Urban Soils: Artificialization and Management

Abstract

Urbanization often corresponds to a “rampant” settlement area that occupies agricultural, natural or seminatural land in order to meet social and economic needs: construction of buildings, transportation infrastructure, construction sites, cemeteries, vacant lots, quarries, dumps, ornamental gardens and lawns. The analysis of the soil artificialization is carried out with the European database of biophysical land use, Corine Land Cover. It identifies artificial soil as one of the five key levels of land use. Urban soils can be grouped into two broad categories related to their use, origin and function: artificial soils and vegetated soils. When urban anthropic soils are compacted, asphyxiating, heterogeneous or without nutritional reserve, fertile soils are to be built. Reconstitution of soil is done by taking the fertile agricultural soil with a superposition of two or three horizons as a model. Knowledge of soil types and their distribution is becoming an indispensable component of urban planning decision‐making tools.