Materials

Reconstitution of artificial soils in Geneva

From an environmental, energy and demographic point of view, the greening of towns and their surrounding areas in a sustainable way is a necessity. The use of earth materials obtained from soil stripping to create green spaces is precisely regulated and commonly practised. Given the variability of material sources in terms of their nature and temporal availability, it is important to develop highly adaptable technical know-how for the creation of these ecosystems and their support. To achieve this, it is necessary to have references on the potential for plant growth using variable proportions of local mineral and organic materials to be reused when sowing seed mixtures of native species.

The general aim of this collaborative project is therefore to determine the potential for reusing local excavation materials to create multifunctional green spaces. This involves characterising these materials, their suitability as soil constituents, the mixing protocols for achieving the desired objective, the quality of the Technosol obtained and its properties for revegetation: covering potential, growth rate and plant diversity.