Konferenz in Bremen

Soil degradation is an underestimated environmental crisis with far-reaching consequences for food security, water supply and climate stability. In cities, it leads to problems such as flooding, loss of biodiversity, restricted groundwater recharge and health hazards, particularly through sealing and contamination (EEA 2020, Setälä 2014). However, city administrations, planners, architects and civil society often lack the necessary awareness, knowledge, and tools to assess the quality and to restore and protect multifunctional, healthy urban soils.

Bringing together specialists from anthropology, architecture, art, landscape architecture, soil science and urban planning from Europe and Latin America, the conference addresses soil as a decisive force for urban development and explores how restoring soil health can reactivate vital ecosystem services for cities. The conference fosters integrated research and the application of soil health measures in urban and peri-urban contexts, structured around three thematic strands: i) Soil-Sensitive Urbanism: A Comprehensive Vision of Soil for Cities; (ii) Urban Design & Architecture: Soil-Sensitive Cities, Public Spaces and Buildings; (iii) Hands-On: Concrete Measures for Soil-Sensitive Cities and Soil Literacy.

Organized by the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering at City University of Applied Sciences Bremen (HSB), funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of the HAW-Europa Networks programme (13HAW15EN5_Soil4Cities).

Participation is free of charge.

More information at the homepage https://soilcities.org
Michelle Howard and I will present FERALcatalyst, our project for Düsseldorf on Friday, 21 November 2025 at 10 am.