Paris, 8 December 2022 – The business chair in Upcycling Urban Soil or Valorisation des terres urbaines, which is run by the City of Paris School of Engineering or École des Ingénieurs de la Ville de Paris together with ECT, published in Éditions Eyrolles the book « Urban Soil, an Asset for the City of Tomorrow » or « Terres Urbaines, valeurs positives de la ville de demain », under the direction of Youssef Diab.
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
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Soil : a vector of the urban dynamic and its sustainability
This work positions urban soil as a vector of the urban dynamic and its sustainability. Substantial and diverse upcycling of soil emerges from the outset as a major contributing factor in this sustainability. The book explores these aspects, divided into four major current themes:
- The rehabilitation of derelict sites, as a structuring element for a new regional landscape;
- The issues of landscape and its fundamental role in the upcycling of urban soil;
- A construction material that respects the environment as it is geosourced;
- The indispensability for the urban sphere of issues relating to green spaces and biodiversity.
The authors : Reflecting a multidisciplinary view
« Urban Soil, an Asset for the City of Tomorrow » is the result of a multidisciplinary process. The authors are town planners, engineers, landscape designers and architects. In line with the conference that took place in 2021, this book brings together an ecosystem of specialists. And, through the example of structuring urban projects, enables the reader to discover new practices that are relevant to the management of soil in France and Belgium, but also in an international metropolis such as Cairo.
The authors : Michel Audouy, Alain Bourdin, Christophe Bouleau, Magali Castex, Ronald Charvet, Bernard Chevassus-au-Louis, Silvia Devescovi, Youssef Diab, Mathieu Fernandez, Nicolas Gilsoul, Jérôme Gleizes, Antoine Grumbach, Franck Jung, Marc Kaszynski, Laurent Mogno, François Ménard, Jacqueline Osty, Loïc Pianfetti, Élisabeth Rémy, Nadya Rouizem Labied, Reda Semlali
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To buy the book at the Librairie Eyrolles, click here
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