Swedish Urban Soil Living Lab (URSOILL)

Addressing Urban Soil Health for Sustainable Cities 

The Swedish Urban Soil Living Lab (URSOILL) is a collaborative initiative dedicated to tackling the most pressing soil health challenges in Swedish cities. Through a bottom-up, co-creation approach, URSOILL brings together municipalities, academia, industry, and citizens to develop, test, and implement innovative solutions for healthier urban soils. 

Challenges and Objectives 

URSOILL focuses on the unique challenges of urban soils, including: 

• Soil pollution: Heavy metals, PFAS, PAH, dioxins, and microplastics from historical and ongoing urban activities 
• Soil sealing and compaction: Reduced water infiltration, increased flooding, and poor tree and plant health due to impermeable surfaces and heavy use 
• Low soil fertility and biological activity: Dry, hydrophobic soils with limited nutrient cycling and biodiversity 
• Soil literacy level: enhancing knowledge of the value of healthy urban soils 

Solutions and Goals 

URSOILL is testing and developing a range of solutions, including: 

• Microbial, fungal, and phytoremediation to address pollution 
• New soil substrates and amendments to improve fertility and structure 
• Permeable materials and de-sealing strategies to restore water infiltration 
• Real-time monitoring and data-driven management of urban soils 

Expected outcomes

• Site-specific but scalable solutions for urban soil health 
• Improved resilience and biodiversity in urban green spaces 
• Enhanced capacity for cities to manage soil as a vital resource 
• Increased knowledge of urban soil health