Soil Meets Urban Planning: Takeaways from Bodem Breed 2025
Urban soils, often overlooked in the rush to build cities, were the focus of a dynamic session at the Bodem Breed Symposium in Delft on 17 April 2025. Co-organised by Mission Soil's PREPSOIL and SPADES projects and hosted by Deltares and TU Delft's Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, the session brought together 80 professionals from the fields of soil, planning and design.
The gathering explored how soil can - and should - play a much more central role in shaping urban environments, especially as cities grapple with the challenges of climate change, densification and environmental resilience.
A grounded approach to urban planning
Through interactive discussions, design challenges and serious games, participants explored tools and strategies for integrating soil awareness into planning practices. A highlight was the co-creation of a 'navigator' for soil-inclusive planning - a practical tool to help urban professionals integrate soil considerations into their decision-making.
Revealing the soil behind iconic spaces
The session invited participants to revisit well-known Dutch spatial plans and reveal the deep (and often invisible) role that soil played in their success. While many recognised the sites, few had considered the crucial soil conditions that underpinned them - revealing how easily soil can disappear from view in even the most famous projects.
Key lessons learned
- Soil belongs at the start of the conversation: Participants agreed that soil needs to be considered from the earliest stages of design and planning - not as an afterthought. Early integration allows for clearer thinking and better outcomes, and ensures that soil professionals are meaningfully involved from day one.
- We need to rebalance our relationship with soil: There was a shared recognition that human needs too often dominate urban development discussions, sidelining the intrinsic value of soil and its ecosystem functions. A more balanced approach - one that respects the soil-sediment-water system - could provide more sustainable, long-term solutions.
- Bridging the gap between designers and soil experts: While designers bring vision and systems thinking, soil experts offer grounded, site-specific insights. The session highlighted the need to bridge this gap to create effective, soil-inclusive urban plans that work in practice - not just on paper.
- Visual tools help make soil tangible: Strong visual communication was seen as key to making soil-related challenges and opportunities more accessible. Participants praised clear, step-by-step visual strategies that helped demystify complex concepts and supported collaboration across disciplines.
- City foundations start with soil: Examples of historical subsidence and foundation problems reinforced the importance of understanding and respecting natural soil systems - especially during early site preparation and urban expansion. Failure to do so can lead to costly, long-term problems.
Towards soil-smart cities
As urban areas continue to grow and adapt, this session made one thing clear: healthy soil is not a luxury - it is a necessity. By rethinking how we plan, build and design with soil in mind, we can create cities that are not only resilient, but regenerative.
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