A biodiverse, self-sustaining and organically growing Soil Data Atlas,
enriched by citizens working together to balance and heal the Earth.
SOIL REGENERATION
Soil analysis is necessary to design a regenerative edible landscape. A healthy soil is the basis for a healthy community, healthy people and a healthy environment. Soil made infertile by urbanization needs attention and citizens are called to be an active part of this collective regeneration effort.
CITIZEN SCIENCE
Via our virtual co-learning center, citizens will become experts on soil quality and fertility and are empowered to improve soil quality. Workshops will teach citizens how to make observations, test soil, interpret results and draw conclusions.
SOIL MAPPING
Citizens’ observations of soil quality data will generate a high-resolution soil quality map and the related findings will support us and other urban ecology initiatives in the dialogue with policymakers, city makers, and urban planners.
KNOWLEDGE SHARING & COMMUNITY BUILDING
Open Soil Atlas offers the possibility for citizen scientists, gardeners, and sustainability practitioners to get engaged in a co-learning and knowledge sharing process, building community and citizen engagement.
OUR VISION, MISSION AND AIMS
Our dream is a world where…
Citizens become soil experts and, using their own natural senses, are empowered to assess and improve its quality and fertility.
The relationship between healthy soil and healthy communities is recognized.
Soils made infertile by urbanization are healed by informed and caring citizens and once again offer fertile opportunities for healthy local food.
City decision makers will be able to better identify suitable areas for urban gardening.
How we’re doing it…
OSA will consist of an educational website and co-learning centre presenting soil testing guidelines via online tutorials.
A series of workshops (on or offline according to the Pandemic lockdown situation) will teach citizens how to make observations, test soil, and upload data to our online platform.
Citizens will be trained to interpret results, draw conclusions and stay connected to the online community for remediation knowledge-sharing.
What do we want to do?
To raise awareness about soil quality, fertility and regeneration.
To demonstrate the correlation between healthy soil and healthy communities.
To get as many people as possible involved in soil testing.
To empower citizens to transform from passive witnesses of environmental decay to active climate protectors.
To demonstrate that everybody can easily read their environment and interact with it, mitigating climate change.
To raise awareness for creative soil usages; to reconnect with surrounding greenspaces and locate areas where gardening is possible.
The project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement n° 824603.