contribue Ă  son invisibilisation. Le fait est que le sol reste encore souvent abordĂ© sous l’angle restrictif de la propriĂ©tĂ© fonciĂšre (Desrousseaux, 2021) et non comme un « bien commun » limite une approche globale de l’environnement.

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Soil, the Earth’s surface envelope, is formed by the alteration of parent rocks and exogenous inputs. It is composed of organic and mineral matter, water, air and and living organisms that are intricately linked. In an urban environment, soils are strongly influenced by past and present human activities, are characterised by strong horizontal and vertical heterogeneity (BĂ©chet et al., 2009). As an essential supporting mechanism for human activities and terrestrial ecosystems, soil is paradoxically the least studied component of the urban biophysical environment. Juliette Fournil, Juliette Kon Kam King, CĂ©line Granjou and Lauric CĂ©cillon (2018) speak of the ‘invisibility of soil’. For non-experts, it is often the subject of erroneous or truncated representations. It is perceived as an inert material and associated with a surface without consideration for its thickness. The covering of floors with different materials contributes to its invisibility. The fact is that soil is still often approached from the restrictive perspective of land ownership (Desrousseaux, 2021) and not as a ‘common good’, which limits a global approach to the environment.