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Creating, implementing and upscaling
biodiversity-based measures
in public space

nai010 publishers
 Survivors

4 5

BIODIVERCITY

A matter
of vital
soil!

Campanula poscharskyana / Trailing Bellflower Chelidonium majus / Greater Celandine

 Survivors

6 7

BIODIVERCITY

A matter
of vital
soil!

Erigeron sumatrensis / Guernsey Fleabane Ulmus minor / Small leaved Elm

 Survivors

8 9

BIODIVERCITY

A matter
of vital
soil!

Alcea rosea / Hollyhock Veronica arvensis / Spring Speedwell

 Content

10 SETTING 11
THE CONTROLS
Survivors FOR PARADISE / 13
(Amsterdam)
by Nico Bick / 4 Lucky Planet
by Johan van Zoest / 14
Darwin in the urban jungle

by Menno Schilthuizen / 28 Facts and figures / 22
Soil threatening habits:
global and regional / 24
The delicate balance
of the earth system / 27

In search
of healthy soil
and biodiversity / 31
BIODIVERCITY Soil matters!
by Ingrid Oosterheerd / 32

The hidden biodiversity of bryophytes and lichens

by Michael Stech / 36

Bacteria & co support the entire ecosystem

by Gerard Korthals, Froukje Rienks / 40
Networks of the fungal kingdom
by Jorinde Nuytinck / 43 Soil organisms: classification by size / 38
Ecological cycles, food web and mycorrhizal network / 46
Urban soils
Time, mass and scale / 54
by Ingrid Oosterheerd / 52
Seven trees of Amsterdam / 56

CITY SOIL AS urban

RESEARCH DESIGN CHALLENGE / 61
LEADS THE WAY /
BIODIVERCITY Future-resilient cities requires a shift in urban planning:
Case Amsterdam
A matter
of vital RESEARCH PROJECTS / 103 by Joyce van der Berg, Hans van der Made / 62
soil!
Biodiversity is messy: a plea for wilder cities
What makes a ‘good soil’?
Calibrating soil biodiversity by Marco Roos / 78
by Gerard Korthals and Froukje Rienks / 104 Towards a biodiverse city / Measures for Ecological Matrix,
Soil, Water, and Management / 82
Soil animals need to go to town
by Gerard Korthals and Froukje Rienks / 106

Underground networks turn our planet green

by Vincent Merckx and Sofia Gomes / 108 Soil threatening habits: city / 70
Street profile Yesterday / Tomorrow / 72
Completing the circle of life Measures and resulting details
by ending up in a Living Cocoon Integral Design Method Public Space,
by Renée Zijlmans / 114 tables Living Environment,
Flora & Fauna and Water / 98
The soil under a forest full of food
by Gerard Korthals and Froukje Rienks / 116

From the soil to the sky Literature and websites / 120

How the landscape influences the air you breathe Credits, Illustration credits / 122
by Sylvia Mota de Oliveira / 118

Mycorrhizal network formed

by underground fungi linking the roots
of trees at Artis, Amsterdam / 110
setti ng th e
c o nt r o ls
fo r pa r a d i s e
 setting the controls for paradise

14
Lucky Planet “The closed economy of the The safe operating space for
humanity, as concept­ual­ised
by Johan Rockström and
position for each variable.
The boundaries in three
systems (rate of bio­diversity
15
future might similarly be called the ‘spaceman’ co-workers (2009). loss, climate change and
The inner green shading human interference with the
Johan van Zoest economy, in which the Earth has become a single space­ship, represents the proposed
safe operating space for
nitrogen cycle), have already
been exceeded.
without unlimited reservoirs of anything, either for extraction nine planetary systems.
The red wedges represent
or for pollution, and in which, there­fore, man must find an estimate of the current

his place in a cyclical ecological system.”

Kenneth Boulding, The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth, 1966

Recently, temperatures in Lytton, western Canada,
reached a record-breaking 49.6 oC. In the Atlantic Ocean,
we have witnessed the earliest fifth-named storm ever
in Tropical Storm Elsa. Unprecedented wildfire seasons
rage through Siberia, Northern Europe, Australia and
the western United States. Germany and Belgium have
been hit by flash floods, killing over 100 people.
Humanity is waging a senseless and suicidal war on
BIODIVERCITY nature, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres has
said. Indeed, as the examples above illustrate, the vital
signs of the planet are alarming. Despite international
agreements, carbon concentra­tions in the atmosphere
have not been this high since the Pliocene Epoch, 5.3 to
2.6 million years ago. Then the Earth was several degrees
warmer, sea levels were an estimated 50 feet higher than
they are today, and forests grew as far north as the Arctic.
At the same time, ecosystems critical for the Earth’s
climate and biodiversity are being destroyed at a rate
unprecedented in geological history. Humans comprise
heatwaves, drought, rising sea levels, flooding, extreme
storms, wildfires and acidification of the oceans. It will
mean more blackouts, destroyed houses and infra­
structures, failed harvests and depleted fishing
grounds. It will mean more mass migrations, disease,
conflict over remaining resources and good land, and
human suffering.
This is no longer a question of pay cheques but the
survival of our civilisation. Since the Industrial Revolution,
global change is no longer happening at the scale of
plate tectonics and extraterrestrial events. It is now
driven by human action at a human timescale and has
accelerated since the 1970s. That is why scientists refer
to the present geological era as the Anthropocene.
This observation is significant because it means
humanity faces a choice: take the global view and
manage the planetary system through global
governance, or stick to the tribal view and trust the
planet to take care of itself. This choice marks a pivotal
recognise her fragility, know how to take care of her,
and understand what needs to be done? I think the best
way to convey this view of things is to recount the story
of Earth, how four billion years ago, a mass of rock
covered in a hot ocean sprang to life.
The just right planet
4,6 Ga 4.6 billion years ago, a cosmic dust cloud in the outer
reaches of the Milky Way began to swirl, possibly
triggered by the shockwave of an imploding nearby
star. As gravity built up in the centre of the cloud,
nuclear fusion kicked in, and a star was born – the Sun.
In the inner part of the rotating disk, dust particles
coalesced into stones, asteroids and finally rocky
planets, shaped into spheres by gravity. In the outer
part of the new solar system, giant gas planets
developed from the lighter elements that were blasted
outward at the birth of the Sun.
The new solar system was anything but a Swiss
the impact (it’s the only planet rotating anti-clockwise).
But for Earth, it meant the return of water, enough of it
to fill oceans.
Finally, let’s not forget how Jupiter, the gas giant
which stopped short of growing into a twin star,
protects us. Its enormous gravitational field acts like a
cosmic vacuum cleaner, gobbling up most asteroids and
meteorites travelling to the inner solar system that
would wreak havoc on Earth’s living systems.
When the Late Heavy Bombardment trailed off, the
calm didn’t last for long. Researchers are fairly certain
that around 4.5 billion years ago, Proto-Earth was hit by 4,5 Ga

just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild
mammals. Of all the mammals on Earth, 96% are livestock
and humans, only 4% are wild mammals.
Amidst the onslaught on Earth’s biosphere, the loss
of fertile soils is the deepest cut. Without healthy soils,
terrestrial life cannot exist. With the oceans and forests,
soils are a crucial component in the global cycling of
carbon, nitrogen and water – the bloodstream of the
living planet. Soils are also our final insurance. With soils
A matter intact, damaged ecosystems and the life processes they
of vital foster may be restored. However, stripped of its
soil!
protective and fertile skin, flayed land is dead for all
human intents and purposes.
In a myriad of ways, humans, in their quest for the
good life, are eating away the Earth’s life-support
system, putting our evolutionary legacy of biodiversity
at risk. If you are too practical to be concerned about
the wonders of nature: biodiversity loss also means the
ecosystem services that allow human populations to
thrive are being dismantled, including our food
systems, water supplies, sources of medicines, and
flood protection systems.
The complex planet-sized system that provides these
services needs to operate within certain boundaries -
the safe operating space - to sustain human civilisation.
But humanity is pushing the planetary system away
from the balance that settled in after the last Ice Age
and brought the benign Holocene climate that fostered
our agricultural and urban civilisation. A warming world
puts all of this at risk.
point in human history. Science tells us the present
decade will decide the human condition for a very long
time to come.
The way forward is obvious. Business as usual implies
a gradual disintegration of systems towards collapse.
The alternative is to adapt to the realities of the
Anthropocene and acknowledge limits to economic
growth, which are not limits to human progress.
A great, durable civilisation is possible, but that
requires a different idea of how to create the good life.
According to the eminent biologist E.O. Wilson, “this
planet can be a paradise in the 22nd century”. Imagine
half of Earth restored to nature, with soils and eco­
systems repaired, ensuring a planet within the safe
operating space. Imagine a low impact, biodiversity-
friendly agriculture, feeding a stable global population,
all energy drawn directly from the Sun or harvested
from Sun-driven weather and ocean systems, and the
circular mining of materials. Imagine a world where
human progress is no longer measured by profit and
wealth is sustainably distributed between and within
countries.
Achieving all of this requires more than simply
tweaking current systems a bit at the edges. A growing
majority of people want change but are hampered in
their efforts by incumbent powers and mechanisms.
A better future requires nothing less than a redesign of
human civilisation: political, economic and technological
systems that steer investment, trade and innovation.
The first change must be for humans to start seeing
clockwork. Solar systems evolve, and when they are
young, they are wild. Planets shifted their orbits,
forcing other plants to move with them. The young Sun
was different too, shining half as bright as it does today.
What is so special about the solar system that it
became home to the only living planet we know? For
starters, the position in the metal-rich outer zone of the
Milky Way clearly is a lucky stroke. Without metals, no
complex life. It also helps that the Sun belongs to the
most stable size class of stars. But especially important
is the position of Earth relative to its parent star, which
puts it in the so-called habitable zone. This is the zone
where water can exist both as vapour, solid and liquid,
another precondition for life.
Another stroke of luck concerns the amount of carbon
on Earth. When the Sun burst into existence, most
carbon was blasted to the outer solar system (some
scientists hypothesise Jupiter may have a diamond
core). The amount of carbon left on Earth proved just
right to serve as an atmospheric thermostat: more
carbon in Earth’s atmosphere means more solar energy
becoming trapped, less carbon means a cooling planet.
Most water was also blasted to the outer reaches of
the solar system. There it can be found today in the belts
of icy asteroids slowly orbiting the Sun. Through some
freak event, however – possibly Jupiter and Saturn
temporarily orbiting in an aligned position combining
their gravitational fields – asteroids were hurled to the
inner solar system, a period astrophysicists call the Late
4,0 Ga Heavy Bombardment. For millions of years, the rocky
a Mars-sized planet, named Theia by astrophysicists, the
mother of the Moon in Greek mythology. At Theia’s
impact, Earth’s neon-hydrogen atmosphere was blasted
into space (which is why neon is rare on Earth). Even
more consequentially, combined planetary material
began orbiting Earth, ultimately coalescing into our
only satellite, the Moon.
The formation of the Moon is a critical event in
Earth’s story. For starters, relative to the Earth, the
Moon is huge, almost a twin planet (just compare it with
the moons of the gas giants). The Moon’s sheer size
helps to stabilise the Earth’s rotational axis.
Furthermore, as the young Moon started out five times
as close to Earth as it is today, its gravitational field
pulled tidal waves hundreds of meters high, mixing the
oceans with minerals and fostering the uptake of carbon.
This may have prevented Earth from ending up like
Venus, which may have had oceans but lost them
through a runaway greenhouse effect.
Also significant is that the Theia impact may have
added radioactive metals to Earth’s mass, which would
have quickly sunk to its core. Radioactivity is key in
keeping the Earth’s metallic core in a molten condition,
which is critically important for life. The spinning core
generates an electromagnetic field that deflects the
deadly solar wind (proton radiation) away from Earth, a
phenomenon visible in the Northern and Southern Lights.
Among known planets, Earth is also unique for its plate
3,2 Ga
tectonics. Perhaps as early as 3.2 billion years ago, but
certainly by 2.8 billion years ago, Earth had cooled off 2,8 Ga

There is no longer any doubt: failure to cut carbon things through the eyes of an astronaut. Otherwise, planets in the inner solar system were hit by water sufficiently for convection cells to start circulating in
emissions and restore ecosystems will mean more how else will we comprehend how special Earth is, carrying asteroids. Venus was turned upside down by the mantle. This powered a recycling process, whereby

16 Researchers are still
debating when the
Anthropocene began, as no
clear-cut boundary exists
before which human impact
on the biosphere and
atmosphere was negligible.
Number of planet Earths
There is broad consensus,
however, that the Industrial
Revolution dramatically
increased human pressure
on Earth’s life-support
system, while ecological
footprint calculations
suggest that humanity went
into ecological deficit – i.e.
exceeding the planet’s
biocapacity - by the early
1970s.
crust is absorbed by the mantle at particular vault lines,
while volcanic activity produces new crust at other
BIODIVERCITY lines. Besides greatly enriching the array of minerals on
Earth (the planet started out with only a modest set of
minerals), plate tectonics allow the gradual release of
heat from the mantle. A rigid crust would trigger
supervolcanic eruptions, which is something to avoid at
all times. We got a dose of that in the Permian when a
continent-sized supervolcano (in present-day Siberia)
almost wiped out life on Earth.
From LUCA to GAIA
So what did our home planet look like after the Moon
was formed and things literally cooled down? First of
all, ‘Ocean’ would have been a better name. Millions of
years of rain had the planet’s newly formed crust
completely covered in a hot ocean.
This was not a benign environment. Besides the lack
of land of any meaningful size, the volcanic atmosphere
would kill you by its sheer weight, if not by its hellish
temperature and lack of oxygen. Incredibly, it was in this
hostile environment that first life must have appeared.
A matter Plausibly, various forms of bucket biochemistry could
of vital have developed in the early ocean and developed into
soil!
what scientists call the RNA world. However, we can
only hypothesise about exactly when and how
biochemistry transformed into living systems.
Yet most scientists agree that life on Earth developed
only once and that all living creatures evolved from one
and the same original organism, termed LUCA, short for
3,5 Ga
Last Universal Common Ancestor.
As the earliest living organisms did not leave a trace
in the fossil record, we cannot know what LUCA looked
like. But since all organisms today share a number of
biochemical properties – ribonucleic acids as memory
molecules, the citric acid cycle for energy generation
and storage, the proton pump used to produce energy-
charged ATP molecules – this offers some speculative
clues about its profile.
For example, one hypothesis points to the so-called
‘white non-smokers’ - hydrothermal vents which can be
found near the Mid-Atlantic ridge - as a blushing suspect.
The porous magnesium rock of these towering structures
has been shown to catalyse many biochemical reactions
that are crucial for life.
2,5 Business as usual
Earth Overshoot Day:
September 16, 2030
2,0
1,5 Ecological Footprint
1,0
Carbon emissions reduced 30%
0,5 Earth Overshoot Day:
September 16, 2030
0,0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
Year
In whatever way first life developed from its mineral
roots, it soon evolved into simple, tiny, single-celled life,
covering the Earth. Earth’s first inhabitants were
microorganisms. Two major groups emerged, the
bacteria and archaea (a less well-known group that has
long been classified as bacteria, but turned out to have
a very different biochemistry).
Microorganisms, although quite unassuming, are in
biochemical mini-factories of incredibly versatility and
they did alter the course of Earth’s history. At least 3.5
billion years ago, a particular group – the cyanobacteria
– emerged, featuring a powerful system for harnessing
the Sun’s energy (actually combining two older
systems). As the metabolic process involved splitting
water molecules, it produced a highly aggressive gas,
oxygen, as a by-product. LUCA was becoming GAIA, the
self-regulating complex biosphere-atmosphere system.
With colonies of oxygen-pumping cyanobacteria
proliferating in shallow seas around the globe, the
oxygen levels of the oceans began a slow but certain
path upward. This set the stage for new forms of life,
which derived their energy from oxygenising (‘burning’)
energy-charged molecules.
The full potential of the oxygen-based way of life
became fully clear with the appearance of the
eukaryotic cell between 2.1 and 1.6 billion years ago.
This took place after a so-called Snowball Earth event,
in which the planet became completely covered in ice.
In one of its strangest turns, life went into a mode
where new life forms did not emerge from Darwinian
evolution (one species dividing into two or more lines)
but by fusion of existing lines.
Eukaryotes developed by the fusion of a bacterium
and an archaeon. The result was a monster cell, up to a
1000 times bigger than the average microorganism,
containing loads of DNA concentrated and regulated in
a nucleus, symbiotic bacteria (mitochondria) to provide
oxygen-based energy, and a wide array of cellular
apparatus. All of this provided eukaryotic cells with
incredible evolutionary potential, soon bringing
novelties such as sexual reproduction, phagocytosis
(one organism eating the other) and food chains.
The period following the emergence of the
eukaryotes is sometimes called the boring billion
because, at that point, evolution did not produce any
setting the controls for paradise
World economic history in
one picture. Incomes rose
sharply in many countries
after 1800 but declined in
others (‘The Great
Divergence’).
Income per person (1800=1)
blockbusters. Nevertheless, the early eukaryotes
developed into three major lines that would hurl life
into a new chapter: the fungi, the algae (harbouring
symbiotic cyanobacteria), and the protozoa (a remainder
category from which the animals would emerge).
550Ma
Around 550 million years ago, complex, multicellular
life suddenly appeared during a period called the
Cambrian explosion. It was a burst of evolution, driven
by rising oxygen levels in the atmosphere (it was at this
time that the sky turned from carbon dioxide red to
oxygen blue) and by the emergence of predatory
animals. The first batch of multicellular animals were
plant-like (the so-called Ediacaran fauna). But the
Cambrian animals developed motion, eyes, teeth,
armour and grew in size.
Until then, for 90% of life’s history, life had been
exclusively marine, which demonstrates just how tough
the conquest of land was. Some 3.5 billion years ago, the
first small continents had formed, and by the time of
the Cambrian explosion, the planet’s land mass had
grown to almost a third of the planet’s surface, with
continents continuously shifting, coalescing and
fragmenting. But the land was a lifeless environment
due to low oxygen levels and, in particular, the deadly
2,1 Ga UV radiation from the Sun.
1,6 Ga Yet about 500 million years ago, rising atmospheric
oxygen levels had produced not only breathable air but
also an ozone layer that acted as a UV filter. In mutual
collaboration, fungi and algae (and later mosses,
clubmosses, horsetails, ferns, and higher plants)
managed to conquer the land. With the help of fungi,
plants managed the big issue for terrestrial life:
to extract minerals from the ground and recycle dead
biomass. This problem was solved by the emergence of
soils and their ecosystems in which fungi, plant roots
and microorganisms, in a matrix of mineral and organic
matter, developed finely-tuned biochemical pathways.
Soils enabled land vegetation, and together they
formed the basis for abundant sustained animal land life
in complex food webs.
From these humble beginnings, vascular plants made
their appearance on land during the Silurian, from 443.8
million years ago, in increasingly advanced life forms:
trees, flowering plants and grasses. Flowering plants
would develop spectacular co-evolutionary relations
Lucky planet
12
10 17
Great Divergence
8
6
Industrial Revolution
4
Malthusian Trap
2
0
1000 BC -500 0 500 1000 1500 AD 2000
with insects, which diversified during the Permian
period (299-252 million years ago). Gradually the land
299Ma
became covered with forests, grasslands and wetlands.
Never was the world more endowed with biodiversity
than in the Pliocene, shortly before the most recent
glacial period set in.
This was the world humans inherited.
The human quest
Some 6 million years ago, the first hominids appeared in
the East African forests and grasslands, a new genetic 6 Ma
line within the larger group of the Great Apes, which
include our closest relatives, the chimpanzees and the
bonobos.
It’s been a long journey from the early hominids –
basically clever apes – to today’s global human
domination of the natural world. Looking back into our
deep history, what stands out is that Homo sapiens did
not fundamentally change, neither anatomically nor
cognitively, but that the technologies he stumbled
upon did transform both human and natural life.
Anatomically modern Homo sapiens emerged as early
as 200,000 years ago. It is still debated whether modern 0,2 Ma
thinking was a feature of Homo sapiens from the outset
and gradually developed, or whether there was a
‘cognitive revolution’ around 70,000 years ago during
0,07 Ma
which the capacity of abstract and symbolic thought
spread through the species.
Whatever the exact trajectory, modern thinking made
the world Homo sapiens’ oyster. Hominid species before
sapiens had been surprisingly intelligent, tool-making
and collaborative animals. In particular, the control of
fire (from at least 1 million years ago) was a game-
changer. It considerably shortened the time needed to
digest food and enhanced survival. But the cognitive
revolution was a real lift-off. From that point onward,
the archaeological record reveals a creature developing
a sense of art, knowledge, religion, advanced
collaboration and fine technology. Homo sapiens, at
least cognitively, had left the animal kingdom behind.
As the world went through the Pleistocene Ice Ages,
fully modern humans left Africa and spread over Eurasia
and Australia, followed by the Americas and finally the
isolated oceanic islands, aided by increasingly
sophisticated hunting and survival technologies. The
 setting the controls for paradise Lucky planet

European powers and their
18 colonies in 1754. As it had
not ready access to the blue
ocean, Russia started
colonising its ‘Wild East’ According to sociologist
(Siberia) from the 17th Immanuel Wallerstein, the
century onward. world economic system is
divided into a hierarchy of
three types of countries.
Core countries (e.g. US,
capital and are much
less industrial­­ised and 19
urbanised. Semi-peripheral
countries (e.g., South
Korea, Taiwan, Mexico,
Brazil, India, Nigeria) take

Japan, Germany) are
dominant, capitalist
countries with high levels
of industrialisa­tion and
urbanisation and high
Consumptio
an inter­mediate position.
t
ofi
They are the weaker
members of ‘advanced r nG
regions’ or the leading P
members of former colonial

oo
h
Hi g
wages. Core countries own ones. At the apex of the

most of the world’s capital
and technology and exert
consider­able control over
world trade and economic
agreements. Peripheral
1754 countries (e.g. most African
countries) are dependent
on core countries for
ds
system is the hegemon, a
status that has historically
passed from the
Netherlands to the United Semi-
Kingdom and most recently Core Periphery Periphery
to the United States, now
rivalled by China.

