Urban Soils

Pouyat, Richard V.; Day, Susan D.; Brown, Sally; Schwarz, Kirsten; Shaw, Richard E.; Szlávecz, Katalin; Trammell, Tara L. E.; Yesilonis, Ian D.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-45216-2_7

Cited by 20 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 102 publications

(113 reference statements)

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“…The main physiographic characteristics of each location are reported in Table 1. We are aware of the great dimensional heterogeneity and spatial variability of the studied locations but, in selecting them, we wanted to cover most of the situations where the soil is present in the city, as also suggested by Pouyat et al, (2017Pouyat et al, ( , 2020 and Burghardt (2017). Further, our aim was not to assess the spatial variability of the soil within locations, but to estimate the level of heavy metal concentrations within the city.…”

Section: Selected Locations Soil Collection and Soil Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Urban soils are soils of urban and suburban environments intensively disturbed by human activity (Morel et al, 2005;Pouyat et al, 2020) and that show a remarkable spatial heterogeneity (De Kimpe et al 2000). Historically, urban soils were ignored in soil studies, but in the last decades, they have gained attention because of their importance for human health in the city environment (Rossiter, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Heavy metal load and effects on biochemical properties in urban soils of a medium-sized city, Ancona, Italy

Serrani

Ajmone-Marsan

Corti

et al. 2021

Environ Geochem Health

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Urban soils are often mixed with extraneous materials and show a high spatial variability that determine great differences from their agricultural or natural counterparts. The soils of 18 localities of a medium-sized city (Ancona, Italy) were analysed for their main physicochemical and biological properties, and for chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), and mercury (Hg) total content, distribution among particle-size fractions, and extractability. Because of the absence of thresholds defining a hot spot for heavy metal pollution in urban soils, we defined a “threshold of attention” (ToA) for each heavy metal aiming to bring out hot spot soils where it is more impellent to intervene to mitigate or avoid potential environmental concerns. In several city locations, the soil displayed sub-alkaline pH, large contents of clay-size particles, and higher TOC, total N, and available P with respect to the surrounding rural areas, joined with high contents of total heavy metals, but low availability. The C biomass, basal respiration, qCO2, and enzyme activities were compared to that detected in the near rural soils, and results suggested that heavy metals content has not substantially compromised the soil ecological services. We conclude that ToA can be considered as a valuable tool to highlight soil hot spots especially for cities with a long material history and, for a proper risk assessment in urban soils, we suggest considering the content of available heavy metals (rather than the total content) and soil functions.

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Section: Selected Locations Soil Collection and Soil Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heavy metal load and effects on biochemical properties in urban soils of a medium-sized city, Ancona, Italy

Serrani

Ajmone-Marsan

Corti

et al. 2021

Environ Geochem Health

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“…The latter is aimed at posing the concept within the broader context of the human-altered soils either if not in the strictly urban context (notably peri-urban). Further, more recent definitions of urban soils (Morel et al, 2017) enlarge this typology to a wider range of soils including those relatively undisturbed or not yet altered by human activities or pollutants, if located in the urban areas (Pouyat et al, 2020).…”

Section: Recycling Construction Debris For Producing New Anthropogeni...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybridizing Artifice and Nature: Designing New Soils Through the Eco-Systemic Approach

