Improving Soil Health: A Systemic Approach for Co-Creating Living Labs in Urban and Industrial Environments

The urgency of prioritising soil health is evident through initiatives like the EU 2030 Soil Protection Strategy, which aims to ensure healthy soils by limiting degradation by 2050. Recognising soil as a shared resource to safeguard, the EU Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ emphasises the need for joint efforts to promote sustainable soil management across diverse contexts. Innovative approaches like ‘Living Labs’ offer collaborative platforms for stakeholders to co-create strategies for preserving healthy soils. However, significant knowledge gaps remain, especially regarding the design of transition pathways that govern and embed the complexity of diversity in spatial contexts, soil functions and organisms.