8400Ha+ Scenarios: Towards an urbanism of living soil.

This communication illustrates part of the results of the Research Project “Du Sol et du Travail, la transition, un nouveau projet biopolitique” by the Habitat Research Center (EPFL) for the International Consultation “Prospective Visions for Greater Geneva” launched by the Fondation Braillard (Genève). The project stresses the crucial and strategic role of soil multifunctionality in relation to the region’s urban and ecological transition.

"8400 ha" refers to the extension of Geneva Canton’s “surfaces d’assolement” (SDA), surfaces where currently no construction is allowed by law and that should guarantee self-reliance to the country in the event of a severe food shortage (e.g. conflict). These surfaces, selected in the 1990s for their agricultural capacity, in the face of climate change are today no longer able to guarantee either food self-reliance , protection or regeneration of the territory itself. The “+” in the title refers -thus- to the need to do more, to set a more ambitious goal for Greater Geneva’s soils, an objective going beyond a merely and exclusively protective approach to surface requirements. A more ambitious approach entails considering soil quality as a fundamental parameter (additional to the surface area) and a deep review of the SDA concept, also through the integration of other types of functional soils as “urban soils”. The principle of SDA preservation is only the tip of the iceberg of a minimalist approach to a complex subject concerning food sovereignty as much as the emergence of new forms of habitat or conflicts between ecosystems and their functions.

Increasingly relegated to the background and subjected to multiple factors favoring its deterioration, soils must -thus- not only be protected and regenerated, but also considered key agents for the ecological transition and for the construction of the urban project of the future . In the Greater Geneva territory, soils are subject to increasing stress due to -mainly- rapid urbanization and the rise of intensive agricultural practices. Both stressors are exacerbated by Climate Change and will continue to increase with the prospect of a growing population that needs to be housed and fed. If, within the Climate Change framework, we take the “living soil” concept seriously, our point of view on the territory will fundamentally change, producing a radical shift on multiple levels:

1 - The object of analysis changes

If we consider the soil as a living and multifunctional entity, we will necessarily be led not to neglect any part of the territory and to take into consideration ALL the soils that compose it: taking into consideration “Rurban” Soils

2 - The practices change

Managing a "living" soil, to ensure its quality and multi-functionality over time, requires safeguarding and strengthening all the living forms that inhabit it: implementing Conservation and Regeneration Strategies

3 - The planning tools change

Planning tools (urbanism, urban planning) developed to manage a “living” soil must necessarily take all soil functions (not only fertility) into account and add the variable of “time” in the equation: towards the development of SDA / LAT Plus