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BIODIVERCITY

megafaunas of Australia, North America and continental
island (Eurasia and Africa) became extinct along the way,
as did the two other species of humans that were still
extant then, the Neanderthals in Europe and the
Denisovans in Central Asia.
Hunting and gathering was the way of life for about
99% of human technological prehistory. Solely crude
materials from nature were used for tools and clothes,
sustaining small nomadic family groups only. Yet even
in that state of low technology, humans groups
substantially impacted the natural world. For example,
Mesolithic hunters intentionally burned forests to
enable grassland hunting. But these early hunters also
learned from mistakes. As overhunting inevitably led
to famine and higher mortality, over time, surviving
hunting cultures developed norms and rules to
prevent ecological overreach.
Today, hunting cultures only remain in the most
A matter isolated parts of the planet. The end of the Ice Ages,
of vital around 10,000 years ago, marked the beginning of
soil!
0,1 Ma farming and pastoralism as a completely different mode
of living, supplanting hunting and gathering. Whether
humans were actively searching to domesticate plants
and animals or were forced into it by the prevailing
conditions, once farming took hold, there was no going
back. For all of its downsides (e.g. greater exposure to
infectious diseases), farming allowed higher densities
and thus brought the advantage of extensive human
interaction and collaboration (what economists call
agglomeration benefits).
4500 BC It can be called humanity’s First Transformation. First
villages, then cities and states developed, while local
and long-distance trade networks proliferated. Where
hunting societies had been egalitarian, agricultural
societies stratified into social classes. Religion, writing
and calculus developed, serving public administration
and warfar. Metallurgy brought sophisticated metal
tools and exquisite ornaments.
During the millennia that followed, states grew into
empires, trade networks covered the length of Eurasia,
and technologies became more sophisticated. But
these were incremental improvements, not game-
18th
changers. Essentially, like their Palaeolithic forefathers,
people in the Agrarian era were stuck in the Malthusian
trap. Every improvement in living conditions, e.g.
agricultural practice, would temporarily increase food
supply per capita, but the resulting population growth
would eventually increase competition, returning
everyone but the most powerful to subsistence level.
With negligible innovation rates, the only way to
improve life was through the conquest of land, cities
and trade routes. In this zero-sum game, human
existence was marked by war after war.
By the 15th century, however, the next great
15th
transformation was building up. Improved nautical
technology enabled Europeans to conquer the borders
of the Indian Ocean and the Americas, establishing a
new, colonial world order, increasing living standards in
the colonial powers.
This was a time of catalytic change. Agricultural
revolutions in Holland and England intensified
urbanisation, strengthening commerce. The European
scientific revolution established the idea that the
natural world could be understood, manipulated and
exploited by scientific interrogation. Financial
innovations (e.g. banking, stocks and bond trading)
produced early capitalism in Holland and England, which
proved a highly effective way of putting accumulated
18th
wealth to work for exploration and exploitation.
As the powers of commerce and banking increased,
land-based powers declined. At the end of the 18th
18th
century, the American and French Revolutions sent
shockwaves through the European aristocratic system.
Within a century, democracies were on the rise. The
British Industrial Revolution and subsequent techno-
economical revolutions sealed the fate of the
aristocratic world. As industrialisation spread through
Western Europe and North America and was forced
upon Japan: power shifted from landowners to
industrialists, traders and bankers. Social revolutions
and unionised labour wrestled part of that power into
the hands of workers.
At the end of the eighteenth century, the Industrial
Revolution changed the world in two decisive ways.
First, it cemented the global hierarchy that had
emerged in the age of European conquest. European
conquerors had explored and charted all continents in
the preceding centuries, but were mostly limited to the
coastal regions. After the Industrial Revolution, the
interiors were conquered too. The new industrial
powers needed cheap raw materials and labour, and the
colonies were turned into suppliers. The Agrarian era
was a world of multiple empires distributed over the
great land masses. The Industrial Revolution set the
stage for global empires, lorded by hegemons or super­
powers. From 17th century Holland to 19th century
Britain to the US and China today, hegemonic powers
made sure they had easy access to the resources they
needed to make their industries competitive.
Secondly, the Industrial Revolution was the starting gun
for techno-economical revolutions that enabled a third
20th of humanity (and in the 20th century another third) to
escape from the Malthusian trap. By substituting manual
labour with fossil-fuel-driven machines, the Industrial
Revolution dramatically increased output per worker
i.e. productivity. Had this been a one-off event,
population growth would have eventually re-activated
the trap. But the late 18th century Industrial Revolution
was followed by a sequence of new techno-economic
revolutions in the following centuries, which allowed
the industrialising countries to harness the super­
powers of electricity, chemistry, biology and medicine.
These industrial revolutions enabled what may be
termed humanity’s Second Transformation. Electricity
20th
recasted mobility (e.g. trains), lighting, domestic work,
and communication (e.g. telegraph, telephone, radio,
TV). Fossil fuels entered all dimensions of human
activity, from construction to air travel to car mobility.
With falling transport costs, globalisation accelerated.
Chemistry went into an astounding array of applications,
from fibres to preservatives. Biology and medicine
fostered improved health conditions and food
production, resulting in an explosion of the global
human population, a demographic transition and
unprecedented urbanisation.
As with the advent of farming, the new mode of
living transformed social, economic, political and
geopolitical arrangements. Feudal labour was replaced
by waged labour, while workshops and cottage
industries were substituted by factories and firms. For
the masses in the West, life improved, at least after a
while. With asset owners dependent on an skilled and
dependable working class, they eventually agreed with
voting rights, living wages and social contracts
guaranteeing health insurance, pensions et cetera.
The successive industrial revolutions from the late
19th century onward nurtured optimism, the expectation
that, from now on, the son would be better off than the
father. Humanity had now entered a stage in which
wavelike industrial revolutions would bring new
economic growth as predictably as the flooding of the
Nile. The present Fourth Industrial Revolution, involving
digital, gene and nanotechnologies, is simply the latest
instalment of this historical pattern. Yet there are
reasons to believe this time is different.
For starters, the digital revolution has so far failed to
boost productivity, a phenomenon called the productivity
paradox by economists. They observe that as investments
in information technology increase, worker productivity
may go down instead of up. The concept is attributed to
Robert Solow, who in 1987 quipped that “You can see
the computer age everywhere but in the productivity th
20/21
statistics”. Some economists, such as Robert Gordon,
even argue that the era of productivity-growth-
through-innovation is over. Humanity is ageing, cheap
natural resources have been depleted, planetary limits
have been transgressed, achievable technological
progress has already been realised (no commercial
aeroplane has flown faster than the Concorde).
Secondly, even if innovation keeps on working its
magic for productivity, it needs to be managed, as
economist Dani Rodrik argues. Recent events have

20
exposed the risks of digital technology when
weaponised for power (killing of jobs, market mono­
polisation, consumer surveillance, electoral manipulation,
BIODIVERCITY repression of opposition, hacking of vital infrastructure,
et cetera). The powers of technology would be better
employed when purposefully geared towards true
public value, such as resoiling desertified land.
Thirdly and most fundamentally, can we religiously
count on recurring industrial revolutions to come and
rescue us with ever-higher (GDPs (gross domestic
product)? To simply trust that humanity has found the
key to eternal growth and will keep escaping the
Malthusian trap forever, through magical waves of
benign innovations allowing ever more efficient
exploitation of the planet, seems a downright
dangerous idea. Instead, humanity would do well to
rethink its concept and ways of making progress – as
people all over the world are doing right now.
Time to do things differently
Returning to the introduction to this chapter, it is clear
what needs to be done to achieve a paradise in the 22nd
century. The cathedral to be built is: up to 50% of Earth
A matter restored to nature, energy drawn from sustainable
of vital sources, a circular economy, sustainable agriculture and
soil!
fisheries, a stabilised global population, investment in
education, health and well-being, reducing inequalities,
and technology geared towards true usefulness. All of
this is vital to restoring the Earth’s carbon balance,
reducing the global ecological footprint to a one planet
size, returning the Earth system to within the safe
operating space, defusing social and international
conflict, and letting humanity flourish.
The bigger discussion is how states, economies and
global institutions can be organised, or can organise
themselves, in such a way that these global outcomes
will be fairly achieved, in accordance with the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) and, importantly, without
risking the collapse of existing systems. What global
system of value creation could deliver the goods?
Market fundamentalists and conservatives may adhere
to unfettered markets, but recent crises have shown
this to be a delusion too.
Maybe states should become entrepreneurial and
lead the way in new ‘Moonshots’, as British-Italian
The Sustainable
Development Goals are a
universal call to action to
end poverty, protect the
planet and improve the
lives and prospects of
everyone, everywhere. All
UN Member States adopted
the 17 Goals in 2015 as part
of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development
which set out a 15-year plan
to achieve the Goals. The
Sustainable Development
Goals are the culmination
of the four major UN
summits on sustainable
development (Stockholm
Summit 1972, Brundtland
Report Summit 1987, Rio de
Janeiro Summit 1992,
Johannesburg Summit
2002) and countless
dedicated UN meetings.
economist Mariana Mazzucato advocates. She reminds
us how the unprecedented US government investment
in the development of the internet and space travel has
had a vast spinoff in the digital revolution, at a time
when the outcomes of those investments were far from
clear. Regarding space travel, the US set a mission in
1962 – put a man on the Moon and bring him back by the
end of the decade – and went for it. Maybe states and
the financial sector should lead a similar mission to
reshape markets so that business profitability comes
from efficiently contributing to the Sustainable
Development Goals instead of efficiently exploiting
resources and workers. Maybe economists should
rethink the Industrial Age foundations of their discipline
and come up with an economics for the Anthropocene,
in which progress is measured by the things that really
matter in human life instead of derived quantities, such
as profits and income.
Under Anthropocene conditions, humanity cannot afford
to be guided by outmoded ideas and institutions and
simply hope for the best, meanwhile stumbling from
crisis to crisis. We should be able to work out a global
governance that shapes the global order and its
institutions more effectively. Technological innovation
should be guided to support Moonshots. Mariana
Mazzucato defines these as big, hairy audacious goals
set by government with clearly defined outcomes that
drive organisational change at all levels through multi-
sector, public-private collaboration, mission-oriented
procurement contracts and state-driven innovation and
risk taking.
After the Second World War, the 1944 Bretton Woods
conference set out the architecture of global finance
and trade. In 1948, the states of the world agreed on the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United
Nations as a vehicle for safeguarding international
stability. Both were inspired by one idea: no more war
ever again. That generation carried with it the experience
of the deadliest war humankind has ever seen, and they
understood where that catastrophe had come from.
They knew about the First World War, unresolved by the
Versailles Treaty; about the laissez-faire Roaring Twenties
exploding in the Wall Street Crash and the Great
Depression; about the dictators that were elected into
power by the despairing crowds. Perhaps the coming
setting the controls for paradise
generation, understanding very well the mistakes that
led to the present global crises, will devise a new
Bretton Woods-style global architecture for the 21st
century, one that brings peace between the nations and
with planet Earth.
Yes, you have agency
Changing world orders and economic paradigms seems
light years away from the sphere of influence of us,
simple mortals. But at the global level too, change is not
the consequence of nameless forces of nature, but of
human decisions, either by representatives of states or
multinational financial and non-financial companies,
each driven by their ‘tribal’ interests.
So what can local citizens do to accelerate such high
aspirations as the Sustainable Development Goals? The
answer was provided a long time ago: think global, act
local. Now that the SDGs are becoming operationalised
in global agreements and missions (e.g. the Paris
Agreement), metropoles, cities and villages can be
powerful agents of change. Citizens can convert global
thinking into local action, to make global missions a
reality in the city or village where they live. So take a
look at the SDGs, set a mission for your own city or
village, and get down to the local facts.
The transformative power of cities and villages lies in
three reasons. First, all politics is local. Cities are where
policies and experiments are implemented in practice.
Also, local governments, businesses and citizens are
keen to look at other cities for proof of concept and are
quick to copy what works.
Second, cities have agency. Today’s highly advanced
companies can only survive in advanced metropoles.
Well-designed and managed cities offer an ecosystem of
institutions, infrastructures, and facilities in which
trade, commerce, arts, sciences and innovation can
thrive. This gives city governments a place at the table
in their dealings with market actors and national
governments, especially if they collaborate, or even
unite, with fellow cities.
And finally, local governments are the pulsating
centre of democracy. They are the most practical and
trusted level of governance. Cities and villages come
closest to the ideal of the demos, the self-governing
body of citizens.
In this book, we focus on a specific mission for cities
and villages: integrating the natural world with the city
and its region in such a way that ecosystem services
are optimised, biodiversity is protected, and new
development is offset by rewilding and ecological
restoration. The guiding principle is that land is finite,
and so any piece of natural land is a piece in the global
ecological puzzle. Therefore land can only be developed
if that development is compensated for (and sometimes
land should be left to nature to develop). This principle,
reminiscent of Henry George’s thinking about land and
development, promotes restraint and encourages
densification. Offsetting development could be done by
improving ecosystem services in the existing urban
area. It could also be realised through investment in
rewilding. Forest and soil restoration projects are being
implemented throughout the world. One example is
Lucky planet
Africa’s Great Green Wall, “an African-led movement
21
with an epic ambition to grow an 8,000 km natural
wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa”.
This thinking about land and development will
ultimately channel into all dimensions of urban planning
and management, from taxation and determining land
prices to urban design and architecture, construction
practice, water management, urban food systems,
and the design and management of urban and
regional open spaces. Knowledge of soil ecosystems is
indispensable for getting this right: healthy ecosystems
cannot be grown on unhealthy soils. Practitioners will
need to embrace a new language, a new value
accountancy, and new practices. Chapter 3 shows
examples of integral and nature-inclusive measures and
the resulting details in public spaces, so that (soil)
biodiversity and natural soil-water systems, the basis
for numerous essential ecosystem functions in the city,
can become healthy again.
One very important asset of urban nature is easily
overlooked, namely the benefits for the mental and
physical health of city residents, especially children
growing up in cities. The ‘land principle’ described
above should certainly branch into urban healthcare
and education. As the Dutch schoolteacher and nature
education pioneer Jac. P. Thijsse remarked at the end of
his life, most children will not end up becoming
biologists or conservationists. But contact with nature
opens windows in their minds that elicit interest in the
world around them, helps them to appreciate complexity,
and fosters connection with life’s deeper rhythms.
The coming Age of Nature
Looking back at more than 4 billion years of Earth
history and hundreds of thousand years of human
history, what can we say? Our home planet is anything
but two a penny. The Earth is a complex, resilient living
entity but definitely not invulnerable, and our human
condition is highly dependent on this planet’s state.
Regrettably, humanity has stretched the system beyond
its safe boundaries (safe for us, to be precise), and if we
persist with a business as usual attitude, then we risk
the collapse of human civilisation due to compromising
global climate and our food systems.
The story tells us that a paradise in the 22nd century
is possible, and the missions we must undertake to get
there are clear. Our biggest challenge is building a global
governance that can effectively address our global
challenges and direct our missions. We need to do that
from the ground up, because local communities, from
metropoles to cities to villages, can be powerful
catalysts for change. And that is where citizens, firms
and local governments, come in, contributing through
small, meaningful, targeted actions.
Finally, a shift from tribal thinking – how do I compete
best – to collaborative thinking – how do I contribute
best - is vital. And that starts with the realisation that
we are all crew members on Spaceship Earth, that
precious, vulnerable, little planet.
 setting the controls for paradise

facts & figures

22 23

Life on Earth: The distrubution of all global biomass

Humans 0.06 billion tonnes carbon (0.01%)

Anthropods 1 billion tonnes carbon (0.15%)

All animal (including humans)

2 billion tonnes carbon (0.4%) 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Very degraded soil Degraded soil Stable soil Without vegetation

Protists
4 billion tonnes carbon
0.7% of total biomass
Archea (Single-cell microbes)
8 billion tonnes carbon
1.5% of total biomass
Earth in 1000 BC Agricultural and pasture land use (%) Global soil degradation
Land cover change over time Earth in 2000 AD Human-induced
Populations of animal species have
decreased by two-thirds since 1970
Human changes to land cover on Earth (Living planet Index)
due to agricultural land use over time Low

BIODIVERCITY Globally, the mean population size of

Fungi mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, Urban and rural inhabitants
12 billion tonnes carbon and fish has declined by 68 percent Worldwide since 1960
2.2% of total biomass 4027M

Urban inhabitants
Bacteria Rural inhabitants

h
ersity on eart
70 billion tonnes carbon
12.8% of total biomass 3415M
2007 2016

Medium
The oldest trees on Earth

Methuselah Sarv-e Abarkuh

v
4,852 years old 4,500 years old (approx.)

iodi
Plants

il b
450 billion tonnes carbon

So
82.4% of total biomass

A matter
of vital
soil!

Gran Abuelo
Just 3% of the Bald cypress
3,650 years old
High Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi 2,230 years old
Global human-made mass world’s ecosystems 2,307 years old
exceeds all living biomass remain intact (The oldest living human-planted tree)

Living Biomass Man-made mass

What are the drivers of
5.2 million hectares of tropical deforestation?
All Animals How much life
forest are lost each year;
Plastic does 1 cup of The world has lost one-third of its forest
4 8.3 soil contain?
10,000
billion billion tonnes 57% of Earth was forest 41% of deforestation 2.1 million hectares per
tonnes years ago year is driven by pasture
Industrial Revolution
expansion for beef.
200 billion bacteria
100,00 metres of fungi 1700 AD 52% of Earth was forest

Total Man-made 20 million protozoa

18%
biomass and infrastructure 13%
100,000 nematodes 9.6%
Now 31% of Earth is forest
1100 1100 50,000 arthropods
Beef Oilseeds Forestry Cereals
billion tonnes billion tonnes < 1 earthworm
equivalent to the size of a In 2021, one-third of “Agricultural expansion continues to be
football field every SECOND global land area is forest the main driver of deforestation” FAO

