EIVP and ECT conference « Earth in all its states »
New development goals for excavated soils
The ecological transition leads to a re-examination of the practices and development approaches of urban management, which are notable for excessive consumption of resources of all forms – materials, energy, water, land, etc – and a lack of recycling. The question of excavated soil and its use is a crucial one, yet its place in the system is too often overlooked. This indeed is the subject of the business chair « Upcycling Urban Soil » which is at the centre of the ecosystem of studies concerning urban soil through biennial conferences, meetings and the publication of this new work.
Questions relating to soils, their management and upcycling are a subject of major importance in terms of their potential contribution to a sustainable regional policy of « circular economics ». The spatial scale of management, methods of upcycling and the symbolic aspects of upcycling directly involve urban engineering and the development of the region.
« To transcend town planning based on a master plan, it’s vital to change the conceptual frameworks, and the methods of production and management, of the urban environment. It is no longer a question of separating them by phase or by organisation concerned, but of aiming for approaches that integrate those concerned with the issues and, above all, the phases of life of the works and thus of the projects. The integrated management of soil with other urban issues is the subject of this book. »
Youssef DIAB and Antoine GRUMBACH
