66 Ultimately, it is about re-establishing a virtuous water cycle, making soils capable once again of absorbing and then returning storm water, removing bitumen from the perimeters of buildings, municipal land, and schoolyards, and increasing the number of green spaces. Many experts, including Italian architect and urban planner Paola Viganò(2), are also calling for urban planning incorporating the concept of “living soil”. She even goes further, examining the case of “diffuse cities” – which describe urbanization without planning or consultation, where housing has been placed on top of the previous agricultural function without completely erasing it. CONSOLIDATING THE SUBSOIL To preserve the soil of coastal and inland cities from the vagaries of the climate, municipalities are already applying promising techniques. Two of them seem particularly pertinent. The first is artificial recharge, which consists in injecting water into depleted aquifers (geological formations permanently or temporarily containing water), to replenish them and prevent new collapses. The method has been successfully used in various areas of the world, such as the El Carracillo district (Spain), Hilton Head Island (South Carolina), Perth (Australia), and Beijing (China). The second, less sustainable technique is deep soil mixing. In concrete terms, stabilizing agents such as cement, lime, biodegradable materials, etc. are injected deep down, improving the soil’s bearing capacity and reducing its sensitivity to settlement. It has been widely used in China and Europe for various construction projects. LIGHTER CONSTRUCTION Reducing the weight of buildings is part of the range of solutions, prioritizing lighter materials such as wood, gypsum, steel, carbon fiber, bamboo, etc. In Sweden, the city of Skellefteå thus inaugurated the highest wooden skyscraper in the world, culminating at 80 meters, in 2021. Innovative technological solutions also offer an encouraging outlook, such as alloys and blends based on innovative composites and polymers, natureinspired systems such as honeycomb structures… or light construction Lagos (Nigeria) falls by 2.87 millimeters every year. To preserve the soil of coastal and inland cities from the vagaries of the climate, municipalities are already applying promising techniques: artificial recharge and deep soil mixing. SPoTLIGHT
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTA2Nw==