problems
- salinization
- soil compaction
- erosion
- soil sealing
- pollution
- greenhouse gas emissions
- loss of habitat and biodiversity
- global warming
- loss of water and nutrients
soil management
non-sustainable
- monocultures
- numerous forest fires
- use of pesticides
- bio-industry
- urbanization
- conventional tillage
sustainable
- varied vegetations
- natural rejuvenation
- traditional tillage
- organic farmers
- crop diversity
- green-blue infrastructures
Healthy soil life depends on
optimal soil management
cycles and soil ecosystem
services
The delicate balance of the earth system
Although scientific research
is far, nobody knows exactly
when life started or what
the first organisms were
like. The self-regulating
and dynamic earth system
was fully operational after
a long period. This system
consists of four independent
spheres that mutually
interact and work together.
The atmosphere contains
all gases, the hydrosphere
all water and the lithosphere
covers the uppermost layer
of the earth’s mantle, a
crust that is about 80 km
thick. All life is contained
by the biosphere, which is
located in the three spheres
and forms a thin layer
around the earth. The
biosphere is unique in
our solar system.
Multicellular life in the
oceans only came out of
the water about 500 million
years ago. Plants were
among the first to
permanently locate on
land and created the first
soil structures. About
360 million years ago, the
soils were comparable to
present day soils, with the
same variety of soil types,
because of the evolution of
Climate properties
value
frameworks that are
used to evaluate soil
ecosystems in
the various forms of
land use (pasture land,
arable land, meadow,
wood and city)
roots. No grassland existed the associated animal
yet because that developed communities have
much later; the oldest developed on the
fossil grasses are just continents. Within these
70 million years old. As the vegetation zones, various
continents became covered ecosystems can be found.
with soils and vegetation,
a rich and diverse life An ecosystem is a set of
developed on the land plants, animals and other
and in the soil. organisms and environ­
mental factors that all
Yet, things could have interact with each other
turned out very differently. and can be regarded as a
Despite five mass unit (system). The biotic
extinctions, the last of and abiotic components
which was extremely ensure that food webs and
severe, the diversity cycles are maintained
of species increased there, thus creating a
enormously. In addition, certain balanced dynamic
the continents found their system. Examples of eco­
final resting place due to systems are a wood, an
tectonic processes. individual tree or even a
Between the two elements drop of water, and, of
on earth, the biotic, living course, the earth as a
components (plants, whole. Location and
animals, microorganisms climate patterns signif­
and people) on the one icantly influence
hand, and the abiotic, non- ecosystems.
living components (light,
water and soil type) on the Healthy ecosystems stand
other, three cycles arose: or fall with the condition of
the water, carbon and the soil, the soil life and the
nutrient cycles. Living related food chains and
organisms made these food webs. Soil forms the
cycles possible. As a result foundation for all life. The
of climatological and other invisible soil life ensures
abiotic factors, different the structural formation
vegetation zones with and water-holding capacity
soil properties
- type
- minerals
- temperature
- texture
- infiltration
- porosity
- pH
- carbon content
- nitrogen content
- and so on
soil functions
- source of raw materials
- carbon storage room
- biodiversity: complex ecological foodweb
- basis for human activity
- storage, filtering and transport of water and nutrients
- storage of geological and archaeological heritage
soil ecosystem services
support
- nutrient cycle
- carbon cycle
- photosynthesis
- soil formation
- primary production
regulation
- climate control
- flooding
- carbon sequestration
- pollination
- water purification
- pests and diseases
of soils, but also the supply
of oxygen, nutrients for
plant growth, the regulation
of the climate, and the
suppression of diseases
and plagues. Biodiversity
refers to all the variety of
life that can be found on
Earth as well as to the
communities that they form
and the habitats in which
they live. Rich biodiversity
in soil life is vitally important
for the numerous functions
of soil. A healthy soil
results in less erosion and
stores large quantities of
CO2. The healthier the soil
is, the better the living
conditions for people,
plants and animals.
Changes in biotic and
abiotic factors can influence
and even disrupt an eco­
system. The system can
often recover or adapt, but
takes time and some­times
it loses its resilience.
During the last century, it
has become increasingly
clear that both nature and
the climate are changing as
a result of human actions;
the global temperature is
rising, and periods of
flooding, drought and heat
are increasing. In addition,
28
supply
- food
- fresh water
- wood and fibres
- biodiversity
- fuel
cultural
- aesthetic
- spiritual
- educational
- recreational
- heritage
- health / welfare
connections
impact
degradation/devaluation
maintenance/improvement
the logging and burning of
forests, the use of land for
intensive agriculture, and
urbanisation are causing a
major change, and generally
an enormous loss of bio­
diversity. An ever-growing
number of species are
facing extinction. The signals
are becoming more and
more apparent, and research
also shows, that if the soil
and soil life are not healthy
and diverse enough,
existing eco­systems lose
their balance, which can
have major consequences
for life on earth.
We still fail to sufficiently
realise how vulnerable the
dynamic balance in our
biosphere is. With the
exception of bacteria, the
biosphere in the ground is
just several metres deep,
and where there is sufficient
oxygen, the biosphere
extends in the air to an
altitude of about 8 km.
Consequently, the loss of
biodiversity not only means
the loss of species, but also
a loss of functions and a
reduced resilience of the
biosphere.
Darwin in the
urban jungle
Menno Schilthuizen
A summer day on a busy crossroads in the financial
district of Amsterdam. Heat bounces off the glass and
steel façades of modern office buildings. Traffic rushes
by and whips up dust blended with exhaust fumes.
The noise of trams and trucks blankets the rest of the
soundscape. Nature, it seems, has never been further
BIODIVERCITY away. And yet, when you take a close look at your
surroundings, you see a snail munching on strips of
paper hanging from a billboard. A city pigeon is taking
a bath in a puddle on the pavement, and bumblebees
buzz about a lone dandelion on a traffic island. There’s
life here, but not as we know it.
To wild animals and plants, cities are extreme habitats:
there is plenty of food and other opportunities, but
you can only enjoy those if you know how to deal with
all the special challenges that urban life poses.
Scientists are discovering that many urban animals
and plants are rapidly evolving as a result. The pigeon,
snail, or dandelion with genes that fit its urban
environment best is the one to pass on its genes to
the next generation, and this causes the DNA of urban
flora and fauna to change for good. Rather than being
the slow process that we think of when we hear of
evolution, the urban version is causing urban wildlife
to change at breakneck speed. And that includes
those small, ground-dwelling species that often go
A matter
of vital unnoticed.
soil!
Urban evolution
In the centre of Montpellier, for example, evolution
has caused the seeds of the weed hawksbeard to
become, on average, larger and heavier. Unlike their
rural ancestors, the urban plants grow in tiny patches
of soil around city trees. This means that heavier seeds
that drop straight down from the parent plant will
germinate and sprout a new generation, but lighter
seeds that drift in the wind will mostly land on tarmac
and be dead on impact. Researchers have seen the
urban plants evolve ever heavier seeds over just
twenty years or so.
On the other side of the Atlantic, in cities in the
southeast United States, tiny ants build their nests
in fallen acorns, both in the hot city centre and in
the much cooler outskirts. Scientists have done
clever experiments in which they pick up nest-
containing acorns and move them to hotter or
cooler environments.
Setting the controls for paradise darwin in the jungle
The urban ecosystem is a new kind
29
of nature, where a motley crew of
species grapples with novel
opportunities and challenges.
Citizen scientists go down on their
hands and knees and watch this
process up close.
the evolution of urban snails. Using the smartphone app yet unknown to science, which they published in a
“SnailSnap”, around 10,000 pictures were taken of urban scientific paper and named Aphaereta vondelparkensis.
and rural snails. These photos proved that snails had
evolved lighter-coloured shells in the urban heat island. Community science projects such as these can help city
Inside pale shells, the snails are better protected against dwellers discover, appreciate and take pride in the
overheating. biodiversity of their urban neighbourhood. This is
important because as cities continue to grow, urban
And there are other ways to become an urban nature is the only kind of nature most of us will meet on
naturalist. Over the past three years, the organisation a daily basis. The more we are aware of it and realise
Taxon Expeditions has taken Amsterdam community that it forms a novel, special, and dynamic ecosystem,
groups into urban greenspaces to do detailed the more we will be willing to protect it with urban
biodiversity discovery. Learning the tricks of the trade nature conservation and to stimulate it with nature-
as they went along, the community scientists used inclusive building and planning.
techniques like sweep netting, pitfall trapping, and leaf
litter sieving to reveal the hidden, but amazingly rich
biodiversity in their local neighbourhoods. In the
Vondelpark, for example, the citizen scientists
discovered a new parasitic wasp, just 2 mm long and
Biodiversity of moths
discovered by community
Urban community scientists scientists in the
discover the biodiversity of Vondelpark, Amsterdam,
Natuurtuin De Slatuinen. 4-9 August 2019
This has revealed that the city centre nests are much
more tolerant to extreme heat than ant nests from
the outskirts. Moreover, they have shown that this
difference is hard-wired in their DNA – again evidence
that urban evolution is adapting the ants to the heat
of the city centre.
Community science
So, the city centre is home to a completely novel
ecosystem of our own making. Everywhere around us,
wild animals and plants are rapidly evolving into
perfect urban dwellers. On the one hand, this is a
sobering thought: we are irreversibly changing the
evolutionary path of other species, and life on earth
will never be the same again. But on the other hand,
this also means that we can learn to appreciate
urban nature more. We have to realise that we are
surrounded by a mostly hidden biodiversity of
urban species in the process of evolving ways to live
with us. And what better way to drive home this fact
than to engage in research yourself?
Urban citizen science projects in Amsterdam and
other Dutch cities have started to pave the way. In
2017, for example, Naturalis Biodiversity Center in
Leiden organised a nationwide urban evolution
research project in which the general public studied
 I n s ea r c h
o f h ea lt h y
soil and
bi odiversity

Work in the subsurface of

public space

32
Soil matters!
Ingrid Oosterheerd
Soil is the source of all life on earth, and without it,
humans cannot survive. Nevertheless, people show
scant regard for this vital part of their living
environment. The growing world population is moving
to the city, annexing the surrounding districts and is
literally squeezing the life out of the soil. The urban
climate with the built environment and associated
water management is detrimental for a healthy soil life.
The sealed off soil in urban areas has a cumulative
influence on the increasingly extremer periods of
BIODIVERCITY flooding, heat and drought. A knowledge of what soil is,
how it is formed and how it looks after ‘all life’ is needed
before we can understand how soil and biodiversity
work in the city. Then, we also need to discuss the
indisputable signals that point to the destruction of the
soil, biosphere and biodiversity degradation that is
currently taking place. People are causing this damage,
which started thousands of years ago on a very small
scale, but has been accelerating since the Industrial
Revolution. The consequences of this are climate
change, global warming, rising sea levels, persistent
drought, a growing number of hurricanes and species
extinction. These changes, in turn, have huge
consequences for the living conditions and biodiversity
on earth.
The soil: the earth’s living crust
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO), soil degradation is a more
urgent problem than global warming. What is more: it is
A matter a factor that contributes to global warming. Indeed, the
of vital
soil!
Soil formation from left to
right: Soil begins to form,
simple organisms, layers
called horizons, a well-
developed soil
Disintegrating rock
Bedrock
The dust storms and floods of the last few years have underscored the
importance of programs to control soil erosion. I need not emphasize to
you the seriousness of the problem and the desirability of our taking
effective action, as a Nation and in the several States, to conserve the soil
as our basic asset. The Nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.
Letter to all State Governors on a Uniform Soil Conservation Law.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 26 February 1937
FAO goes so far as to state that the maintenance and
recovery of healthy soils on earth is the most urgent
issue that humanity currently faces. This is no
exaggeration because people are dependent on fertile
soil to grow food; 95% of our food comes from the soil.
The FAO estimates that if nothing is done, the world has
less than 60 years of harvests left.
Supporting food production is just one function of
the soil. It is a complex ecosystem that consists of
disintegrated rock, organic matter, water, gases,
nutrients and living organisms. The soil captures and
retains rainwater and functions as a filter that improves
the quality of the groundwater. The soil can absorb
carbon and can store considerable quantities of carbon
dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas that contributes
significantly to climate change.
Therefore, soil is sometimes also referred to as the
earth’s living outer skin. The top layer, and in particular
the uppermost metre of the earth’s crust, is the most
productive and biologically active soil layer. The soil
under our feet is an amazing habitat. It is teeming with
biodiversity, with more than one billion individual
(micro)organisms that play an essential role in the
nutrient cycles that support life on earth. This can best
be illustrated by considering what a cup of soil contains:
200 billion bacteria, 100,000 metres of fungi, 20 million
protozoa, 100,000 nematodes, 50,000 arthropods and
almost 1 earthworm. Moreover, a teaspoon of soil
contains more living organisms than the number of
Organic matter Organic matter Organic matter
Mineral particles Mineral particles
Parent material Parent material Parent material
A horizon A horizon
B horizon
C horizon C horizon C horizon
Bedrock Bedrock Bedrock
0
0 cm Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel
10 cm 10
20 cm
20
30 cm
30
40 cm
Different types of soil
and soil layering
people on earth. And although many of those species
are known, it is also now assumed that far more species
exist that are as yet unknown to science. For example,
there are 740,000 known species of insect, but it is
estimated that there are 8 million or perhaps even 10
million species that are not yet known and described.
And that is just an extrapolation of ongoing
explorations.
Soil-forming processes and soil horizons
The first soils arose billions of years ago due to the
weathering and erosion of rocks. Changing
temperatures caused rocks to expand and contract,
after which water filled the cavities produced. When the
water froze, the rock surfaces broke. The action of wind
and watercourses resulted in increasingly smaller
pieces of rock. The colonisation of bare rock material by
organisms such as lichens and mosses led to the initial
formation of soil. This took millions of years to evolve
and was a process that covered not only the physical
weathering of the rock but also the addition of organic
matter from dead and rotten plant material. Soil
formation as we know it today mainly arose with the
evolution of the tree-forming terrestrial plants with
roots, and with the formation of forests. The formation
of a healthy topsoil is a long-term process that takes
thousands of years.
Since 360 million years ago, earth’s soils have remained
pretty similar to what they are now, with the same soil
types including bog and forest soils but excluding
grassland soils (these could only evolve after the
Cretaceous Period). Soil-forming factors are the mother
material (rock), climate (temperature and water
movement), flora and fauna (vegetation and soil life;
organic acids), topography (wet or dry) and time. Soils
contain both biotic materials (organic material such as
plants and microorganisms) as well as abiotic materials
(minerals, water and air). Differences in soils arise due to
0
Kopregel artikel
10
33
20
30
differences in the mother material (different types of
rock, mineral levels, grain size and texture) and the type
of soil-forming process, such as internal acidification,
and runoff and leaching. As a result of soil formation,
layers of more or less the same characteristics arise, the
so-called soil horizons. For example, the dark top layer
(soil horizon A) contains a lot of organic matter and
minerals, and the mother material (soil horizon C)
remains largely unchanged. Six main types of soil can be
distinguished: sandy, clay, silty, chalky, peaty and loamy.
Hidden soil life
The top layer of the soil encircles the earth like a rich,
brown skin. Together with life in the oceans, this keeps
our biosphere and ecosystems in balance and forms the
lungs of our planet. The soil life hidden from human
eyes, such as bacteria and archaea, fungi, but also
unicellular organisms such as protists and algae, and
small creatures like nematodes, worms, spin tales,
mites, insect larvae and the mole, on earth represent a
living biomass of 1100 billion tonnes and provide
humans, animals and plants both food and oxygen by
means of intelligent networks and cycles. It sounds so
obvious and simple, but this is only possible if the self-
regulating and dynamic earth system functions well and
the large and small ecosystems, cycles and soil can
continue to work together unharmed and can properly
interact (see p. 46-51).
The soil life loosens the soil so that water can find its
way into it, adds humus, suppresses diseases and pests
and neutralises contaminants. A healthy soil results in
less erosion and stores large quantities of CO2. Healthier
soil and soil life and more resilient ecosystems provide
better living conditions for people and animals.
Research results and the insights arising from these
irrefutably demonstrate that plant and animal species
together form a living and productive natural world, an
‘intelligent’ web of life.

34
BIODIVERCITY
Soil food web in action
Soil fertility is determined by the soil’s physical,
chemical, and biological properties, which mutually
influence each other. The physical properties say
something about the structure of the soil and the soil’s
particle size or water buffering capacity. The chemical
properties determine the extent to which nutrients in
the soil can be retained and the pH value of the soil.
Until recently, the state of the soil was often only
determined on the basis of these two properties.
However, by studying the biological properties, such as
soil life, we can much better determine the state of the
soil and better understand its vital role.
A matter A study of the biological properties also reveals that the
of vital variation in soil life, the so-called soil biodiversity, is
soil!
incredibly important for the numerous functions the
soil has: the structural formation, water-storing
capacity, nutrients for plant growth and climate
regulation. It is becoming increasingly clear that the soil
and the life it contains, such as bacteria, fungi and
microorganisms, assume a far more important position
in the biosphere than previously thought. Yet, few
people are aware of this, except for a handful of alert
scientists. Soil health plays an absolutely crucial role in
life on earth, whether that concerns agriculture,
horticulture or uncultivated areas, or nature in general
such as woods, meadows, dunes, marshes, grasslands
or gardens and urban parks. In fact, the above can be
put even more bluntly: without healthy soil, life on
earth would not be possible and would not amount to
more than an artificial existence such as that proposed
for the colonisation of Mars.
As is the case for the majority of natural resources,
humans cannot continue taking the soil for granted as a
renewable resource. It takes thousands of years before
a thin layer of soil is formed and meanwhile we are
losing this deep rich soil at an alarming rate. Across the
world, we have blindly neglected the symptoms of
damage to and deterioration of the soil, soil life and the
natural interactions between ecosystems for far too
long. Humans came, saw and annexed. Our relentlessly
anthropocentric worldview has made us place humans
at the top of the food chain, setting ourselves apart
from the natural world. However, the sobering reality is
that the natural world will survive without people but
that people cannot survive without the natural world.
Humans are an inextricable part of the earth system
and, as a mid-level (medium-sized) omnivore, are far
lower in the pecking order of the food web than they
consider themselves to be, somewhere at the same
level as pigs and anchovies. All organisms on earth are
closely linked with each other in mutually dependent
ecosystems where each organism has its own position
and plays its own part. The rate at which changes in
these ecosystems occur is important for keeping the
living network healthy and people, animals, and plants
depend on biological diversity. If that biodiversity
deteriorates or decreases, then the system will become
weaker and might even collapse.
Human actions cause soil degradation
Back to the soil. Four billion years of evolution has
resulted in a stunning array of life of which only a
fraction has been documented. Estimates of the
number of species on earth vary between 1,5 million
and 1000 million, and these numbers do not even begin
to express the variety that exists within those species.
Since the Industrial Revolution, the large-scale
consumption of fossil fuels and the annexation of
wilderness areas for large-scale industrial food
production (monocultures) has resulted in the emission
of extra greenhouse gases such as methane and CO2
that accumulate in the atmosphere and form a thick
blanket over the earth, as a result of which its surface is
becoming increasingly warmer. Human actions have
stripped the soil of organic components (humus and
nutrients) at a faster rate than nature can replenish
these. Carbon is stored in the top 3 metres of the
earth’s crust. The loss of carbon from the soil is dramatic
(and this constitutes a substantial contribution to
climate change). Sufficient carbon in the soil is necessary
for a good soil structure, sufficient storage of other
nutrients, retention of water and vital microbial activity.
The loss of carbon puts the soil under increasing
pressure, and that results in soil erosion, loss of
biodiversity (of plants and animals, the soil life) and the
weakening of ecosystems at the global, regional and
urban levels.
In search of healthy soil and biodiversity
Soil health and biodiversity are deteriorating rapidly
throughout the world. The extinction of species is part
of natural processes, but scientists estimate that the
rate of extinction is now 1000 times higher than it was
before people conquered the world. On the basis of
15,000 scientific studies, it has been established that
one million species of animals and plants will be
threatened with extinction in the years leading up to
the year 2050. Meanwhile, three-quarters of the land
surface and two-thirds of the marine environment have
been ‘significantly changed’ by human use. In just 30
years, urban areas have doubled in size and in 2007,
we even passed the threshold of more people living in
urban than rural areas. More than 85% of wetlands have
been lost, and over 90% of fish populations in the sea
are exploited above sustainable levels. The annual Living
Planet Report 2020 (from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
and the Zoological Society of London) confirmed that
biodiversity is in freefall worldwide. The report states
that the global populations of mammals, birds, reptiles,
amphibians and fish decreased by an average of 68%
between 1970 and 2016. In addition, 40% of plant species
on earth are threatened with extinction, whereas plants
can provide people with food, drugs and biofuels. And
we can only guess how fast the soil life is deteriorating
because our knowledge about these processes is
very limited.
Climate change: loss of soil biodiversity and
decline of ecosystems
Global climate change and humanity’s role in this can no
longer be denied. The IPCC report of August 2021 warns
that ‘a near-linear relationship exists between cumulative
anthropogenic CO2 emissions and the global warming
they cause’. It is an indisputable fact that the landscape
and, in particular, the soil throughout the world are
under considerable pressure with all of the major
consequences that this entails. For a long time, the
symptoms of deterioration were not interpreted
or recognised as warning signals, and most people
failed to see how these signals were interconnected.
However, the signs are abundantly clear, and show
that people have initiated a new era, the Anthropocene.
This ‘geological era of humanity’ is exerting a disastrous
influence upon everything that exists on earth.
Humanity, currently numbering 7.6 billion people,
represents just 0.01 % of the mass of the biosphere,
but that is nevertheless just as much as all wild
mammals combined. Humans have, nevertheless,
through overpopulation, intensive agriculture and
animal husbandry, urbanisation, pollution and climate
change, ushered in a geological era with floods, fires in
large areas of the Amazon tropical rainforest and the
soil matters!
35
taiga in the North as well as the melting of permafrost
and glaciers. This has resulted in rising sea levels, which
in turn has led to drought, flooding and the extinction
of species.
The greatest losses in biodiversity and the deterioration
of ecosystems are now occurring outside the temperate
zone, in the tropics, polar regions, taiga, and oceans.
But the loss of healthy soils and biodiversity is also
occurring in rural areas and in cities. Because of the
urban climate that prevails in towns and cities, climate
change results in even more specific threats here. These
will be further considered at the end of this chapter.
However, first of all, the soil and the hidden life it
contains must be presented. The main actors in this
chapter are the bacteria, the fungi, unicellular
organisms and (very) small animals in the soil. They
collaborate in a far more intelligent manner than we
humans could have imagined until very recently. There
are networks of fungal hyphae that connect plant roots,
provide access to vital nutrients and also act as
communication channels. Soil is one of the world’s
important reservoirs of biodiversity, encompassing
microorganisms as well as flora and fauna, and each
organism has a functional place in the food web. This
biodiversity plays a fundamental role in supporting soil
functions, such as nutrient and other cycles, litter
decomposition, soil formation and climate regulation
and, consequently, the ecosystem services and goods
that soils provide.
Biodiversity
What exactly is biodiversity? In brief, biodiversity is the
degree of variety of life in a given ecosystem, which can be
a certain geographical area or an entire forest, or equally
a drop of water or the entire earth. Soil is an important
reservoir of biodiversity in the world, varying from
microorganisms to flora and fauna. This biodiversity plays a
fundamental role in supporting soil functions and therefore
in ecosystem services related to soils. The destruction of
soil biodiversity can have very negative consequences for
soil ecosystem services, such as the supporting cycles, food
and fuel supplies and climate regulation. Soil biodiversity is
currently threatened by worldwide anthropogenic changes
like the intensification of land use, deforestation and the
burning of fossil fuels. According to the Global Resources
Outlook 2019 and the IBPES Global assessment report on
biodiversity and ecosystem services 2019, the so-called
extractive industries – agriculture, fisheries and mining –
are responsible for more than 80% of the loss of biodiversity
and half of global carbon emissions. Each year, the world
uses more than 92 billion tons of biomass (especially food),
metals, fossil fuels and minerals, a figure that is increasing
by 3.2% per year. See also page 27 and pages 78-81.

