Comment réhabiliter une friche urbaine : le travail sur sol pollué

How can we bring agriculture back into the city? How can we rehabilitate an urban wasteland, a vacant lot left abandoned? Mathieu Ohlmann, environmental project manager, presents the various steps already completed or currently underway on an urban wasteland in the Paris region. Once the clearing and hauling work is complete, the soil must be restored! In such a wasteland, created from construction backfill, the ground is compacted and sometimes polluted: it is impossible to cultivate such soil deeply. Adding manure, slurry, and other organic matter helps revitalize the soil and cultivate it on the surface. On average-sized areas, the draft horse is perfectly suited: it doesn't pollute and, above all, doesn't compact the soil! Harrowing and raking are done the old-fashioned way. Since the soil can be polluted with heavy metals, it is not possible to grow just any plants and vegetables... the choice of crops must be judicious to rehabilitate abandoned wastelands and urban dumps.