This new symposium from the EIVP and ECT business chair "Upcycling Urban Soil" took place in partnership with the ENSP, and with the participation of Cycle Terre.
After a first symposium in April 2019 on "Earth in all its States", which analysed urban soil as a resource and material with many aspects, ECT and the EIVP take a deeper look and put soil at the heart of current debates on the sustainable city. Social, environmental and economic perspectives are at the centre of the examination that EIVP is undertaking in the context of their teaching and research chair.
Soil is an under-appreciated resource, and we believe it has a positive value in material / physical terms, in environmental and economic terms, and also symbolically and socially.
Every year in the Paris region nearly 10 million cubic metres of inert soil, the equivalent of four Great Pyramids of Giza, are produced by public and private works. It's a quantity that represents a significant issue for sustainability in urban and near-urban regions.
The conference "Urban Soil: An asset for the city of tomorrow" proposes treating this resource as a vector for the rehabilitation of derelict sites, as a defining element for new landscape in the regions, as a construction material that is respectful towards the environment, and as an essential element in the urban integration of green spaces of varying kinds and of biodiversity.
These 4 focal points demonstrate how urban soil provides a practical representation of a new and positive approach to their inclusion into policy-making for the sustainable city, as with energy; combining economy of resources and re-use of materials in a way that is respectful of the environment.
A great variety of examples and approaches both theoretical and historical will be explored during these four half-day sessions. International examples, debates, and analyses in both national and Île-de-France contexts will be discussed. The role of a new urban engineering will also be examined as a factor in a better consideration of inert soil in the sustainable city.
The programme for the symposium was prepared by a committee including Y. Diab, S. Alix, A. Grumbach, R. Semlali, V. Piveteau, B.Julien-Labruyère, S. Devescovi and M. Castex
The entire symposium is available to see again
Part 1: Land, Soil and the Sustainable City (I)
Part 2: Making Landscape: A positive view of the role of excavated soil
Part 3: Earth as a Material: The Cycle Terre project (Action Urbaine Innovante)
Part 4: Land, Soil and the Sustainable City (II)
The symposium was followed up with a collective work revealing the thousand and one ways in which inert soil can be upcycled. A golden opportunity to shine a light on excavated soil, which is at the heart of initiatives that are often unsung. Shows that soil is a marvellous resource.
The EIVP (City of Paris School of Engineering), a leading university for urban engineering, and ECT, the French leader in the upcycling of excavated soil, organised the first conference on "La Terre dans tous ses États" or "Earth in all its States". This conference is one product of the ECT business chair at the EIVP.
EARTH IN ALL ITS STATES ("LA TERRE DANS TOUS SES ÉTATS")
9 and 10 April 2019
at the EIVP, 80 rue Rébeval
Conferences and round tables: Researchers, developers, elected representatives, experts
Visit: ECT's site for management of excavated soil at Moissy-Cramayel (Seine-et-Marne, 77)
This work, arising from the conference "Earth in all its States", reveals the thousand and one ways in which inert soil can be upcycled. It's a golden opportunity to shine a light on the principles of 'circular economy' and ecological mitigation that are at the heart of these often unsung activities.
Soil is a marvellous resource!
A wide variety of solutions will be explored, ranging from remediation of polluted zones and backfilling of mines and quarries to the creation of planted parkland, the restoration of farmland, the transformation of soil into a construction material or topsoil, and the creation of works of art or works of urban engineering.
See the programme in detail