The hidden
36
biodiversity
of bryophytes
and lichens
Tree trunks and branches, paths and roads, wooden sheds,
concrete and brick walls, roofs – many natural and ‑ They
are overgrown by a thin layer of hidden bio­diversity,
including bacteria, algae, bryophytes and lichens.
What are bryophytes and lichens?
Bryophytes is the collective name for three groups
of small, flowerless plants: mosses, liverworts and
BIODIVERCITY hornworts. Mosses (photo 1), and to a lesser extent
liverworts, can often be found in urban environments.
Lichens (photo 2) are fungi that grow together with
algae (or cyanobacteria) in a close partnership of mutual
benefit. Both bryophytes and lichens appeared on Earth
long before the flowering plants that make up the
urban planted vegetation.
‘Unequal twins’
Although bryophytes and lichens are completely
different organisms, we can consider them “unequal
twins” in an ecological sense. They often grow together,
forming colourful mosaics of green, grey, yellow,
orange or dark patches on urban surfaces (photo 3).
Bryophytes, and even more so lichens, are true
A species of Bristle Mosses spores are formed. Spores
(Orthotrichum scanicum) are dispersed by wind to
growing on a twig. The plant colonize other suitable
shows young and old trees.   with bryophytes and
capsules in which small
A matter
of vital
soil!
‘Unequal twins’ covering
urban surfaces
Michael Stech
survivalists. Bryophytes generally like moist conditions,
but many species can dry out and survive in a dormant
stage until there’s moisture again. Lichens can be even
tougher and withstand periods of drought, exposure to
strong light conditions and very high or low temperat­
ures. In areas with high air humidity, bryophytes and
lichens can even grow on artificial surfaces like plastic.
Indicators of air quality
On the downside, bryophytes and lichens are
susceptible to pollution, since they lack roots and take
up water and nutrients, but also pollutants, via their
whole body. For example, in many urban areas in
Europe, trees were completely devoid of bryophytes
and lichens until the 1980s due to acid rain. Plants and
lichens growing on trees are called epiphytes, and
consequently, our cities were “epiphyte deserts” back
then. Fortunately, the air quality has improved, and
bryophytes and lichens made a spectacular comeback,
clearly demonstrating their use to monitor environ­
mental conditions in cities. So if you see trees covered
with bryophytes and lichens in your neighbourhood as
well (photo 4), that’s usually a good sign! However,
we’re not out of the danger zone yet: nitrogen
pollution and climate change continue to pose
challenges to (hidden) biodiversity. Too much nitrogen,
in particular, causes some species to dominate while
more sensitive ones decline or disappear.
Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel The hidden biodiversity
of bryophytes and lichens
Common orange lichen
(Xanthoria parietina)
growing on a tree trunk
close to Naturalis
Biodiversity Center, 37
Leiden, Netherlands.
Moss-lichen mosaic on Common blackbird
a concrete border of a collecting moss to pad
parking lot. its nest.
Importance for urban ecosystems
Bryophytes and lichens are important for the urban
ecosystems. They provide shelter and food for small
animals like mites and springtails. You can observe birds
such as the common blackbird searching for food in
moss cushions on the ground. They will also collect
mosses to pad their nests and make them comfortable
(photo 5). Not to mention that bryophytes can improve
the urban climate – like all green plants they take up CO2
and produce oxygen. The algae and cyanobacteria
inside the lichens do the same.
Trunk of a lane tree covered
lichens.
Fostering urban bryophytes and lichens
Despite these benefits, bryophytes and lichens on
paths, walls and in gardens are often considered to be
“weeds” or “stains” that must be controlled and
eradicated. Certainly, a layer of hidden biodiversity may
not be desirable everywhere since it can make surfaces
like pavement tiles or concrete slippery or even cause
damage. On the other hand, Japanese moss gardens,
constructed green façades and moss roofs, and even
moss graffiti demonstrate that urban citizens can
actually value green surfaces. Combining the positive
influence of the colour green with a growing awareness
of biodiversity may guide urban planning, design and
management to foster bryophytes and lichens on more
places where they don’t do harm.
 IN SEARCH OF HEALTHY SOIL AND BIODIVERSITY

SOIL ORGANISMS CLASSIFICATION BY SIZE

38 Soil animals are tiny and
small creatures, which live
in the uppermost 70 to 100
cm of the soil, the so-called
top layer, and in the litter
layer above this. They can
be divided into 10 main
groups: earthworms, slugs,
snails, arachnids, woodlice,
millipedes, centipedes,
They all need food to grow,
and some of them feed on
each other. Take the oak
tree, for example.
Caterpillars eat the leaves
of the tree, blackbirds eat
the caterpillars and
buzzards eat the blackbirds.
When a buzzard dies,
insects, bacteria and fungi
From the bottom left to top
right, the following are
illustrated respectively: the
smallest fungi and bacteria,
increasingly larger species
such as the mites, insects
and worms up to and
including the vertebrates.
The 4 size classes are:
Microbes (viruses, bacteria,
archaea and fungi;
20 µm-10 µm) and micro­
fauna (soil protozoa and
nematodes; 10 µm -1.1 mm)
mostly live in soil solutions
in gravitational, capillary
and hygroscopic water.
They participate in the
Mesofauna (mites, spring­
tails, spiders, potworms
and small insect larvae;
0.1-2 mm) live in soil
cavities filled with air and
form coprogenic micro-
aggregates. They participate
in the transformation of soil
into organic matter.
Macrofauna (flatworms,
snails, woodlice, beetles
and insect larvae; 2-20 mm)
can be seen with the naked
eye and are named inverte­
brates. These ecosystem
engineers disturb the soil
structure by moving through
it which improves the soil’s
water permeability and aera­
Megafauna (earthworms,
mammals, reptiles and
amphibians; 20 mm+)
create spatial heterogeneity
on the soil surface and in
the soil profile by moving
through these.
In this paragraph, animals 39
have been categorised by
size, but in reality, animals
are distributed throughout
the soil. On page 46-50 in
this publication, you can
find more information about
the soil food web and how
soil fauna live together and
communicate with each

a
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beetles, ants and the mole. eat the remains of the bird. decomposition of soil tion, and creates new other as well as with

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the garden wall spider and important in the cycling of bial diversity and activity.

1024 the harvestman. We usually
do manage to recognise
most of the animals that we
can see with the naked eye,
Ve
Soil organisms vary in size nutrients in ecosystems.
from 20 µm to 20-30 cm and
are traditionally divided into
4 size categories. The

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BIODIVERCITY

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Garden cross spider / Araneus diadematus
Velvet mite / Trombidium holosericeum

40
Bacteria & co
support
the entire
ecosystem
Microbial life below ground provides us with many
ecosystem services that our lives depend on. But with
the exception of fungal hyphae or certain soil bacteria,
these tiny organisms are largely invisible. What do we
know about this microscopic life in the city?
Biologists say that a handful of soil contains at least 5000
BIODIVERCITY species, an amazing number in such a small volume.
Most of those species are invisible because they are
bacteria. There are probably many thousands of
bacterial species in the Netherlands alone. Similarly,
there are large numbers of fungi: 10,000 species have
been found in the Netherlands so far and at least
100,000 worldwide.
Many more microbial species do not even have a name.
These are ‘the hidden majority’, of which many cannot
be cultured. Only a fraction of all microbial species can
be grown or ‘cultured’ in the lab. It is estimated that
only 5%, at most, can be cultured. Those are the
microbes you can see with the naked eye, in white,
green, red, black, or whatever other colour, colonies on
lab plates. For the other species, we have to rely on DNA
techniques to map microbial biodiversity.
Nevertheless, scientists have already learned a lot about
these microscopic life forms. A healthy microbial
A matter community is closely linked to the availability of clean
of vital air, water and food. In that handful of earth there are
soil!
smelly bacteria, many kilometres of fungal hyphae and
plenty of other unicellular life forms like protists -
including mini predators - that are often overlooked.
Welcome to the microbial world under your feet! A tiny
universe with a giant impact.
Ecosystem services
Without bacteria, we wouldn’t stand a chance of
surviving and neither would we have come into
existence. The first oxygen was made by ancient
cyanobacteria, whose modern counterparts still
produce a large part of present-day oxygen gas. But
bacteria also provide specific soil services. They are
heavily involved in the breaking down of organic
materials and waste, producing nutrients for new plants
to grow. They also protect against pests and pathogens
by keeping them under control. Yes, most bacteria and
fungi are actually not bad but good guys! Together with
fungal hyphae, bacteria help to create a positive soil
structure. Bacteria excrete substances that glue soil
particles together. This creates a solid and still open soil
Gerard Korthals
Froukje Rienks
structure, with ample chance to absorb water. And
lastly, bacteria can (learn to) break down polluting
substances. Many types of pollution can occur in the
city from the deliberate use of pesticides to the
collateral damage from traffic and accidental spills. How
much time a microbial clean up takes depends on the
‘difficulty level’ of the chemical structure concerned.
Bacteria vs fungi
An important balance in the soil is the ratio between
bacteria and fungi. In undisturbed natural grasslands,
for instance, you’ll find relatively many fungi, or fungal
hyphae. Bacteria are relatively more abundant in
disturbed soils. They both have their role, with bacteria
breaking down ‘easy degradable’ organic compounds
and fungi specialising in the more difficult organic
structures – such as lignin from wood. But intensive
land use reduces the abundance and diversity, leaving
mainly bacteria and some fungi. Fungi can’t handle the
physical damage that well with their vulnerable hyphae.
This is true for agricultural use, but also urban land use
can shift the delicate balance. The more digging, the
more disturbance – with the total removal and
replacement of soil in large building or infrastructural
projects as the ultimate blow.
Central Park, New York
However, it is not all bad news. A city sports a wide array
of variable environments in a relatively small area, and
that can actually stimulate diversity. In fact, the same
soil microbes that thrive in forests, tundras and deserts
can live in a city. Ecologists found as much biodiversity
in the soil of New York’s Central Park for instance, as in a
tropical rainforest. In almost 600 soil samples from
Central Park, they found thousands of different
organisms, and less than one-fifth of these had been
previously documented. The researchers compared
In search of healthy soil and biodiversity Bacteria & co
support the entire ecosystem
their samples with soil samples from locations around Leftpage: The colourful
diversity of soil microbes 41
the globe. The only area that didn’t overlap with New shows already with a few
York was Antarctica. For microbes, factors such as the of them in the lab.
acidity of the soil or the availability of carbon are much Streptomyces species.
Relatives of this species of
more important than how hot or dry the climate is. soil bacteria are known for
A special case is the occurrence of dog faeces in the their production of geosmin:
that typical smell of a wet
city. If it keeps lying around, it can be the source of forest floor in summer time.
unwanted diversity – with the addition of pathogenic
bacteria like Escherichia coli and Salmonella to the city
soil’s cocktail.
The scent of soil
Although bacteria are usually invisible, you can smell
them! In fact, that typical smell of soil in the woods after
a summer shower is coming from soil bacteria. Officially,
it’s called geosmin, and it’s produced by specific
bacteria that are ‘talking’ to each other in the world’s
most used language...’Terpene’! Fungi, bacteria, and
even higher animals all use smells – with terpenes as the
most common compounds – as chemical signals.
Without realising it, even we use them in perfumes and
we appreciate the pleasant terpenes given off by
Christmas trees or tangerines. But in the dark soil world,
microorganisms use those fragrances as targeted
instruments for long-distance (and for them that is
fairly quickly the case) communication.
Chemical warfare
But it’s not all fun and games. Tiny unicellular but
slightly larger predators in the soil can literally sniff out
their prey: soil bacteria. Until recently, it was unknown
how they sense their prey in such a complex and laby­
rinthine environment. These predators - called protists -
‘eavesdrop’ on the bacteria’s communication with
scent. Protists are key predators of bacteria in the soil.
There is a lot of fighting going on between micro­
organisms belowground. For their wars on food,
bacteria use antibiotics as chemical weapons. Actually,
for us, this is the good side of the warfare, as our
antibiotics are based on the ones made in the soil.
Antibiotics are costly weapons, and microorganisms
only make them when a competitor is within reach. That
ecological insight helps us to find new ones, by the way.
Antibiotics are just a few of the interesting and
invaluable compounds that we can find in the soil.
These are treasures hidden in the world under our feet
if we would only pay attention and take good care of
the soil.
Driving nature restoration
All soil life together forms a giant and vibrant society.
Under natural circumstances, that is. If you want to
restore nature, it takes time. Although all major groups
of soil life can already be present, they are not really
‘connected’ at the start. That is because ‘relationships’
literally have to grow, with fungi as the microbial
matchmakers. During the process of nature restoration,
Neocosmospora, a genus of Mycorrhizal fungi can live
these connections become stronger and more resilient, soil fungi with many inside plant roots, where
species. they help the plant – and
and for instance organisms start to use each other’s the other way around.
by-products as food. This allows nature to store and use Fungal hyphae connect soil
particles. Soil bacteria have
nutrients such as carbon far more efficiently. Urban another way to improve soil
planning strategies can integrate this to help save and structure: they glue the
particles together, creating
restore city soils. so-called biofilms.
 In search of healthy soil and biodiversity

42
Networks of Jorinde Nuytinck
43

the fungal
kingdom
They sporadically appear to us as mushrooms, toadstools,
moulds or even wood-rot, but invisibly they are nearly
everywhere: Fungi. They are one of the most diverse,
fascinating, understudied, yet omnipresent kingdoms
of life. They help feed 90% of plants and recycle dead
organisms, but most of the time, they remain cryptic:
invisible and poorly understood. They provide us with
food and medicines but also wreak havoc by causing
serious diseases to animals and plants. Fungi live on
surfaces, in soil, water and air, inside plants and all kinds
BIODIVERCITY of organisms, and even on deep-ocean floors and inside
solid rock. In these places, fungi are not merely present.
They are functional and structural. Their interaction with
other organisms, dead or alive, and with inorganic matter
plays an essential role in creating the world we inhabit.
Waste disposal
If fungi did not help to decompose things, then life
would soon be buried under a mountain of dead plant
matter. Fungi digest their food outside of their bodies
by secreting enzymes that break down cellulose and
the lignin polymers that make wood woody - a trick only
decomposer fungi can do. They are the waste disposal
agents of the natural world, and while feeding them­
selves, they make nutrients available for plants to carry
on growing. Fungi also benefit plants by helping to
create a well-structured porous soil. Underground,
fungal mycelial networks help to form large stable soil
aggregates by enmeshing soil particles with hyphae
(= fungal cells) and releasing insoluble exudates like
sugars and amino acids.

A nutrient and information highway in the soil

Different fungi: mushrooms Fruiting bodies of an
under a tree, threads undescribed species of the
hidden in a tree-bark and genus Lactifluus with a ring
fungal mycelium network on the stipe and velum at
the margin of the cap.
This picture was taken in
the miombo forest of
Zambia, one of the four
vegetation types in Africa
where ectomycorrhizal
fungi play an important role.
The others are the Sudanian
woodland, the riparian
forests along rivers and
the tropical rainforest.
Mycorrhizal fungi are species whose mycelia penetrate
and entangle themselves with plant roots. While many
people seem to be unaware of their presence, 90% of
plants depend on these fungi for their survival. Plants
and fungi mutually support each other. The photosyn­

A matter
of vital
soil!
 In search of healthy soil and biodiversity Networks of
the fungal kingdom

44 Fruiting bodies of Lactarius 45

montanus, an ectomycorrhizal
fungus that occurs in the
Rocky Mountains in North
America and that exudes
latex when cut. This latex is
white at first but quickly
A B
changes to bright purple.
The function of this colour
change is unknown, but it
aids in identifying the
species.

C D
BIODIVERCITY thesising plant feeds the mycelium with carbon and
receives water, nitrogen, phosphorus and other
nutrients from it. The hyphae in the mycelium directly
supply mineral nutrients to the mycorrhizal plants.
Fungal hyphae have a far smaller diameter than a plant’s
fine roots (2–20 µm compared to 200 µm) and can
there­­­fore explore smaller pores of the soil. Up to 20% of
total plant CO2 uptake is allocated to mycorrhizal fungi.
Therefore, fungi play an important role in maintaining
the soil’s carbon pool, where more carbon is stored
than in plants and the atmosphere combined.
Most importantly, plants are connected to other
plants underground through mycelial networks.
Nutrients transferred via this network help seedlings
and poorly competitive plants to become established.
The network may also protect plants against drought E F
and soil-borne pathogens, and it transfers information.
Plants funnel chemical information to the fungus,
whose mycelia bring similar signals to the connected
plants in the underground. In woodland, the network,
A matter involving numerous species, can be so extensive and
Fruiting bodies of Hygrocybe Waxcaps are fungi of
of vital acutoconica, the persistent unimproved grassland that dense that trees detect what happens to each other
soil! waxcap, so called because is often rich in moss and
they are relatively long- grazed by cattle or sheep.
across large distances.
lasting and have an atypical, They are indicators of an
waxy appearance. Initially ancient landscape that has
acutely conical, the caps never or scarcely been The effect of urbanisation
expand with age to become ploughed and to which little The presence and diversity of mycorrhizal fungi can
distinctly umbonate (= fertiliser has been added.
having a rounded knob in influence the composition of plant communities and
the centre of the cap).
Waxcaps have long been improve nutrient exploitation and overall plant health
considered to be decom­ and productivity. Urbanisation has a negative impact on
posers of dead plant
material in grasslands, but local fungal communities. A lack of native plants and
now the existence of some
kind of mutual relationship
changes to the remaining habitat deprive fungi of
between waxcaps and living substrates they can grow on. Any suitable remnant
plants is considered likely.
vegetation will probably be highly fragmented. Species
that persist in such settings may also suffer from
harmful pollutants and soil eutrophication (= the
excessive richness of nutrients).
However, some species may survive in this environ­ Photo above illustrates coloured in this specific mantle around the root tip. the vascular tissue of the
The following tips can help to create a suitable environment the structures formed on symbiosis (pictures A-C). In In between the large cortex pine root is visible. This
for a diverse community of mycorrhizal species: ment because they can adapt to pollutants or associate the root system of a pine microscopic sections cells of the plant root, the part is not occupied by
tree by the ectomycor­- (pictures D-F) the close Hartig net, an intricate fungal hyphae. Scale bars:
• Plant native and regional plants; with introduced flora. The balance between decomposer rhizal fungus Lactarius connection between fungal network of fungal hyphae A and C = 1 mm, B = 0.1 mm,
• Ensure a nutrient-poor soil with a low organic matter fungi and mycorrhizal fungi is also important. A relative deliciosus (saffron milk (most of the purple can clearly be seen in D and F = 100 µm, E = 10 µm.
content as this will support a more diverse community cap or red pine mushroom). coloured structures) and picture E. D is a longitudinal
of mycorrhizal fungi; increase in decomposers is a sign of disturbance. As Fine roots of the tree show plant (blue coloured) tissue section of the ectomycor­
• Avoid disturbance and compaction of the soil; a specific branching pattern can be clearly seen. The rhizal root tip and F a cross-
• Mow grassy roadsides once per year and remove the these two groups play such different roles, any shift in
and are enrobed by fungal exterior layer consists of section of the root tip. In the
clippings. the ratio will alter ecosystem properties. tissue that is bright orange fungal hyphae forming a central, paler coloured part,
European red wood ant / Formica polyctena
European earwig / Forficula auricularia
 In search of healthy soil and biodiversity Kopregel artikel

52
Urban soils Ingrid Oosterheerd
53

Now that we have described how soils are formed and In the 20th century, the world population grew Intensification of urban soil use (including densification,
the processes that take place in it, the hidden soil life explosively. In 1900, the Netherlands had 5 million hardening, excavation or soil removal) leads to a
and the cooperation between soil microorganisms, and inhabitants, and by 1950, that number had grown to deterioration of soil biodiversity and of the capacity of
we also have a better understanding of what all of this 10 million. In 2021, the Netherlands has 17.5 million soils to store carbon, for example. Therefore, the
means for our living environment, it is time to consider inhabitants, and almost 50% of them live in the west of resilience, resistance, and vitality of urban soils must be
urban soils in greater depth. the country, where most of the large cities are located. fostered as a matter of urgency by, for example,
The migration to the cities is considerable, just like in protecting mature soils, providing space for the
Urban soils are formed by standard soil processes in the rest of the world. Many cities need to make space succession of (indigenous) vegetations and soil
combination with human interventions. Cities consist of for more homes. Space for new residential areas around ecosystems, and developing the functionality of soil
many homes, streets, roads, squares and public spaces, large cities is no longer available, so infill development organisms.
BIODIVERCITY as well as multiple watercourses and parks spread and densification are making their debut. The rising
through­out cities. Due to all of those buildings and number of homes and the expansion of infrastructure
hardened surfaces, urban soils are largely covered, and public space place a huge strain on existing cities,
often compacted, and the subsurfaces are often full of their living climate and liveability.
pipes and cables. In short, urban soils are under a lot of
pressure. Climate change already poses various challenges to
cities, with increasing heat stress and water
Initially, buildings in the Netherlands were constructed management problems as a consequence. Because
on naturally higher ground. Later, land for cities was urban soils have become covered to a great extent, Work in the subsurface of
drained by digging canals and building embankments water cannot infiltrate and can only escape across the public space, Amsterdam
2021
so that buildings could be constructed everywhere. surface. After increasingly frequent heavy downpours,
With the arrival of mills and steam-powered pumping streets and tunnels flood. Sewers cannot deal with
stations, it also became possible to lower the these kinds of peak loads either. Because the water
groundwater level in a city. Nevertheless, building storage capacity of urban areas cannot cope with
remained in the hands of craftsmen until well into the extreme rainfall, the traditional strategy of discharging
19th century. But technological developments in the water as quickly as possible results in a continuous
late 19th century made it possible to lay water mains, drying out and, with that, the warming up of urban
sewage systems, electricity cables and gas pipes, and areas. Therefore the water storage capacity must be
that led to numerous changes underground. These seriously increased as a matter of urgency. A good natural
natural
natural
soil
soilsoil natural soil historial
historial
historial
city
citycity
-- historial
- city -expansion expansionsuburban
expansion
expansion suburban
suburban suburban
Natural soil Historical city - Expansion Suburban
developments also improved living conditions for permeability requires that there need to be more old
oldold
old
backyards
backyards
backyards
backyards old backyards
district
district
district
district district industry
industry
industry industry
industry
people, and so the population grew. Cities outgrew possibilities to allow rainwater to infiltrate the soil and,
A matter Four soil profiles: Natural soil OOO O AAAA A
of vital their historical setting and footprint, and surrounding where possible, buffer zones and storage capacity for O
OO OO O
soil!
(left) and three characteristic
profiles for urban soils. AA AA A EEEE E
agricultural land and landscapes were annexed. dryer periods also need to be realised. This can be At the top the soil surface and at
achieved through fewer hard surfaces in public spaces the bottom the parent material.
AA A AA
Since the 1930s, the topography has become less and by removing paving stones to allow more open The horizont layering is: EE EE E
important, especially regarding water as a spatial ground and vegetation. O Litter zone: organic matter:
leaves, twigs Fill
functional element for the construction of cities. As a A Top soil: mineral, humus mix,
result, the original landscape became hidden under a Another aspect is the rise in temperatures that causes EE E
with nutrients leaching
downwards, dark coloration
EE
layer of building sand during the expansion of cities. heat islands in cities. In densified cities, temperatures E Eluvaded soil: Maximum Fill
leaching of minerals and
This large-scale integral elevation of building ground can easily be several degrees higher than outside cities, presence of day
B Parent rock material: Layer
with sand (and rubble) went hand-in-hand with an ever especially at night. In the case of extremely warm with some nutrients
greater expansion of cities during which topography, summers, such as those of 2018 and 2019, the BB B
accumulating, light color due BB B
the original landscape or the water system no longer temperature in cities can increase considerably. Solving
to less humus, is less fertil BB B B
C Mostely weathered substrate
(e.g. bedrock) material
played a leading role in urban planning. This meant that this requires fewer hardened surfaces as well as
D Bedwock material: Solid rock, BBB B B
rich soils from annexed landscapes slowly but surely sufficient open soil, such as in parks, gardens and unweathered
Fill Sand and rubble
disappeared, and soil structures and numerous flora verges. That immediately yields a win-win situation
and fauna habitats were destroyed or permanently because that extra vegetation in public spaces can, by CC C CC
disrupted. Today, the only places where rich soils can means of evaporation, shadow and wind, provide the
still be found in a city are predominantly in the back desperately needed cooling in the case of extreme heat CCCC C CC C C
gardens of old houses in the historical centre and (old) and a more pleasant living environment. CC CC C C
city parks.
DD D DD
 C i ty s o i l
as u r ba n
design
c h a l le n g e