Rigillo

2022

Regenerative Territories

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The chapter outlines the cultural background for applying design strategies consistent with the challenge of circularity. The contribution focuses on ecological thinking as an effective design approach to produce and implement eco-innovative strategies able at facing environmental and societal challenges of our global age. Then the chapter depicts the Repair research experience in promoting a systemic design approach for recycling and reusing C&D waste as new, anthropogenic soils in peri-urban areas. According to the EEA Report n.6/2017, the chapter posits that the major environmental challenges of the present are not about single issues, such as waste reduction or soil-loss, rather they involve systemic change and design processes, linking together economy, social habits and technological responses. Therefore, the transition towards more sustainable urban metabolism deeply depends from creative visions by which breaking the circuit “take-make-dispose” and promote new—and somehow tentative—visions for implementing circularity at local and global scale. Further postulation in the paper is about assuming the concept of Anthropocene as theoretical ground for such eco-innovative design approach. The scientific evidence of living in human-dominated ecosystems makes designers towards a paradigm shift concerning the overcoming of the typical artificial/natural dichotomy by exploring the augmented opportunities in designing sustainable and resilient habitats thanks to a more collaborative, plural and innovative design approach: “What is important and significant here is how ecology and landscape architectural design might invent alternative forms of relationships between people, places and cosmos” (Corner, ‘Ecology and Landscape as agents of Creativity’, 1997, reprint in Reed &Lister (2018), Op. Cit., pp. 40–65, p. 42). Starting from these assumptions, the paper deepens the experience of collaborative design for implementing recycle and reuse of C&D waste for producing new technical soils, according to both the regulatory constraints (and potentials) and the site-specific features. The research goal is to provide new vegetated soils by waste thanks to an innovative design process based on both circular economy principles and collaborative knowledge production. Notably, the capacity of producing creative hybridization between biotic and abiotic component seems to be the new frontier in the field of technological design and material engineering. The term hypernatural, proposed by Blaine Brownell and Marc Swackhamer in 2015, introduces the idea of a co-evolutionary process between nature and science, looking at humans’ technological capacity as an effective opportunity for creating the conditions for making biotic ad abiotic systems working together: “The ultimate aim of technology is not antinatural: it is hypernatural” (Brownell & Swackhamer in Hyper-natural. Architecture’s new relationship with nature. Princeton Architectural Press, New York, p. 18, 2015). The chapter deals with the methodology applied for promoting a sort of protocological architecture (Burke, 2007), by which facilitating the C&D waste recycle and reuse within the construction sector, and notably into the landscape project. The research starts working under the H2020-Repair project, and it has developed within further research programs about C&D waste management in urban regeneration programs developed by the Department of Architecture of University of Naples Federico II.

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“…Buildings, transport, and industry cause detrimental and often irreversible changes in soil characteristics mainly through a variety of habitat conversion (e.g., deforestation, soil sealing, and compaction), and pollution (e.g., vehicular and industrial emissions). As a result, most urban soils have a strongly modified structure, unpredictable layering, alkaline pH, low organic matter content, and are enriched with pollutants (Pouyat et al, 2020). Additionally, soils act as both a sink and source of persistent toxic substances, especially heavy metals in urban environments, thus posing a potential threat to ecological communities and human health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban soil quality deteriorates even with low heavy metal levels: An arthropod‐based multi‐indices approach

Tóth

Dombos

Hornung

2023

Ecological Applications

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Urban-induced habitat conversion drastically changes soil life in a variety of ways.Soil sealing, human disturbance, habitat fragmentation, industrial and vehicular pollution are the main causes of urban soil degradation. Soil arthropods, as one of the most abundant and diverse group of soil fauna, are involved in many soil processes that are of great importance in maintaining soil health and multifunctionality. Nevertheless, soil quality is still mainly characterized by physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters. Here, we assessed and compared the biological soil quality in woody (REF: reference forest, REM: remnant forest) and nonwoody (TURF: public turfgrass, and RUD: ruderal habitat) types of urban green spaces along a disturbance and management intensity gradient in the Budapest metropolitan area (Hungary), using community metrics and soil arthropod-based indicators. Vegetation cover and landscape characteristics of study sites were quantified through vegetation and urbanization indices, respectively. Basic soil properties, total and bioavailable concentrations of the main heavy metals (Cd, Co, Hg, Ni, Zn) were also measured. Acari, Collembola, and Hymenoptera (mainly Formicidae) were the most abundant groups. Litter-dweller taxa, particularly Protura, proved to be the most sensitive to urban disturbance. Representatives of Hemiptera, Diptera, Symphyla, and Pauropoda were common in low densities. The taxonomic diversity of soil arthropod assemblages in nonwoody and woody habitats was similar. Although the integrated faunal indices showed no differences among soil habitat types, they provided different responses and, consequently, different information. Our findings demonstrated that the biological quality and arthropod community structure of soils were strongly impacted by soil C/N and heavy metal contamination. We found that low and moderate levels of pollution have adverse effects on edaphic fauna, suggesting biological degradation of soils, even below pollution limits. Nevertheless, more disturbed urban green spaces have been shown to play a significant role in maintaining belowground biodiversity, thereby soil functions.

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Urban Soils

Cited by 20 publications

References 102 publications

Heavy metal load and effects on biochemical properties in urban soils of a medium-sized city, Ancona, Italy

Heavy metal load and effects on biochemical properties in urban soils of a medium-sized city, Ancona, Italy

Hybridizing Artifice and Nature: Designing New Soils Through the Eco-Systemic Approach

Urban soil quality deteriorates even with low heavy metal levels: An arthropod‐based multi‐indices approach

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