Planting new trees on

Damrak, Amsterdam

62
Future-resilient
cities requires
a shift in urban
planning
Biodiversity in cities already attracts a lot of interest.
But we still do not know what lives in the soil of the
cities. And the crucial role that this invisible soil life
plays in our ecosystem largely remains unknown. This
chapter describes the new major challenges that cities
are confronted with. Challenges that will be far-
reaching for life in cities and the design and manage­
ment of cities. This requires measures in the short term
and changes to standard approaches to create climate-
BIODIVERCITY and future-resilient, healthy cities. It is vital to include
soil diversity in a city’s design and to translate scientific
knowledge about the hidden soil life into innovative
design. Amsterdam is including the new challenge in its
integral design method for public space. Strengthening
and protecting soil biodiversity is also an important
theme in both Dutch and EU programmes. The
international exchange and application of knowledge
will make a major contribution to the timely realisation
of the ambitions set.
New, far-reaching challenges for the public space
Since the nineteenth century, considerable structural
changes have taken place in Amsterdam. The need to
provide for public hygiene led to the construction of
sewers and potable water networks. Industrialisation
prompted the construction of gas, telephone and
electricity networks. The arrival of steamships, trains,
cars, planes and metros called for heavy infrastructure,
exerting a huge impact on the development of the city.
A matter Amsterdam grew and changed with each transition,
of vital which was partly due to the rising number of
soil!
inhabitants and economic development. Time and
again, the design of public space, both above and below
ground, changed in response to advances in
technology. Though hidden from view, underground
infrastructure gradually grew with an increase in the
number of underground cables and pipes.
Amsterdam will face a new transition in the coming
years. It will be driven by climate change, the increasing
scarcity of raw materials, the transition to renewable
and sustainable sources of energy and the digitalisation
of society. In the meantime, however, the city’s
underground space is close to full, and in many parts of
the city there is no room left to add anything. Over the
next twenty years, the space under all streets in
Amsterdam will require redevelopment due to climate
adaptation and the energy transition. Moreover, the
city’s population is set to continue to grow, with
another 150,000 inhabitants by 2035, an increase of
almost 20% compared to 2020. This has serious
consequences for the physical appearance of the city.
Case Amsterdam
Joyce van den Berg
Hans van der Made
The new and complex task of adapting public space in
response to climate adaptation, the energy transition
and circularity calls for a new strategy: an integral
approach to programming, designing, engineering and
investing. Recent urban and area development projects
demonstrate that the transition will strand if the
prevailing form of city development is maintained. The
scale at which area developments are now designed
and executed is too limited for the accumulation of
measures for the living environment, new energy
systems, problems caused by heat and precipitation,
the design of underground space, the desired
circularity and nature-inclusive construction. If we do
not alter the design of public space and its subsurface,
everything will simply not fit.
New approach to city planning is
desperately needed
The City of Amsterdam is considering a new form of
area development, with a new design method for public
space and a review of the planning process that will
involve public and private parties at an earlier stage. The
new way of designing public space will focus on the
subsurface and the multiple use of space. The design of
space in the city needs to be more integral and develop
upwards from below rather than downwards from
above. Such a change would make it possible to reserve
underground space at an early stage for measures that
contribute to a green, attractive and high-quality public
space where it is good to live, work, recreate and enjoy
sports and recreation.
The integral urban design of space above and below
ground level will necessitate changes to the rules.
Changes to laws and regulations are required, as are
more detailed financial and policy frameworks.
Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel Future-resilient cities requires
a shift in urban planning
63
Amsterdam is aiming high: it is even setting more Oosterpark, during the very
warm summer of 2019,
ambitious targets than those on the national storm damage along the
sustainability agenda. The city will seize the transition Amstel and water flooding
after heavy rainstorm in
to make its public space, the living room shared by all Amsterdam
the people of Amsterdam, as green, safe and beautiful
as possible.
The situation is urgent and time is running out because
the actual realisation of the environmental, energy and
climate objectives set must have been achieved from
2030 onwards. And that starts with the building and
transformation of both today and tomorrow! We need
to speed up the process in order to translate our plans
into the right approach, organisation and funding. And
all of this must be done in a societal context where the
speed of change is accelerating, pressure on the
intensification of the city is increasing, the
infrastructure is failing to keep up with the city’s
growth, and new developments are being hampered by
this situation.
Integral Design Method Public Space
The densification of the city and modernisation of life
require more and more electricity and data cables. But
the demands on underground space as a result of
climate change are even more urgent. Periods of
extreme weather (drought, warmth, heavy rainfall) are
increasingly common. In turn, the sustainability criteria
set down in global and national climate agreements call
for fundamental alterations to public space. Both the
energy transition and climate adaptation translate into
additional cables, pipes and other uses of underground
space and/or a different layout of public space. In
Amsterdam, intensive urbanisation and the transition
into a resiliently sustainable and adaptive city are far-
reaching developments that compete for public space
 City soil as urban design challenge Future-resilient cities requires
a shift in urban planning

The Integral Design Method Public

Soil PLAN AREA Space consists of six steps. The
Energy results have been included as a
64 Living Environment
Flora & fauna
Policy (National, provincial, municipal) 1 product in the Integral Area Plan
Amsterdam as an elaboration of
65
Water the Municipal Realisation of the
Materials Environment and Planning Act _ living environment amstel-stad
and Vision. _ Water

Mobility _ Flora & Fauna

_ energy case study, Covers Volume 1 and 2 of Impression of the proposed
Atlas: inventory and analysis the Integral Design Method street profile Hogehilweg
_ Soil & Subsurface

7 area themes
_ Mobility
_ Materials amsterdam
Spatial assignment Public Space (2020) (neighbourhood street) with

integral design method

alternatives for the
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Ambition Web
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Mobiliteit Bodem en ondergrond Mobiliteit Bodem en ondergrond

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SUB AREAS 20

Performance goals and the accompanying underground space, and thus 10:00

call for new solutions for the design of space at ground 15

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level and another way of programming public space. New trees - Alnus glutinosa
10

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4
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PROJECT resulting details 5

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better collaboration between public and private

Invitation Programming profiles
Vestigingsklimaat
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Materialen stakeholders. The City of Amsterdam has therefore

Check Ambition Web FRAMEWORK
1 3.7 5.25 0.7 3.85 2.5 3.7 1
21.7

developed an integral and interdisciplinary approach for

Investeringen Water

private public private

Mobiliteit Bodem en ondergrond

Tender 1 4 3 3 4 1

Sociale relevantie Flora en fauna the design and engineering of the public space and the 2
1 2

INVESTMENT AGENDA
subsurface. This Integral Design Method Public Space
Leefmilieu Ruimtegebruik

Execution
Ruimtelijke kwaliteit

Ø 300mm
Ø 160mm

Ø 300mm
Ø 300mm

Ø 400mm
Ø 160mm
Ø 300mm
Ø 300mm

Ø 600mm
Ø 600mm
makes use of seven area themes: Living Environment,
Water, Flora & Fauna, Energy, Soil & Subsurface, and
0.5 1 0.7 0.6 root membrane 1 1 1 root 0.6 0.5 1 1.2

0. Start Web for the current situation situation is completed for spends some time testing agenda for the area-wide Materials. These themes have been elaborated into cables and pipes cables and pipes
distribution
membrane
cables and pipes

A matter
distribution distribution

Determining the plan area goes without saying. The the sub-areas, each with its design and programming network structures is
of vital (with area-wide spatial target level of the Ambition own physical conditions. studies. Interim evaluations determined and financial integral measures and resulting details at five levels of
soil! assignments), the central Web for the potential and adjustments between agreements with all parties
goal and ambitions, the situation is determined 4. Selecting measures and the local spatial are reached.
scale in the public space: Whole Area, Network, Public
commissioning party and using the analyses from the programming profiles assignments, the chosen Space, Site and Building.
the project team. The first climate impact atlas and by In this phase, the perform­ performance goals and a 6. Design and construction private private

stakeholders are invited to comparing the current ance goals lead to a concrete catalogue of specific of street, square or park
public

1 1
3 4 3

join. situation with the future programme of measures for measures (and resulting The final step in the new 2 4

Relationship between biodiversity and

1 2

spatial challenges. public space and the details) are made. This is an design method involves
1. Inventory of plan area accompanying underground iterative process. It is making a definitive design a healthy urban soil
Making a climate impact 3. Public space strategy: space beneath a street, repeated until all assign­ for the street, square, park
Soil biodiversity plays a fundamental role in the natural 24/7

Ø 1m

Ø 600mm
Ø 300mm

atlas of the plan area. The technical approach, main square, park or watercourse ments are incorporated as or watercourse. The Ø 300mm
Ø 300mm
Ø 300mm 24/7

current situation and the ambitions, and performance in the sub-areas. For this, integrally as possible in a designers of public space
Ø 160mm

soil-water system in the city and forms a basis for

future scenario for flooding goals the transition must be made street profile, and the then set to work with the
from groundwater and for In step 3, the strategies for from generally formulated performance goals have frameworks of the numerous essential ecosystem functions in the city. Soil root 2 root
membrame
infiltration, seepage, the plan area and the sub- performance goals to been achieved. programmed typological
cables and pipes membrane cables and pipes cables and pipes

biodiversity in the city has been neglected for a long

distribution transportation distribution

drought and heat are areas are successively specific measures divided profiles. A definitive design
sketched on maps. Then determined. The techniques between the five scales 5. Determining investment is then translated into a time. And because the emphasis has increasingly come
follows the inventory of the for cables and pipelines, soil (Whole Area, Network, agenda for area-wide concrete tender invitation to
relevant policy frameworks and subsurface and water Public Space [streets/ network structures private companies so that to lie on combining all challenges in the subsurface, the
(national, provincial and management are first squares], Site and Building). Based on the chosen the designed profile can also soil must be recognised as one of the most important
municipal) for the plan area, determined in relation to the Grouped under the measures and resulting be physically realised. private private

aspects of the soil-water system. The role of a healthy

public

and one or more spatial technical approach to public measures are the more details, integrally 1
3 4

assignments are chosen per space. Performance goals specific resulting details. programmed profiles for 2

theme (Living Environment, for the whole area are then Based on the desired profile various typologies of streets, and resilient soil needs to be a focal point. A healthy soil
Water, Energy, Flora & selected with the help of the (street, square, park or squares, parks and water­ with a rich biodiversity is a prerequisite for many vital
Fauna, Soil & Subsurface, analyses from step 2. The watercourse), the necessary courses (and possible root membrane root-resistant root

Mobility and Materials). possibility of allowing measures with the exceptions to these) are soil functions that facilitate the correct conditions for

Ø 300mm

Ø 300mm
Ø 300mm
soil membrane

Ø 160mm

Ø 300mm

Ø 300mm

Ø 300mm

Ø 160mm
Ø 600mm
Ø 400mm
performance goals to accompanying resulting made to suit the local
2. Analysing climate strengthen one another is details are definitively situations. These typologies
the living environment of people, flora and fauna.
impact atlas and spatial assessed wherever possible. selected and programmed. are then used for sketches These soil functions also contribute to realising a green, 0.7
0.9 0.6
0.6 0.6 4 4.5 0.9 3
0.6 0.9
1.2 0.7 0.7 0.7

assignments, completing With the overall strategy for and calculations. The results
cables and pipes cables and pipes cables and pipes
distribution transportation distribution

Ambition Web public space and perform­ This phase of programming are then linked to the nature-inclusive and climate-resilient city. The
The Ambition Web for the ance goals for the plan area, is, in essence, a creative strategy for the plan area protection and cultivation of soil life to increase
plan area is then sketched. the Ambition Web for the process. The design team, (see step 3). Using this
Completing the Ambition current and potential together with stakeholders, strategy, an investment biodiversity is an important challenge. private public private
 Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel Kopregel artikel

66 67

Soil biodiversity is a subtle and complex interacting system

with an unimaginable richness of species. Vital functions
that are carried out by soil organisms:

• Maintenance of soil structure

• Regulation of hydrological processes in the soil
• Gas exchange and carbon sequestration (accumulation
in soil)
• Soil detoxification
• Nutrient cycling
• Decomposition of organic material
• Suppression of pests, parasites and diseases
• Source of food and drugs
• Symbiotic and asymbiotic relationship with plants and
their roots
• Plant growth control (positive and negative)

From: Bodems & biodiversiteit, Literatuurcomponent,

Pilot Bodemkwaliteitsindex / Soils & biodiversity,
Literature component, Pilot soil quality index,
Marco Roos, Naturalis Biodiversity Center (2020) Underground street works,
Buitenveldert, Amsterdam

The fact that the soil in the city is more than just sand,
BIODIVERCITY peat, clay and groundwater, and that the soil needs to
provide the necessary room for extra cables and
pipework, scarcely plays a role in the current design
and engineering of the public space and the subsurface.
On the contrary, work in the soil of the public space is
exclusively dominated by technical considerations.
The soil is overfull, excessively covered, and excavated
too much. Life in the urban soil is severely weakened
or even dead. That is why plants and trees do not
grow well, and insects and birds are disappearing.
The outcome of this is a disrupted and damaged soil.
That leads to a poor (soil) biodiversity and degradation
of the urban ecosystems, whereas a well-functioning
ecosystem is very important for a healthy and
sustainable city.
Scientific research as the basis
for designing public space
Soil life in urban areas has a difficult time due to
hardened surfaces, the containment of urban soil and
densification of cities exacerbate this situation even
further still, and, in many places, soil life is rapidly
deteriorating. By including biodiversity in the design
of the city, soil life can be protected and cultivated.
Then the soil will be more resilient to the necessary
adaptations, and its capacity to recover will be
increased. Amsterdam wants to better understand the
hidden world of microorganisms in the soil and the air
of the city. Therefore, it is building up knowledge about
microbial life in the urban soil together with scientists,
including researchers from Naturalis Biodiversity Center
and Wageningen University & Research. This will lead to
the right measures in both the design and the execution.
It is a complex puzzle, and there is an urgent need for a
well-considered approach.
The first steps toward additional measures for the soil
are improving the condition of the soil life, facilitating
the growth conditions for trees, and selecting and
planting trees that are appropriate to the soil
composition and the quality and depth of the
Artist impression of the
proposed Hogehilweg,
Amstel-Stad, Amsterdam
research into soil life around ‘healthy’ and ‘sick’ trees.
This will provide a better insight into the significant
differences in the composition of soil fungi around
trees (also see: the essay Underground networks turn
our planet green by Vincent Merckx and Sofia Gomes,
p. 108 and the research Artis trees, p. 110-113).
A possible measure is injecting the soil with good fungi.
The City of Amsterdam is currently working with other
municipalities, universities, colleges and knowledge
institutions to set up a study into the hidden
biodiversity in the soil and air of cities.
Additional measures for healthy soil and
biodiversity in the city
The decrease in flora and fauna in the Netherlands also
the integral design method. In some cases, a measure is
found in different levels of scale and the design solution
per scale is explicitly stated in such instances. There are
also specific measures for a certain level of scale. The
detailed design solutions are presented in axonometric
projections later in the publication.
Due to climate adaptation and energy transition
measures, many excavations will need to take place in
urban soil in the coming years. A crucial challenge will
be to find ways to minimise disruptions to soil life. In
particular, the brief disruptions of the soil, such as
excavation activities, temporary interventions and the
use of heavy equipment that are standard practice
today, can have long-term negative effects on the soil.

A matter the lack and loss of green spaces. The problems of groundwater. All of these measures contribute to a
of vital heat, drought and flooding that characterise the healthy ecosystem. Much is expected from DNA
soil!
In the Hofvijver pond in The
Hague, situated next to the
building of the Dutch
government, lies a small
isle. During the Soil Animal
Days of 2020 it was sampled
for the first time, receiving
a surprisingly high grade of
9.1 out of 10 for its general
soil life. You can have
‘green gems’ in the city. Soil
ecologists Gerard Korthals
(left) and Matty Berg
(middle) sampled the
Hofvijver island in The
Hague with the help of
member of parliament and
biologist Frank Wassenberg
of the Party for the Animals.
has a considerable impact on the biodiversity in the soil,
since flora and fauna are essential for maintaining
ecosystems. To prevent life in Amsterdam from
becoming unbearable for plants, animals and people,
designers and engineers need to rise to the challenge
of maintaining and restoring our soil biodiversity.
The Integral Design Method Public Space was presented
in 2020 and consists of two volumes. The first volume,
Case Amstel-Stad, Amsterdam, provides background
information about the area Amstel-Stad in Amsterdam
and describes the new design method based on this
concrete example. The second volume, the Handbook,
contains a catalogue of generic measures and detailed
design solutions that the urban designer can select for
the programming and design of the public space and
subsurface. Following on from these measures,
additional measures have been developed to improve
soil biodiversity and to bring about a healthy soil. The
additional measures are divided into four categories:
Soil, Water, Ecological Matrix and Management. The
measures and the design solutions emerging from
these have been allocated in the five levels of scale of
In such cases, one measure is to minimise the use of
digging and, where possible, to leave soils alone. If
digging still needs to be done, then the instruction is to
work in the public space with equipment as light and
small as possible so that the soil is not disrupted or
compacted.
An example of a more generic measure is not to remove
litter (natural waste such as dead invertebrates, leaves
and wood). That provides a good habitat for soil life.
Mites eat litter, roots and animal carcasses, for example.
They subsequently form a source of food for macro­
fauna and are intermediate hosts for flatworms. Worms
are indispensable for the soil because they dig a lot of
small tunnels and consequently mix the soil. That
ensures a better structure of the soil, provides the
necessary oxygen and leads to improved drainage and
water maintenance. Worms’ faeces contain a wide
range of nutrients that make the soil more fertile,
which in turn has an effect on the health of plants.
Furthermore, they spread useful microbes such as
mycorrhizae.

68
Green roofs are increasingly important for growing and
densifying cities to become more sustainable and they
can be used to improve urban biodiversity and
ecosystem services. From an ecological perspective,
little is known about the community of soil organisms
except for how crucial soil food webs are for the
functioning of ecosystems. In urban environments,
green roofs offer several ecosystem services, including
reducing the urban heat island effects. Dependent on
the number, location, design and surface, green roofs
BIODIVERCITY can contribute more or less to the urban ecological
structure. The most common form is extensive green
roofs due to their low costs and low maintenance
requirements. However, the plant growth on these
roofs is often limited, which can also have consequences
for the ecosystem services provided. Sufficient moisture
in the soil of green roofs is an important condition for
the success of the vegetation and for a mature soil life
on roofs. Furthermore, adding microbes, bacteria and
fungi (through local soil transplantation: measure Soil
S-BD-01) can improve the biodiversity and plant growth
on a mature green roof.
Healthy, vibrant soil in the city can function as a sponge
so that the city can better cope with (increasingly
extreme) periods of rain and drought. Due to subsidence,
the soil’s water storage capacity has decreased and
energy systems have become vulnerable. This therefore
forms a considerable cost item in the maintenance
Green middle verge
A matter Wibautstraat, which
of vital includes thistles for insects
soil! bloomed all summer before
mowing.
City soil as urban design challenge Future-resilient cities requires
a shift in urban planning
Section (parametrically 69
designed) of the public
space of Haaksbergweg,
Amstel-Stad, Amsterdam.
With cable tubed, stacked
pipes and underground
waste transport system.
With below three inzooms
in soil.
budget for public space. A vibrant soil and soil life
ensures that the soil does not dry out too much, sinks
and/or becomes compacted. In turn, this helps ensure
that electricity cables in the ground do not break, thus
preventing an unstable network, and that water pipes
do not become too warm, which forestalls the risk of
legionella outbreaks. A resilient and connected green
structure also provides shadow during periods of heat
and creates connected habitats for species.
Policy and legislation
From 2022 onwards, a new law for spatial planning will
become effective in the Netherlands. This law will
initiate a shift to include all aspects that affect the living
environment. The key aim of the law is to strike a balance
between protecting the environmental quality of a
healthy, physical living environment (with stimulatory
measures, adaptation and maintenance) and utilising
this environment (through effective management and
use). Environmental Visions and Plans from the
government, provinces and municipalities will be the
new instruments for tackling the challenges for the
physical living environment at various levels of scale.
Both national and EU programmes cover aspects such
as the soil, adaptation to climate change, life in greener
cities, ensuring the protection of the soil and food.
Strengthening and protecting (soil) biodiversity is an
important theme in national programmes and in the EU
Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. Bringing nature back into
our lives (Brussels, 2020). Amongst other things, this
strategy states: “Biodiversity loss and ecosystem
collapse are one of the biggest threats facing humanity legislation. By signing the agreement, cities commit to measures needed to prevent or reduce problems
in the next decade. They also threaten the foundations tackling five areas of environmental management: air, apparent. However, by placing (soil) biodiversity on the
of our economy, and the costs of inaction are high and water, nature and biodiversity, circular economy and agenda as an essential part of the design challenge for the
are anticipated to increase. The world lost an estimated waste, and noise. city’s public space and subsurface, we are still only at the
3.5-18.5 trillion per year in ecosystem services from 1997 start of what is actually needed. Combining scientific
to 2011 owing to land-cover change, and an estimated Increasing insight, knowledge knowledge and design strength offers solutions for
5.5-10.5 trillion per year from land degradation. and design repertoire realising a healthy (soil) biodiversity. And it also provides
Specifically, biodiversity loss results in reduced crop An integral view of the soil and subsurface of the city the basis for the translation of such efforts into legal
yields and fish catches, increased economic losses from could make a major contribution to realising the protection.
flooding and other disasters, and the loss of potential ambitions for strengthening and protecting (soil)
new sources of medicine.” biodiversity from the design and engineering phases up Much research is still needed into urban soil life, which
to and including execution and management. can differ considerably between cities. Amsterdam calls
The huge importance of the soil and the strengthening Investments in (soil) biodiversity are required for a for a consolidation of strengths through the national and
and protection of (our) biodiversity are recognised and liveable and healthy city both now and in the future. Only international exchange of knowledge and design. In the
frequently stated in this strategy. In 2021, the European then can we mitigate the effects of climate change. But Netherlands, this already happens in the collaboration
Commission established a European platform for urban there is also an economic interest because a healthy between government ministries, several cities,
greening in the context of a Green City Accord (Clean biodiversity yields considerable savings on maintenance knowledge institutions and utility companies. In January
and Healthy Cities for Europe). It is a movement of and management costs. 2021, the City Deal Public Space – Dutch Urban Agenda
European mayors and leaders of local governments who started. It uses an investigative and design approach to
are committed to making cities healthier and cleaner. No clear policy objectives or requirements have been realise integrated solutions for the considerable demand
The aim is to improve all Europeans’ quality of life and stated yet for the protection of soil life in the city. But the on the use, management and design of our living
accelerate the realisation of relevant EU environmental challenge is becoming clear, and new insights make the environment.
Four-spotted Carrion Beetle / Dendroxena quadrimaculata
Green tiger beetle / Cicindela campestris

78
Biodiversity is
messy: a plea
for wilder cities
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the institute I work for,
has the ambition to let everyone “fall in love with
nature” (= biodiversity). Setting aside the question of
whether humans should regard themselves as partners
of biodiversity, we should wonder if this love doesn’t
make us blind. Most people love organisms that have
fur or feathers and care far less about the rest of
biodiversity. Of course, nature that is big, venomous, or
dangerous in some other way is exciting, but it should
be kept at a proper distance. Biodiversity must not get
BIODIVERCITY in our way. It should stay in the place humans ordained
for it, within sharply designated boundaries. In short,
biodiversity is there to follow our demands: only the
biodiversity we like, restricted to a decorative function,
to be kept this way by “smart garden maintenance”.
Most people regard plants as nice green stuff in the
background that serves as food for animals. Humans
suffer from plant blindness and even more so from soil
blindness. Large parts of the “invisible biodiversity” in
cities is perfectly visible. It is just that most of us never
stop to really perceive the litter and the critters. So, the
question is: how do we make our love for nature
inclusive and unconditional? Because this is what needs
to happen if wilder cities are to arise from the soil.
Everything we do, intentionally, emotionally or
unknowingly, has consequences for biodiversity. And
what we actually do depends on our experiences,
background, knowledge, standards and values, but also
A matter on whether we simply enjoy or like something.
of vital Designers, for instance, focus on things that look good
soil!
above-ground and tend to reduce biodiversity to a
malleable instrument for ecosystem services. As a
result, plants are put in place to look nice, be an
appealing part of the background throughout the
entire year, create shade and help absorb downpours.
Which species is put there, is completely irrelevant in
this line of thought, let alone the question of whether
this use of plants is ecologically sustainable.
Our knowledge of soil biodiversity is very limited, and
for designers, the quality of soils is not important. This
causes soils to quite wrongly be regarded as a
renewable resource and soil biodiversity to be ignored.
As we now live in the urban millennium, we need to take
a new and critical look at what urban biodiversity is and
at our place in it.
All too often, biodiversity is reduced to a list of species
and their numbers. However, the concept relates to all
genetic, taxonomic and habitat diversity and the
interactions between these. Species are used as a unit
for expressing biodiversity, but for many groups of
City soil as urban design challenge Biodiversity is messy:
a plea for wilder cities
Marco Roos
79
Draba verna, an early spring
subtile beauty growing in
between the tiles
organisms, this is missing the point. It is tough to
categorise the microbial diversity of soils in terms of
species, if you can speak of “species” at all, in the way
we do with mammals. DNA technologies allow us to get
a better view of the genetic diversity and organise it in
ecological groups with their own functions: organisms
that eat plants, fungi or bacteria, bacteria that fixate
nitrogen in the soil, symbiotic fungi that allow plants to
grow, et cetera.
Even the smallest open
soils can house several
Biodiversity is all too often seen as a static backdrop to plant species, like here
where you can recognize
human life, but it should be regarded as dynamic in at least Erigeron
karvinskianus, Geranium
space and time. It has geographical patterns influenced robertianum, Veronica
by climate, soil, evolution and ecological interactions. arvensis.
Disturbing these patterns and relations, for example by Urban herb vegetation
brightens up the city
introducing a new species or fragmenting habitats, will
lead to changes. The current scale of these disruptions
is so large that organisms struggle to adapt to these
changes, which generally causes a loss of species and
ecosystem services.
We should also realise that organisms develop over
time. This includes evolutionary changes, but other
aspects of time are more important. Many people like to
see butterflies, for example. But they will exterminate
caterpillars without realising that this means they are
destroying the butterflies too. Habitats go through
similar developments: a succession of vegetations or
the ripening of soils. Developing urban nature means
allowing time and space for these processes.
 City soil as urban design challenge Biodiversity is messy:
a plea for wilder cities

80 81

Biodiversity is the result of managing ecological

Campanula poscharskyana,
recently introduced in many
Dutch cities and originally
from Croatia, spontaneously
BIODIVERCITY
finding its place at this
bicycle stand.
processes, spatial design, and the context of the
landscape. Management should be designed around
ecological processes, and design should focus on
creating an ecological network of core habitats of
sufficient size and connections to other habitats. This
applies to connections between areas just as much as
the connections between different parts of the soil.
Do not remove! Urban A sleek design will always come at the expense of
plants are dearly wanted.
habitat diversity. Intensively managing a piece of land
means that you frequently disturb the ecological
processes there. If sleek design and intensive

Many people dislike

management are both practised on a large scale,
thistles, but insects on the then biodiversity will take a huge knock.
contrary are very much
attracted to their flower
heads for the nectar and Biodiversity requires spontaneous developments and
many birds devour their
seeds. thrives when things are messy. Genuinely nature-
inclusive city management will have to integrate this
insight. It should not aim for some desired end-stage
but instead aim at facilitating processes. That is harder Do not remove! Urban
than it sounds because we humans just have to see plants are dearly wanted.

order. If we don’t, things get too chaotic and even

become threatening. Hence we control the little plants
that grow between the pavement tiles because they
disturb the order. Or we use leaf blowers to remove
dead leaves from our parks, as then they look nicer.
Every time we do these things, we unnecessarily
remove a lot of biodiversity. The organisms that we
need for a healthy soil, and with that for everything else
we do, are then forced to survive between the sleek
A matter lines we’ve drawn. They are not the indicator species
of vital that our biodiversity policies are built around, of course.
soil!
Those are birds and mammals, the species that are
often determining parts of the food web. But the
woodlice, pavement weeds and little worms form the
foundation of the ecological web. The classical image in
ecology is that the presence of peregrine falcons, bears
and foxes at the top of the food pyramid indicates that
all other pyramid levels are present and functioning
well. However, this rosy image does not apply to the
urban environment and its soils, also because generally
the idea of a pyramid has been set aside for the concept
of foodwebs and networks. Foxes, for example, might
be present even though the soil is unhealthy and the
urban ecosystem unstable. The urban fox is not
necessarily an indicator of ecosystem health. It’s
probably just eating our rubbish.
soil communities, and biodiversity in general. We must
not unnecessarily deteriorate the resilience, resistance
and vitality of urban soils even further through
inappropriate interventions.
The city is there for humans, of course, and that means
that we want to put buildings on its soil. But this does
not mean that soils and biodiversity are side issues.
Because they keep growing, cities and their soils are an
increasingly substantial landscape on this planet. The
vitality of the urban ecosystem will become more and
more important for the liveability of our direct
environment.
We need to make the transition to a wild city. And this
concept means more than just having some wild
animals in our streets because our love for furry animals
will not save us. If we focus on the animals that we like,
we are still putting ourselves in the centre of the
equation. Humans, the crown of creation, will valiantly
save nature while at the same time maintaining their
present lifestyle. This is not going to happen, of course.
So the question is not whether biodiversity will survive
but whether we will.

Urban soils are formed by standard soil processes,
combined with human actions. Intensifying land use,
soil compaction, the amount of nutrients, the amount
of stone and the number of times the land is worked
will lead to a decline of soil biomass, the complexity of
A genuine urban win-win ecology means that we need
to limit ourselves, and at the same time, expand our
limitations. And we can only achieve this by working
with the sovereignty and integrity of the very
biodiversity that we are all too obviously blind to.
 City soil as urban design challenge Towards a biodiverse city

82
Towards a Measures for Ecological 83
Matrix, Soil, Water, and
biodiverse city Management

The design and management of the urban landscape is focus on preventing habitat fragmentation and the ECOLOGICAL MATRIX
largely taking place despite a lack of knowledge about formation of ecological islands and on connecting E-WA-01 Connect green networks in neighbourhood
urban soil ecology and how urbanisation and people’s fragmented habitats to support urban ecosystems E-WA-02 Connect black networks for nocturnal animals
management of urban landscapes influence city soils. and enable the intensive exchange of species between E-WA-03 Connect freshwater banks in neighbourhood

habitats. Management has been included in these E-WA-04 Urban agriculture: Food forest
E-NE-01 Connect green networks in network
In the Integral Design Method Public Space (Dutch measures, and many changes to the management are
E-NE-02 Connect freshwater banks in network
acronym IOOR), appropriate measures and resulting possible. For example, to prevent soil compaction, it is
E-NE-03 Urban agriculture: Tiny forest
details for the public space were developed by the City vitally important to work with smaller equipment to E-PS-01 Connect green networks in public space
of Amsterdam in 2020. In the IOOR Handbook (Volume 2) prevent high pressure being exerted on soils during E-PS-02 Green quays
measures and the resulting design solutions were public works and construction activities. E-ST-01 Connect green networks on site
E-ST-02 Facilitate nesting and roosting places in green garden fences
BIODIVERCITY formulated on the basis of seven whole area themes.
E-ST-03 Green roof shed or extension
Design solutions for three of the whole area themes, These new (soil) measures can be divided into four
E-BD-01 Connect green networks on building
namely Living Environment, Water, and Flora & Fauna, categories: Ecological Matrix (E), Water (W), Soil (S) and
E-BD-02 Urban agriculture on roof
directly influence the condition of soils and biodiversity. Management (M)). These are further explained by means
E-BD-03 Create porosity in buildings and use nature-friendly building materials
In the tables of these three themes (p. 98-99) the of figures. Each category starts with a brief explanation.
measures and resulting details related to soils and Some measures apply for a larger area. Other measures
biodiversity are marked. are specifically related to the soils below streets and SOIL
public spaces, whereas yet other measures focus on an S-WA-01 Connect soil networks in neighbourhood
While working on the integral design method, the City individual site. S-WA-02 Work with existing soil layers for new urban development

of Amsterdam became increasingly aware that a healthy S-WA-03 Create higher indigenous plant diversity in neighbourhood
S-NE-01 Connect soil networks in network
soil and a rich soil diversity are vitally important when For the IOOR, five (scale) levels have been defined,
S-NE-02 Collect and decompose green waste, use organic compost
working in the soil of the public space. It therefore and these are also used for the four categories of the
S-PS-01 Connect soil networks in public space
initiated a close collaboration with other partners, such additional (soil) measures: S-PS-02 Green(ing) tree mirrors
as the knowledge institutions Naturalis Biodiversity WA measures for a Whole Area S-ST-01 Connect soil networks on site
Center and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology NE measures for the Networks (roads, watercourses S-ST-02 Create (own/shared) compost heap
(NIOO-KNAW). The initial research results gave reason infrastructure) within an area S-ST-03 Less paving, more green in back gardens

to formulate extra measures, in addition to the integral PS measures in the Public Space (streets, squares, S-ST-04 Create green facade from facade garden
S-ST-05 Create higher indigenous plant diversity on site
measures and resulting details from the IOOR, that neighbourhood green areas)
S-BD-01 Connect soil networks on building
contribute to soil recovery, a better soil biodiversity ST measures at Site level
and the realisation of a healthy soil. BD measures at Building level (especially the envelope)
A matter WATER
of vital Of course, measures already exist for greener and In several cases, one measure can apply to one or W-WA-01 Rainwater retention and buffer zone in neighbourhood
soil!
nature-inclusive designs. Many green measures have more different levels of scale. In such cases, the W-NE-01 Rainwater retention and buffer zone in network
already been included in the IOOR, such as bioswales, design solution per level of scale is explicitly stated. W-NE-02 Water square (large)

green facades, green roofs, et cetera. However, in the
new measures, it was also examined where further
gains could be made for soils and biodiversity with
respect to both developing and managing green areas.
Extra measures are needed for further green initiatives
and to guide rainwater with respect to its capture, flow,
buffering and spread. Water and nutrients in soils must
be supported to facilitate soil porosity. This can be
realised by disturbing soils as little as possible and, in
particular, by applying an ecological approach to soil
management. Besides soil-supporting measures, other
measures that encourage ecological recovery of the soil
have been formulated, such as sowing indigenous
plants and herbs and, where necessary, performing
soil transplantations with healthy soils. There are also
specific measures to ensure (even) less hard surfaces
in the public space so that water and oxygen can
penetrate well into the soil, as this has a positive effect
on the health of the soil and soil life. Other measures
There are also measures for one specific level of scale. W-PS-01 Facilitate rainwater runoff into water-buffering strips
W-ST-01 Rainwater collection and buffering in shared/own (back)garden
The elaborated design solutions are presented on the
W-BD-01 Pond on water roof
following pages. The generic (recurring) measures are
W-BD-02 Collect and reuse rainwater for watering plants on roof/facade
marked separately with a colour code.
Many of the measures are tried and tested techniques, MANAGEMENT
and a few measures are still at the experimental stage M-WA-01 Foster mature soil
and mainly serve as a source of inspiration here. Each M-WA-02 Facilitate temporary green areas development
measure refers to a concrete objective and has its own M-WA-03 Mowing management: varied, mosaic mowing
M-NE-01 Leave organic matter in place in neighbourhood
unique code. The measures are shown with the help of
M-NE-02 Foster spontaneous vegetation growth in network
an axonometric projection. Usually, the figures are self-
M-NE-03 Prevent heavy infrastructural work
explanatory but sometimes lines or text help to clarify
M-PS-01 Remove litter sparingly in public space
the figures. Each category starts with a brief explanation, M-PS-02 Foster spontaneous vegetation growth in public space
followed by a short discussion of several measures from M-PS-03 Leave green between tiles in public space
the category. M-PS-04 Create porosity
M-ST-01 Remove litter sparingly on site
M-ST-02 Foster spontaneous vegetation growth on site
M-ST-03 Leave green between tiles on site
M-BD-01 Leave dead organic matter in place on building
European lesser glow worm / Phosphaemus hemipterus larva
House centipede / Scutigera coleoptrata
 City soil as urban design challenge Towards a biodiverse city /
Measures for Ecological Matrix

84
Ecological matrix (E)
The measures in Ecological
Matrix concern the connec­
tion of green networks, for
example. The aim is to
strengthen tree and green
structures and bank zones
along watercourses, create
and connect green corridors
and green ‘stepping stones’,
and create locations species
can inhabit on facades and
roofs. All of these measures
serve to support bio­
diversity and the various
food webs, the basis for
micro-life. The measure
Connect green networks is
included in each scale
(E-WA-01 to E-BD-01). It
has also been made specific
for each scale. This more
generic measure aims to
connect green corridors
and green areas (as stepping
stone for flora and fauna)
with each other and extend
these where necessary so
that they can become
connected.
As a result of this, habitat
areas are extended and
connected or new ones are
created. In Whole Area
(E-WA-01/ Connect green
networks in neighbour­
hood), the focus is on
connecting the city and the
wider area. In Network
(E-NE-01/ Connect green
networks in network),
the focus is on green
connections within the
neighbourhood, between
streets and green zones or
parks in the immediate
vicinity. Where no green
connections exists, they will
be created by extending
lines of trees or green
strips or by adding green
roofs as stepping stones to
the existing network. In
Building (E-BD-01/ Connect
green networks on building),
green connections are
linked and extended from
public spaces to green
private spaces, such as
facade gardens, green
facades and green roofs.
One specific measure, for
example, is the Urban
agriculture: Food forest
(E-WA-04) in Whole Area.
In cities, food forests are
being introduced as a form
of urban agriculture in
which agriculture is
combined with nature for
sustainable food production
and education. By ensuring
diversity in the plant
community (plants, herbs,
trees and shrubs) and by
avoiding digging activities,
E-NE-01
Connect green networks in network
E-NE-02
Connect freshwater banks in network
85
a rich soil, high biodiversity
and many habitats are
realised for flora and fauna,
and food is also obtained.
The measure Create
porosity in buildings and
use nature-friendly building
materials (E-BD-03) aims
to improve the porosity in
and on buildings so that tiny
creatures can create their
own living environment and
nesting place on (or in) the
buildings.

BIODIVERCITY
E-WA-01 E-WA-02 E-NE-03 E-PS-01
Connect green networks in neighbourhood Connect black networks for nocturnal animals Urban agriculture: Tiny forest Connect green networks in public space

A matter
of vital
soil!

E-WA-03 E-WA-04 E-PS-02 E-ST-01

Connect freshwater banks in neighbourhood Urban agriculture: Food forest Green quays Connect green networks on site

5cm-10cm gap under garden

fences to allow small animals
to pass through.
 Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel Kopregel artikel

E-ST-02 E-ST-03 A-BB-00 A-BB-00

Facilitate nesting and roosting places in green garden fences Green roof shed or extension xxxxx xxxxx
86 87

BIODIVERCITY
E-BD-01 E-BD-02 A-BB-00 A-BB-00
Connect green networks on building Urban agriculture on roof xxxxx xxxxx

A matter
of vital
soil!

E-BD-03 A-BB-00 A-BB-00

Create porosity in buildings and use nature-friendly building materials xxxxx xxxxx

Crossing for soil fauna


88
soil (s)
The measures in Soils
concern, for example,
strengthening the soil
connectivity through soil
transplantation and, where
possible, helping soils to
connect or enrich the soil
life. Just like the measure
Connect green networks,
the measure Connect soil
networks (S-WA-01 to
S-BD-01) is found at each
level of scale. The aim is to
extend and connect mature
soils or to create new ones.
In Whole Area (S-WA-01/
Connect soil networks in
neighbourhood) the focus is
on the connection between
soil structures in the city
and a wider area. Where
possible, mature soils from
parks, squares and other
open spaces must be
connected. At the other
levels of scale, the focus is
BIODIVERCITY
S-WA-01
Connect soil networks in neighbourhood
A matter
of vital
soil!
S-WA-03
Create higher indigenous plant diversity in neighbourhood
also on connecting old and
mature soils with poor or
new soils in public spaces
at the level of a site or a
building. By means of soil
transplantation, rich soil
with a healthy soil life can
be transplanted to gardens
in courtyards or back
gardens, or to green or
brown roofs (S-BD-01/
Connect soil networks on
building), for example.
Adding a small quantity of
living soil to the soil on
roofs is sufficient to activate
life in the soil there. With
this measure, you remain
local, close to home. Work
with existing soil layers for
new urban development
(S-WA-02) is an example of
a more specific measure
under Area. In other words,
use the existing soil in the
development of an area and
City soil as urban design challenge Towards a biodiverse city /
Measures for soil
S-NE-02
Collect and decompose green waste, use organic compost
S-PS-01
Connect soil networks in public space
89
do not elevate the building
site or cover it with a layer
of sand and rubble. This
ensures that the soil
remains intact and is
harmed as little as possible.
The measure Collect and
decompose green waste,
use organic compost
(S-NE-02) in Network
states that green waste,
obtained from maintenance,
must be collected,
composted and used as
compost else­where. This
allows natural fertilisation
and removes the need to
use chemical fertilisers.
S-WA-02 S-PS-02 S-ST-01
Work with existing soil layers for new urban development Green(ing) tree mirrors Connect soil networks on site
new urban development
Whole Area
SOIL
S-WA-03 Higher Indigenous Plants Diversity
S-NE-01 S-ST-02 S-ST-03
Connect soil networks in network Create (own/shared) compost heap Less paving, more green in back gardens
 City soil as urban design challenge
90
S-ST-04
Create green facade from facade garden
S-ST-05
Create higher indigenous plant diversity on site Water (W)
The current trends in
climate change mean that
E-SI-02 Higher Indigenous Plant Diversity in Gardens periods of heavy rainfall or
prolonged heat are occurring
more often. Cities must
adapt to this because,
otherwise, large-scale
flooding problems will
occur, which in turn will
lead to subsidence and the
resulting damage to public
spaces. The Water measures
focus on water storage
(porosity), rainwater use,
and water discharge to areas
where it causes no problems.
Water management (and
with that the associated
cooling) and soil porosity
are vital for cities and
accordingly for a healthy
soil. With the measure
Rainwater retention and
buffer zone in neighbour­
hood (W-WA-01) in Whole
Area, the rainwater in a
BIODIVERCITY
S-BD-01 W-WA-01
Connecting Soil Networks Rainwater retention and buffer zone in neighbourhood
A matter
of vital
soil!
W-NE-02
Water square (large)
Towards a biodiverse city /
Measures for water
91
larger area is discharged, far more easily. The measure
delayed, and retained in the Collect and reuse rainwater
soil. This prevents soil for watering plants on roof/
subsidence and desiccation facade (W-BD-02) aims to
and ensures that the soil reuse the water captured in
keeps its porosity. For the water roofs to provide
measure Rainwater water for plants on roofs
collection and buffering in and along facades.
shared/own (back)garden
(W-ST-01) in Site, water is
led from buildings to a
central point on the site
where it is retained in the
soil, as every drop counts.
The healthier the soil
biodiversity is, the greater
the water-retaining
capacity of the soil and the
fewer nutrients it loses due
to leaching. Rainworms,
other tiny creatures and a
diversity of plant roots
create a system of
(sometimes vertical)
tunnels which ensure that
water penetrates the soil
W-NE-01
Rainwater retention and buffer zone in network
W-PS-01
Facilitate rainwater runoff into water-buffering strips
 Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel Kopregel artikel

W-ST-01 W-BD-01
Rainwater collection and buffering in shared/own (back)garden Pond on water roof
92 93

BIODIVERCITY
W-BD-02
Collect and reuse rainwater for watering plants on roof/facade

A matter
of vital
soil!

Bioswale in parkzone
 City soil as urban design challenge Towards a biodiverse city /
Measures for Management

94
A-BB-00
xxxxx
A-BB-00
xxxxx management (m) 95

The most important measure
for soil is soil dormancy:
succession and maturation
of soil systems. So prefer­
ably no disturbances, and
leave the soil untouched as
possible! For this there is
measure Foster mature soil
(M-WA-01) in Whole Area.
Works carried out in the
public space disturbs the
soil. Management of soils
and green areas in the city
plays a large role in the
maintenance, recovery and
strengthening of soils and
green structures. The new
measures for Management
(and maintenance) mainly
focus on how soil can be
kept healthy and, in par­
ticular, how to prevent soil
disturbance. The simplest
measure is to leave the soil
and litter layer above this
untouched as much as
possible. Nature actually
does most of the work
itself. Soil life and small
creatures with feathers and
fur mainly live in the litter
layer and the top 70 to 100
cm of the soil. It is
important that litter layers
are not disturbed or cleared
up because the tiny animals
these contain are
responsible for a lot of
waste processing, but that
requires a bit more time.
Leaving dead material
undisturbed is a measure at
many levels of scale. In
Network, the measure
Leave dead organic matter
in place in neighbourhood
(M-NE-01) states that, in
particular, dead leaves,
wood (tree stumps) and
dead animals in parks and
other open areas must not
be cleared up but left lying
where they are. That allows
tiny creatures in and under
the litter layer to obtain
enough food and therefore
enables the optimal
digestion of the organic
material. The measure is
adjusted for a residential
building, Leave dead
organic matter in place on
building (M-BD-01), and
this states that dead
organic matter in a garden
should not be tidied up
either.
Long live untidiness!
Because this gives tiny
animals and micro­
organisms the chance to
settle and to contribute to
greater soil biodiversity.
By maintaining or creating
space between the paving
stones, the so-called
porosity, more spontaneous
vegetation growth can
occur where micro-life can
develop. This is the measure
Leave green between tiles
in public space (M-PS-03).
Butterflies, bees, birds and
other (small) animals need
(flowering) plants, prefer­
ably at many locations in
the city. By ensuring that a
whole area is not mown at
once, but by creating
winding mow paths instead,
a wide variety of plants can
grow and spores and seeds
have enough time to spread,
which is particularly
favourable for the (soil)
biodiversity. Such an
approach also increases the
survival chances of fauna
because there is always a
place to shelter if an entire
area is not mown at once.
The measure Mowing
management: varied,
mosaic mowing (M-WA-01)
in Whole Area states that
phased mowing
management should be
applied in parks, broad
verges, and other green
strips. Research has led to
the rule: leave about 40% of
the vegetation and work
with winding mow paths
whenever the grass is
mown. The measure
Prevent heavy infra­
structural work (M-NE-03)
in Network states that with
the redesign of the public
space or the construction of
a (new) building project, the
use of heavy equipment
must be prevented
wherever possible.
Consequently, the soil will
not be unnecessarily
compacted or compressed,
and enough room will
remain for soil life and
water.

BIODIVERCITY
A-BB-00 A-BB-00 M-WA-01 M-WA-02
xxxxx xxxxx Foster mature soil Facilitate temporary green areas development

2040

2021

A matter
of vital
soil!

A-BB-00 A-BB-00 M-WA-03 M-NE-01

xxxxx xxxxx Mowing management: varied, mosaic mowing Leave organic matter in place in neighbourhood

Undergroundwork in
public space
 City soil as urban design challenge Towards a biodiverse city /
Measures for Management

M-NE-02 M-NE-03 M-ST-01 M-ST-02

Foster spontaneous vegetation growth in network Prevent heavy infrastructural work Remove litter sparingly on site Foster spontaneous vegetation growth on site
96 97

Make concentration (piles)

of litter in corner of gardens

BIODIVERCITY
M-PS-01 M-PS-02 M-ST-03 M-BD-01
Remove litter sparingly in public space Foster spontaneous vegetation growth in public space Leave green between tiles on site Leave dead organic matter in place on building

A matter
of vital
soil!

M-PS-03 M-PS-04
Leave green between tiles in public space Create porosity

P
 City soil as urban design challenge Measures and resulting details
Integral Design Method Public Space

98
Measures and resulting Living Environment
Whole Area / WA L-WA1 Limiting hard surfacing L-WA1-1 Replacing paved area with greenery 99
details Integral Design NETWORK / NE L-NE1 Shade along roads and waterways L-NE1-1
L-NE1-2
Shading canopy on street
Tree on street

Method Public Space Public Space / PS L-PS1 Shade by roofing or greenery

L-NE1-3
L-PS1-1
Shading canopy/tree on bank
Permanent covering along pedestrian route
L-PS1-2 Flexible covering
L-PS1-3 Permanently coloured glass roof
L-PS1-4 Covered parking space
L-PS1-5 Copse of trees
L-PS1-6 Trees in car park
L-PS1-7 Pergola
L-PS1-8 Green wall partition
L-PS1-9 Shading gradients by variation in trees
L-PS2 Cooling airflow in public space L-PS2-1 Unobstructed airflow
L-PS3 Cooling through evaporation L-PS3-1 Green mast
L-PS3-2 Green pond
L-PS3-3 Spraying hard-surfacing wet
L-PS3-4 Artificial waterfall
L-PS3-5 Water wall
Water L-PS3-6 Water-mist installation
Whole Area / WA W-WA1 Greening W-WA1-1 Replacing hard surfacing with greenery L-PS3-7 Fountain
W-WA1-2 Natural bank L-PS4 Reducing heat radiation in public space L-PS4-1 Light-coloured paving
W-WA2 Water purification W-WA2-1 Helophyte filter L-PS4-2 Light-coloured asphalt
BIODIVERCITY
W-WA2-2 Filtering by marsh plants L-PS4-3 Light-coloured outdoor furniture
W-WA3 Integral water management W-WA3-1 Water-storage trench L-PS4-4 Paving with low heat accumulation
W-WA3-2 Storage and use of groundwater L-PS4-5 Street furniture with low heat accumulation
W-WA3-3 Rainwater purification (storage and use) L-ST1 Shade from permanent site boundary L-ST1-1 Fencing
Site / ST
W-WA3-4 Lowering groundwater mounding L-ST2 Cooling airflow on site L-ST2-1 Airflow through open site boundary
Network / ne W-NE1 Water-robust street W-NE1-1 Hollow road L-ST3 Green site boundary L-ST3-1 Vegetation-covered fencing
W-NE1-2 Raised sidewalk L-ST3-2 Espalier on facade
W-NE1-3 Routing rainwater across road L-ST3-3 Hedge or bush
W-NE1-4 Water-channelling speed bump L-BD1 Shade from building volumes L-BD1-1 Arcade
BUILDING / BD
W-NE1-5 Rainproof utilities L-BD1-2 Loggia
W-NE2 Space for through-flow W-NE2-1 City floodplain L-BD1-3 Canopy
W-NE2-2 Urban watercourse L-BD1-4 Louvre window
W-NE2-3 Increasing sewer diameters L-BD1-5 Green facade
W-NE3 Pretreatment of water from roads W-NE3-1 Green verge L-BD2 Cool building envelope from evaporation L-BD2-1 Irrigated green roof
W-NE3-2 First flush L-BD2-2 Insulating roof
Public Space / PS W-PS1 Water-retaining greenery W-PS1-1 Bioswale L-BD2-3 Vegetation on roof terrace / pergola / balcony
W-PS1-2 Height differences L-BD3 Reducing heat radiation building L-BD3-1 Light-coloured roof
W-PS1-3 Integral rainwater infiltration/storage L-BD3-2 Heat-reflective roof covering
W-PS1-4 Vegetation around rainwater pond L-BD3-3 Light-coloured wall
W-PS2 Underground infiltration networks W-PS2-1 Underground infiltration bioswale L-BD3-4 Heat-reflective facade
W-PS2-2 Reverse drainage / IT sewer
W-PS2-3 Infiltration manhole
W-PS2-4 Soakaway crate
A matter
of vital W-PS3 Infiltration through hard-surfacing / ground level W-PS3-1 Water-permeable hard-surfacing Flora & Fauna
soil! W-PS3-2 Permeable grass concrete pavers NETWORK / NE F-NE1 Nature-friendly water storage F-NE1-1 Bioswale
W-PS3-3 Green field F-NE1-2 Pond
W-PS3-4 Soft semi-paving F-NE1-3 Toad pool
W-PS3-5 Hard semi-paving F-NE2 Fauna crossing F-NE2-1 Squirrel bridge
W-PS4 Water-retaining container W-PS4-1 Water square F-NE2-2 Crossing for soil fauna
W-PS4-2 Water-retaining planter F-NE3 Corridor for small organisms F-NE3-1 Hedge
W-PS5 Gutter W-PS5-1 Covered gutter F-NE3-2 Tree ring
W-PS5-2 Open gutter F-NE3-3 Wilderness wall
W-PS6 Drought-resistant vegetation W-PS6-1 Drought-resistant plants on raised ground level F-NE3-4 Butterfly and bee idyll
Site / ST W-ST1 Green wall W-ST1-1 Green facade F-NE4 Natural bank F-NE4-1 Ecological bank
W-ST1-2 Facade garden F-NE4-2 Green quay wall
W-ST1-3 Hedge or bush F-NE4-3 Kingfisher wall
BUILDING / BD W-BD1 Water-retaining roof W-BD1-1 Extensive green roof F-NE4-4 Swallow wall
W-BD1-2 Intensive green roof BUILDING / BD F-BD1 Green wall F-BD1-1 Modular green facade
W-BD1-3 Infiltration roof with recreation F-BD1-2 Self-adhesive climbing plant
W-BD2 Reuse of rainwater W-BD2-1 Water roof F-BD1-3 Climbing plant on structure
W-BD2-2 Smart water roof F-BD2 Nesting and roosting places F-BD2-1 Nesting box
W-BD2-3 Rainwater storage in basement F-BD2-2 Bat box
W-BD2-4 Reuse of rainwater in building F-BD2-3 Insect hotel
W-BD3 Water-robust building W-BD3-1 Raised access F-BD3 Nature-friendly roof F-BD3-1 Extensive roof
W-BD3-2 Threshold and raised floor level F-BD3-2 Intensive roof
W-BD3-3 Water barrier at ground level F-BD3-3 Nature roof
W-BD3-4 Rainproof construction and choice of materials F-BD3-4 Brown roof
W-BD4 Disconnected sewer W-BD4-1 Disconnect downpipe to ground level F-BD3-5 Water roof with vegetation
Harlequin ladybird / Harmonia axyridis
Green shield bug / Palomena prasina
 Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel Kopregel artikel

100 101

BIODIVERCITY

Green measures for healthy

soil and biodiversity in
the city

A matter
of vital
soil!
102 103

BIODIVERCITY

RESEARCH
LEADS
THE WAY /
A matter
of vital
soil!

BIODIVERCITY
RESEARCH
PRO J ECTS
View from above of the
325m ATTO tower, in the
Uatumã Sustainable
Development Reserve,
Amazonia, Brazil.
 Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel Kopregel artikel

104
What makes a Calibrating soil 105
biodiversity
‘good soil’? Gerard Korthals
Froukje Rienks

A growing number of people realise how important a Below ground level

good soil is for agriculture, nature and the urban The Calibration Centre for the Soil is part of a bigger
environment. But what constitutes a ‘good soil’ and programme called ‘Onder het Maaiveld’ (Below ground
how can you measure that? level), supported by the National Postcode Lottery. It
The national Calibration Centre for the Soil aims to realise a structural change in how our society
(IJkcentrum voor de Bodem) recently opened in spring deals with our valuable and indispensable soil. The
2021. Here researchers study the most important soil programme’s partners are IUCN NL, Dutch Butterfly
types in the Netherlands and the role of soil biodiversity Conservation, the Netherlands Institute of Ecology
in these. Besides the chemical and physical (NIOO-KNAW) and the Centre for Soil Ecology.
characteristics, they specifically study what lives in each The ultimate goal is to allow Dutch soil life to recover
BIODIVERCITY type of soil. Soil samples from all over the country can so that it can provide the basis for healthy nature and a
be compared with these standards at the Centre. The healthy society. This will be realised via research and
information acquired enables soil ecologists to provide demonstrations at the Calibration Centre as well as
advice on sustainable soil improvements. concrete procedures and perspectives for professionals
At the Centre’s location at the Farm of the Future, like a soil quality label. Furthermore, widespread
near the city of Lelystad (the Netherlands), many awareness will be achieved through, for example, a soil
different agricultural soil treatments can be compared. life documentary screened at cinemas, a series of
Two Tiny Forests were added especially for the children’s books and support for the Soil Animal Days
The facility embedded in To create the calibration There, scientists can In March 2021 the planting
Calibration Centre’s research. Creating such mini urban (page 106) citizen science initiative. NIOO’s experimental facility of the soiltron, soil compare all soil cores of the 1200 trees and shrubs
garden is called a ‘soiltron’. cores were harvested from under the same circum­ for the research Tiny Forest
versions of a fast-growing forest involves a special soil More on: www.onder-het-maaiveld.nl For this soils from the three representative locations in stances, yielding knowledge started. From black elder to
treatment with mulch before the native trees are More information on the Calibration Centre for the Soil: major soil types clay, sand the Netherlands. With steel on the impact of soil sessile oak and from black­
www.ijkcentrumbodem.nl and peat are harvest. molds the complete soil management on soil currant to common hazel:
planted. To study the effect of this treatment one Tiny ecosystem from ground biodiversity. you can find it on these 200
level to one meter deep is square meters. In turn, the
Forest received it, while the ‘twin’ forest did not. taken and transported to tree species will attract soil
Incidentally, the outlines of these research forests the Netherlands Ianstitute life, flying insects, birds and
of Ecology in Wageningen. mammals.
symbolise two ‘green lungs’.
The experimental garden of the Netherlands Institute
of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in the city of Wageningen
forms the second location of the Calibration Centre. It
has a range of sandy, clay and peat soils next to each
other. Here, experimental soil transplantation will

A matter demonstrate the impact of tiny soil life on soil quality.

of vital Without such tiny organisms, good soil cannot exist!
soil!
In the longer run, this data will feed into a Soil
Biodiversity Atlas for the whole country. At present, this
vital information for sustainable management is mostly
missing. A soil valuation system is another planned and
related outcome that will make this information
available to everyone.

TINY FORESTS
Tiny Forests are densely packed with at least 25 native tree
species and are about the size of a tennis court. Besides
providing birds, bees, and soil creatures with a place to live
in a town or city, they are also pleasant places for people.
In these outdoor classrooms, children are educated as the
new generation of ‘nature restorers’. Tiny Forests serve
as a meeting place too. The Dutch nature education
organisation IVN adopted the Tiny Forest initiative from the
Indian engineer Shubhendu Sharma, with specific guide­
lines on how to create it. The number of Tiny Forests has
grown from a handful in 2015 to more than 110 now in the
Netherlands, with seven other countries joining in.
The idea is not just to grow an urban forest, but to
develop a healthy local community of people too.

106
Soil animals
need to go
to town
Every year around World Animal Day, people all over
the Netherlands go on safari in their own gardens,
city parks around the corner or even on their balconies,
looking for the important but often overlooked soil
animals. Entire classes explore their school grounds.
Why? Because they help to collect data as citizen
scientists – and in the meantime get acquainted
with the unknown neighbours under their feet.
Soil animals are indispensable, and even more so in the
BIODIVERCITY challenging environment of cities. You cannot have a
healthy soil without earthworms, woodlice or
millipedes. But what exactly is the state of the soil
animal life in our surroundings? That’s what hundreds
of citizen scientists of all ages throughout the
Netherlands check each year. This data was largely
lacking, and this citizen science approach proved to be
a valuable and enthusing way of solving that problem.
Since 2015, the United Nations’ International Year of
Soils, the Soil Animal Days have been an annual citizen
science project. The event is organised by the
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) together
with the Centre for Soil Ecology (CSE) and a steadily
growing number of partners. Soil animal experts from
NIOO, Wageningen University & Research and VU
Amsterdam are responsible for putting together the
special soil animal chart that participants can use for
their observations.
Earthworms versus woodlice
A matter
of vital People hand in their monitoring results, their garden
soil!
type plus location and other relevant observations via a
web form to literally put their work on the map. How
many critters from the Tiny Ten, the ten main groups,
are counted? And have they perhaps spotted some
specifically interesting species? The project’s results
help scientists establish how well the soil animal
community is doing in Dutch towns and cities. Repeating
this exercise for several years will strengthen the data.
RESULTS SOIL ANIMAL DAYS
in Dutch Gardens 2020
• 1188 observers
• 478 gardens searched
• 11 types of gardens. New: food forest
• 36 animals per garden on average
• 17,250 ‘soil critters’ found
• 8.9 average grade for soil animal potential
• woodlouse drops into 2nd place
• earthworm takes top spot
• millipedes spotted less often (-13%)
• ants spotted in more gardens (+5%)
• spiders in fewer gardens (-9%)
Citizen science: looking
for the Tiny Ten in your
own garden
Gerard Korthals
Froukje Rienks
Soil creatures, even snails,
deserve the spotlights for
their ecosystem services.
So, what did the citizen scientists find in their gardens?
After six editions of the Soil Animal Days, they have
counted almost 53,000 soil animals or ‘soil darlings’. But
more than just these numbers, it is the balance between
the different groups in each garden that is interesting.
This balance gives rise to a biodiversity grade (up to a
perfect 10) that represents the ‘soil-animal friendliness’
of the participants’ garden and, there­fore, the state of
the entire ecosystem under their feet.
Another result is visualised through the annual national
Soil Animal Top 3. The overall winning Tiny Three are the
ones seen in most Dutch gardens. This is usually a neck-
and-neck race with woodlice as the favourite, challenged
by the earthworms and either arachnids or snails.
Paradise
So can any general conclusions be drawn yet? Yes: there
certainly is potential to be found in our towns and
cities. Gardens and parks can be havens for common soil
animals, and even balconies can be of value if these are
maintained in a soil animal-friendly way. Green and half-
green gardens, and parks and public gardens are
paradises for earthworms, snails, or arachnids and
woodlice in particular. These groups of soil animals are
found in more than 80% of such gardens.
Green roofs are a subject in itself. They compensate for
open ground lost at ground floor level and are an
interesting option for soil creatures. In fact, they are
really needed as the basis for sound urban nature. So
soil animal observers have also visited these. They found
RESEARCH LEADS THE WAY/
BIODIVERCITY RESEARCH PROJECTS
Monitoring soil animals is
also done on green roofs, as
seen here on the roof of the
Netherlands Institute of
Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). When
searching for soil animals,
you have to take a close
look. Observations are
often carried out in groups.
interesting species but not that many critters –
especially in dry years. Perhaps some soil
transplantation from healthy spots could help out.
The weather is an important factor for soil animals’
survival and level of activity. In 2017, spiders came out
on top after a wet season, while in 2018 - a dry year -
there were lots of woodlice and few slugs. We can
conclude that in dry years, in particular, the type of
garden and how it is maintained are key factors for the
survival of soil animals in the city.
Soil animal monitoring by citizen scientists in towns and
cities could now become an international venture. The
initial ideas to turn it into a more widely used tool that
could contribute to a more effective green
management already exist. Soil animals rule our
underground. So help them do that in your city too.
Discover more at www.bodemdierendagen.nl/soil-animal-days
Soil animals need
to go to town
107
How to make a garden or park
more soil-animal-friendly
Seven hints from the soil-animal experts:
• Less paving: half the surface is the max. Good for
soil animals, plants and rainwater drainage.
• More plant cover: use groundcover plants, preferably
native species.
• Prune late, don’t plough: prune in spring instead
of autumn. This will offer shelter space in winter.
In the rest of the year weeding is OK, but dig and hoe
as little as possible.
• Leave the leaves where possible (on the soil):
it’s their lunch. And hedgehogs like it as well.
• Branches, tree trunks, stones and insect hotels:
these are magnets for soil creatures to
crawl in or under.
• More types of soil: diversity also applies to the
soil itself. Add clayey spots to a sandy soil and vice
versa, and don’t forget some water like a small pond.
• Be careful with fertiliser: it only makes few species
happy, and better to choose organic instead of artificial.
And other chemicals like pesticides, herbicides and
fungicides? Just don’t use them. They’re mostly not
necessary, or a more sustainable alternative is
available.
How to look for soil animals
• Go outside and look closely at the ground by
kneeling down for example.
• Look under stones, flower pots, among plants
or fallen leaves and branches.
• Stick a shovel in the (grassy) soil and rock it back
and forth, or dig a little bit around that spot.
Bury an empty jam jar or (yoghurt) pot in the soil
•
up to its brim and, after at least one night, check if
there are any soil animals in it (and don’t forget to
remove the jar or pot).
Check the identification chart for the ten main groups
of soil animals that you can encounter in the city.
Common garden centipede / Lithobius forficatus

Earthworm / Lumbricus terrestris

 RESEARCH LEADS THE WAY/ Underground networks
BIODIVERCITY RESEARCH PROJECTS turn our planet green

108
Underground Vincent Merckx
Sofia Gomes
Fungi typical for sycamore
109

networks turn
100

The research revealed

significant differences in alpha

soil fungal communities 0.5

between sycamore and

our planet

Prevalence in Esdoorn samples (%)

75
meanEsdoorn
lime. These differences are
0.0
caused by, amongst other
things, the natural

Sycamore
2.5

symbionts of the trees: 50

5.0
sycamore grows with

green
arbuscular mycorrhizal
fungi and lime grows with 7.5

ectomycorrhizal fungi. 25

10.0

0 25 50 75 100
At various locations in the Prevalence in Linde samples (%)

Amstel III area, part of the

Lime Fungi typical for lime
borough Amsterdam-
Southeast, 22 pairs of
‘healthy’ and ‘sick’

Pilot: monitoring van

showbodemdiversiteit met eDNA
sycamore and lime trees
were investigated. Four soil The graphs below conclusion: eDNA is a highly
samples were taken from significant differences in promising tool for
around each tree, totalling soil fungal communities describing complex soil
176 samples. DNA barcoding • Significante
betweenverschillen in schimmelgemeenschappen
‘healthy’ and ‘sick’ fungal communities and tussen ‘gezonde’ en ‘zieke’ bomen
was carried out of all fungi trees. These differences
in each soil sample (ITS2;
• Deze verschillen zijn subtiel: are their effects.die uniek zijn voor ‘gezonde’ of ‘zieke’ bomen
geen schimmels
subtle: there are no fungi
BIODIVERCITY Illumina MiSeq). A total of that are unique to ‘healthy’
Pilot: monitoring van bodemdiversiteit met eDNA
4491 fungal genotypes were or ‘sick’ trees. The
found that belong to all major
• 22 paren van ‘gezonde’ en ‘zieke’ esdoorn en lindebomen op verschillende locaties in Amstel III
• Conclusie: eDNA is een veelbelovend middel om complexe bodemgemeenschappen en hun
taxonomic groups of fungi. effecten in kaart te brengen
• 4 bodemmonsters rond elke boom (176 monsters in totaal)
• DNA barcoding van alle schimmels per bodemmonster (ITS2; Illumina MiSeq) Sycamore Lime
• In totaal: 4491 schimmel genotypes die behoren tot alle grote taxonomische groepen van schimmels
Esdoorn Linde
100 100
Rozellomycota
Rozellomycota
3% Fungi karakteristiek
Schimmel typical 100 100
‘Gezond’ ‘Ziek’ meanSick
3% voor
for gezonde trees
healthy bomen
Muciromycota
Mucoromycota alpha meanSick 0

Prevalence in healthy Esdoorn samples (%)

Prevalence in healthy Linde samples (%)

12%
12% 75 alpha
0.5 75
0 3

Prevalence in healthy Esdoorn samples (%)

Prevalence in healthy Linde samples (%)

Chitridiomycota 75 0.5 75 3
Chitridiomycota
1% meanSick 6
1% meanSick 6

Healthy
4491

Gezond
0
4491 Fungi typical
Schimmel karakteristiek 0
fungi voor zieke bomen
for sick trees 2 9
schimmel
50 2 50 9
Basidiomycota
genotypes 50 50

genotypes 19%
Basidiomycota 44

Ascomycota 19% 12 12

64%
25 25 25 66 25

Ziek
alpha
Ascomycota Sick alpha
0.5
0.5
64%
SchimmelFungi equally
gelijkaardig present
aanwezig 0 0
in gezonde en zieke bomen
in healthy and sick tree 0
0 25 50 75 100 0
0
25 50 75 100
0 25 Prevalence in50
sick Esdoorn samples
75 (%) 100 Prevalence
0 in sick Linde
25 samples (%) 50 75 100

Healthy Sick Prevalence in sick Esdoorn samples (%) Prevalence in sick Linde samples (%)

If you take one teaspoon of Amazon forest soil, there
A matter may very well be 1,800 species of microorganisms in
of vital there, about 400 of which are fungi - many of them new
soil!
to science. And what’s really amazing about this is that
it isn’t that amazing at all. You might get pretty similar
numbers if you repeat the experiment in your backyard.
Then go half a mile in any direction, and you may find
another four hundred different fungi again, if you’re
lucky. Soil microbial communities represent the
greatest reservoir of biological diversity known in the
world so far, and we haven’t come even close to
mapping it.
Most of these fungi are doing what you find them doing
in your kitchen: breaking down dead material. Another
group is busy feeding plants - and hence, the world.
Plants need sunlight and water, but also nutrients from
the soil to grow. These nutrients are often scarce and an
important limitation for plant growth. While plants can
use their roots to extract some nutrients from the soil
directly, they mostly rely on the fine network of
mycorrhizal fungi in the soil to obtain a rich diet of soil
nutrients that they need to remain healthy. For many
orchids, for instance, the absence of the right fungi
around the seeds is downright fatal, as they cannot Around these trees, we found a whopping 4491 different In ten years’ time, we will probably have smartphones
germinate properly. In return, the fungi are dependent fungal genotypes - with numbers like this, properly that will allow tree doctors or gardeners to sprinkle
too: plants “pay” their mycorrhiza with sugars they distinguishing separate species becomes next to some soil on them. Next, an app will tell you what soil
produce in their leaves. impossible. There is a difference between the soils community is in there and what you should change to
around lime trees and sycamores, which is partly because help your tree. Soil transplants may be a popular
In theory, “everything is everywhere”: spores of many they prefer to work with different species of fungi. treatment for trees that are doing poorly, just like faecal
different fungi permeate the world around us. Given transplants are helping humans now. But, for now, we
proper plants to join with, the spores will then grow There is also a difference between the soils of healthy lack the understanding to do this properly. Avoiding
into proper mycorrhiza. In practice, it’s not so simple, trees and those of their partners that are doing poorly, fertilizer may make for healthier urban soils. So might
though. but it’s complicated. There is not really one species that growing native plants in our cities, instead of exotic
is essential for successful treedom or one species that is plants from different continents close to each other.
Take, for example, a study in the city of Amsterdam. preventing your sycamore from becoming a big, proud Given the many ecosystem services that urban plants
Almost every tree there has been planted, and many of tree with a height and foliage worthy of its age. Instead, provide, healthier soils should lead to healthier cities.
them look a lot younger than they are. They’re not healthier soils have healthier soil communities, and It’s time we learn how to get there.
exactly ill, mind you. They’re just not growing quickly, those have healthier plants. City trees are not really held
not making many leaves, as if something is holding back but are probably missing some natural friends.
them back. Or so it seems. We still know too little about these
underground interactions in urban ecosystems. The
Is it? You can study this because the trees were planted. limited data we have suggests that the fungal links
You can take two trees of the same species, planted at between trees in our parks and streets are scarce and
the same time, and compare them. Is there a difference sometimes missing altogether. Restoring the fungal
between the soils that they grow in? Or between the connections of plants in urban environments may
species that live in these soils? We compared 22 such therefore be a promising strategy for healthier and
pairs, both Lime trees (Tilia) and Sycamores (Acer). stress-resistant nature in the city.

114
Completing
the circle of
life by ending
up in a
Living Cocoon
BIODIVERCITY
A matter
of vital
soil!
Although humanity has not existed for very long on this
planet, it has degraded mother nature’s natural
ecosystem. Cemeteries play an important part in urban
biodiversity conservation. However, even after we die,
we manage to pollute this soil with dead materials and
toxins from the coffins we are buried in.
Giving nature something in return
Naturalis Biodiversity Center and students from TU Delft
have been working together to solve this problem. They
developed a so-called “Living Cocoon”. This is a coffin
made up of mycelium (Ganoderma lucidum), which is
the body of the fungus. The TU Delft students even
found a company called Loop, which specialises in
making these coffins. Naturalis and Loop’s inspiration
for the Living Cocoon came from nature: ‘’We are
parasites that only take from nature without giving
anything in return. How does nature tidy up dead
material? That is when we came up with mycelium’, says
Bob Hendrikx, founder of Loop and inventor of the
Living Cocoon.
RESEARCH LEADS THE WAY/ Completing the circle of life
BIODIVERCITY RESEARCH PROJECTS by ending up in a Living Cocoon
Renée Zijlmans
115
Nature’s finest recycler
Fungi are nature’s biggest recyclers; they decompose
all kinds of organic waste, such as dead leaves and
wood. They can convert this into useful nutrients,
which plants can then use to grow. Moreover, fungi can
increase the efficiency of water and nutrient absorption
of most plants and can make them more resistant to
plant pathogens. Fungi not only benefit plants. They are
also an important food source for many soil
invertebrates, such as worms and insects. Therefore,
fungi can support more biodiversity in the soil.
Furthermore, the mycelium of fungi is a very strong
material that can easily be moulded into specific shapes.
This makes it perfect for use as a Living Cocoon, and
because it is produced by nature, it is also carbon
neutral.
Becoming one with nature again
Normally it takes a body 10 to 20 years to decompose,
and when a body is buried in a traditional coffin, this
process can take even longer. Traditional coffins are
often constructed from metal and hardwood, which
were taken from nature, and then covered with varnish.
Bob Hendrikx does not understand why we use these
materials: ‘By using these materials, we conserve
something that we actually want to decompose’.
The benefits of using mycelium
Even our bodies house many toxins, such as medicines
and microplastics. Mycelium could help speed up this
The Living Cocoon: Nature’s finest recycler: process of decomposition and improve the soil quality
a nature-friendly coffin fungi
by breaking down these toxins. Vincent Merckx, fungi
specialist at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, is now doing
further research into the effect of Living Cocoons on
soil biodiversity by looking at DNA found in the
environment. Every month, he takes soil samples and
hopes to be able to map all the different species of
fungi living there. ‘Just a spoonful of ground can
contain 400 species of fungi’, says Merckx. He is
comparing the community of fungi around the Living
Cocoon with that of traditional coffins. He hopes to
demonstrate that the Living Cocoon supports a more The making of mycelium The Living Cocoon in its
natural habitat
natural diversity of soil organisms.
Sixty people have already enriched the ground by being
buried in a Living Cocoon, and hopefully, more will
follow. It could help restore biodiversity in cemeteries,
and it is definitely more sustainable than a traditional
coffin. The mycelium used in the Living Cocoon might
even become a future building material in houses. Both
Bob Hendrikx and Vincent Merckx would like their
bodies to end up in this cocoon. What about you?
Common sexton beelte / Nicrophorus vespilloides
Painted woodlouse / Porcellio spinicornis
 Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel Kopregel artikel

116
The soil under Gerard Korthals
Froukje Rienks
117

a forest full
of food
Food forests are a new and highly promising form of
sustainable agriculture. Here, herbs and berry bushes
grow together with fruit trees, nut trees and
permanent ground cover. In a five-year-old food forest
on the edge of Amsterdam, a former agricultural field
near the city of Almere and many other spots, soil
ecologists from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology
(NIOO-KNAW) and the Centre for Soil Ecology are
studying the soil underneath the surface. How does a
developing food forest influence the soil quality and soil
BIODIVERCITY food web, and how much carbon is stored? What about
the soil ecosystem services? And what are the
consequences for the aboveground ecosystem?
The researchers are curious to discover the extent to
which this form of agriculture (re)vitalises the soil.
Besides more biodiversity, more natural buffering of
rainwater and increased carbon storage (instead of
feared carbon emissions) are expected too. For cities, in
particular, that extra water storage capacity is an
interesting and much-needed advantage. Furthermore,
urban food forests are a fantastic way to educate the
general public about the food forest concept.
What will the scientists investigate in the coming years?
They will measure the amounts of various substances in
the soil, such as carbon or fatty acids that say
something about the composition of soil bacterial and
fungal communities. They will also count nematode
species and all other kinds of soil life. Thanks to this
research, the food forests will not only yield a lot of fruit
but also vital knowledge about the soil.

The small food forest on the

grounds of the Netherlands
Institute of Ecology (NIOO-
KNAW) also serves as an
outdoor canteen in the
corona era.

The Amsterdam food forest Monitoring the biodiversity

lies on the city fringe. in a food forest on the edge
of Amsterdam.

A matter
of vital
soil!
Near the city of Almere a excellent chance for the soil
former agricultural field is ecologists to follow the
being transformed in a food changes in the soil from the
forest. This forms an start.

Not only data and This research comes with a

knowledge is harvested by fruity bonus, such as black
the food-forest scientists. currants.

118
From the soil
to the sky
BIODIVERCITY
A matter
of vital
soil!
Take a breath. You are now, literally, inhaling a bit of
biodiversity. There are many ways to understand our
connection with our environment, and breathing is just
one of them. But what is our environment? The street
we live in, the city, the region? How deep into the
ground and how high into the sky? The environment is
a continuum, connected in all possible directions. The
connection is there for everyone, everywhere, but it is
perhaps easier to see if you stand 325 metres above the
Amazon rainforest at the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory.
There, a Brazilian-German project wants to understand
how the continuum of our living environment works.
What processes occur in the different layers of this
Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel Kopregel artikel
How the landscape 119
influences the air you
breathe
Sylvia Mota de Oliveira
continuum: soil, forest floor, forest understory, forest
canopy and atmospheric boundary layer? Recently
published studies have shown that the landscape – be it
a forest, agricultural land or a city – modifies the air you
breathe. The explanation behind this relationship has a
name that became very popular during the COVID-19
pandemic: aerosols.
Aerosols are fine particles suspended in the air. They can
be released from natural sources, such as sea salt and
volcanic ash, or human-made sources, such as the soot
from a car exhaust. Living organisms also release
aerosols that may impact the climate, human health and
the world economy. These so-called biological aerosols,
such as pollen or fungi spores, include allergenic
microorganisms that cause respiratory diseases and
plant pathogens that damage agricultural crops.
Research into biological aerosols is therefore relevant the aerosol composition in the Amazon is that the
for society. In this research, we want to know what gets percentage of Basidiomycota (an entire division of
lifted up in the air and to which species it belongs, as fungi) reaches 30%, while it does not exceed 2% in
then we can determine the potential effects of these studies performed in human-made landscapes. In
aerosols. On top of that, we want to compare this summary, far more allergens and pathogens are present
information across different landscapes, from a highly in human-made landscapes than pristine landscapes,
modified urban landscape to a pristine environment, and the biodiversity is also much lower. Such a
like a rainforest. comparison is relevant because there is growing
evidence that natural environments could improve
We started investigating biological aerosols in the human health. The “biodiversity hypothesis” of a
Amazon rainforest at a location surrounded by forest Swedish research team led by Dr Leena von Hertzen
and more than 150 kilometres away from any town or states that a decrease in the local diversity of the
city. We took air samples at different times and used environmental microbiota increases the occurrence of
DNA analysis techniques to investigate which fungal immune problems and inflammatory diseases. In other
spores, plant spores and pollen were present at 325 words: the invisible biodiversity that we breathe in
meters above the forest. every day – and peaks in low impacted areas as central
Amazonia – may actually train our immune systems.
That was not an easy puzzle to solve. Many Amazonian The research in the Amazon is still taking place, and
species cannot be identified because they are not yet in many questions need to be answered. Yet, one thing is
a DNA database, and sometimes, a DNA match pointed clear already: biodiversity forms a bridge between
to more than one species. However, despite these landscape organisation and human health.
difficulties, we managed to get a good picture of how
the soil, forest and sky in the Amazon region interact.
We found a staggering number of 1409 different DNA
sequences that point to different species in the
atmosphere above the forest: 1202 fungi and 207 plants.
But the identity of these species and their role in nature
says much more than the numbers. That reveals how
much the quality of the air is linked to the landscape. In
the Amazon, we recorded a vast diversity of fungi
species that feed on dead wood, and that is essential for
nutrient cycling. A similar study of the air in Northern
Italy, however, showed that the most frequent and
widely distributed species of fungi were well-known
plant and animal pathogens that cause allergies in Different views of the 325m
humans (Cladosporium, Alternaria, Botrytis and ATTO tower, in the Uatumã
Sustainable Development
Periconia, among others). Another striking feature of Reserve, Amazonia, Brazil.
 Kopregel Hoofdstuk­titel Kopregel artikel

120
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 Credits
Concept
122 Joyce van den Berg, Hans van der Made
Editorial board and coordination
Joyce van den Berg, Hans van der Made,
Ingrid Oosterheerd, Marco Roos,
Alessandra Riccetti and Johan van Zoest
Text
Joyce van den Berg, Sofia Gomes, Gerard Korthals,
Hans van der Made, Vincent Merckx, Sylvia Mota de
Oliviera, Jorinde Nuytinck, Ingrid Oosterheerd,
Froukje Rienks, Marco Roos, Menno Schilthuizen,
Michael Stech, Renée Zijlmans and Johan van Zoest
Tekst editing and English translation
NST Science
Design of graphics
Louis van Amerongen, Alicia Sanchez Fonseca,
Constanza Gomez Guzman, Jean Carlos Ocampo
Cantillo, Rosita Hemelaar, Alessandra Riccetti,
Chong Yao, Lujia Zhu and Marina Lopes Vasarini
Acknowledgements
City of Amsterdam: Louis van Amerongen,
Patrick van Beveren, Paco Bunnik, Rigina Christiaans,
Sabine Gimbrère, Rosita Hemelaar, Dagmar Keim,
Marloes Michels, Caroline Nevejan, Thijs Vlaar,
Josja van der Veer, Nicole Voulon and
Annemiek Wiersma
Artis: Jan de Jong, Ruben Janssen and Ton Hilhorst
Het Nieuwe Instituut: Francine van Westeren and
BIODIVERCITY Ellen Zoete
Inside Outside: Petra Blaisse, Jana Crepon and
Aura Luz Melis
Naturalis Biodiversity Center: Bart Braun,
Ate-alma Cohen, Bouchra Filali, Caroline van
Impelen and Maaike van de Kamp-Romijn
Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW):
Wietse de Boer, Wim van der Putten,
Isabelle van der Zande
Photo editors
Joyce van den Berg, Hans van der Made,
Ingrid Oosterheerd, Alessandra Riccetti and
Joseph Plateau grafisch ontwerpers
Design
Joseph Plateau grafisch ontwerpers
Printing
Antilope De Bie, Belgium
Publisher
Marcel Witvoet, nai010 publishers
PRINTED AND BOUND IN BELGIUM
ISBN 978-94-6208-656-2
NUR 648, 956
BISAC ARC018000, ARC010000
A matter Also available as e-book (PDF)
of vital ISBN 978-94-6208-677-7
soil! www.nai010.com
© 2021 authors, nai010 publishers, Rotterdam.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
For works of visual artists affiliated with a CISAC organisation
the copyrights have been settled with Pictoright in Amsterdam.
© 2017, c/o Pictoright Amsterdam.
Although every effort was made to find the copyright holders
for the illustrations used, it has not been possible to trace
them all. Interested parties are requested to contact nai010
publishers, Korte Hoogstraat 31, 3011 GK Rotterdam, the
Netherlands, info@nai010.com
nai010 publishers is an internationally orientated publisher
specialised in developing, producing and distributing books
in the fields of architecture, urbanism, art and design.
nai010 books are available internationally at selected
bookstores and from the following distribution partners:
North, Central and South America - Artbook | D.A.P., New
York, USA, dap@dapinc.com; Rest of the world - Idea Books,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, idea@ideabooks.nl
For general questions, please contact nai010 publishers
directly at sales@nai010.com or visit our website www.nai010.
com for further information.
Illustration credits
Artis 110-110 (map); Joyce van der Berg 63, 93;
Nico Bick 4-9 (Survivors Amsterdam), 87; Tijmen
Bijker/NIOO-KNAW 41; Marjolijn Boterenbrood 10,
11; Sebastian Brill 119m; chanus/Shutterstock
42m; Achim Edtbauer/MPI-C 102; NicoElNino/
Shutterstock 12; J. Lokrantz/Azote based on
Steffen et al. 2015 15; Bob Hendrikx - Loop Biotech
114, 115; Theodoor Heijerman 38-39, 83, 106, 107;
Freddy ten Hooven/NIOO-KNAW 104, 105t; iStock/
Getty Images Plus/Leopardinatree 37mr; iStock/
Getty Images Plus/Frans Willem Blok 79b; Perro
de Jong/NIOO-KNAW 40, 66b, 106; Kore/
Shutterstock 42b; Martin Kunz/MPI-C 117; Vincent
Merckx 108, 109; Sylvia Mota de Oliveira 118;
Naturalis Biodiversty Center/Vincent Merckx 109;
Jorinde Nuytinck 43, 44, 45; Alphons Nieuwenhuis
58; Ingrid Oosterheerd 30, 34, 42, 53, 62, 68, 79t,
80, 81, 94, 100t, 101t, 110, 111, 121; Fabrice Ottburg
105b; Lena Philip/Shutterstock cover (soil);
Report, Field indicators of Hydric Soils in the United
States. A Guide for Identifying and Delineating
Hydric Soils, Version 8.2. 2018, from from United
States Department of Agriculture, natural
Resources Conservartion Service, in cooperation
with the National Technical Committee for Hydric
Soils 33; Froukje Rienks/NIOO-KNAW 107, 117t;
Cristina Rotoni/NIOO-KNAW 41; Marcelo
Sandoval-Denis/Westerdijk Fungal; biodiversity
Institute 41; Jorge Saturno/MPI-C 119t; Nadine
Schiller 102bl; Jürgen Schoner 3, SDGNederland/
Sustainable Development Goals 20; Sama Shiva/
NIOO-KNAW 41; Michael Stech 36, 37t, bl; Taxon
Expeditions 28, 29; Marina Vasarini Lopes 66t;
Ciska Veen/NIOO-KNAW 116tl; Wikimedia
Commons/Petr Filippov 78; Isabelle van der
Zanden/NIOO-KNAW 117b,
116-117m, 116bl
Indication location on page: t = top, m= middle,
b= bottom, l = left, r = right
Soil organisms: classification by size, page 38-39
Theodoor Heijerman; Margarita Hernandez
Restrepo; Lingwei Hou; Perro de Jong/NIOO-
KNAW; Ron de Goede/WUR Department of Soil
Quality; Micropia, Ingrid Oosterheerd; Froukje
Rienks/NIOO-KNAW; Cristina Rotoni/NIOO-KNAW;
Marcelo Sandoval-Denis/Westerdijk Fungal
Biodiversity Institute, Sama Shiva/NIOO-KNAW;
K. Spoelstra/NIOO-KNAW; Xuwei Wang;
Westerdijk Institute/Jan Dijksterhuis;
Wikimedia Commons: AJC1, Alvesgaspar,
Peter Andrus, Richard Barts, Luis Miguel Bugallo,
Sánchez, Courtesy, Erbe, Christopher Pooley,
CSIRO, Deuterostome, Frank Fox, Khymun. O,
Leonhard Lenz, Maulucioni, Melissa McMaster
(Memphis), Gille San Martin, Pudding4brains,
E. Schokraie, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A,
Grohme MA, Hengheer S (et al.) Comparative
proreome anlysis of Milesium tardigradum in early
embryonic state versus adults in active and
anhudrobiotic stat. PLoS ONE 7(9): e45682 (2012),
Rvan James Shymko, Mich E. Talbot, Tranelius,
Uoaei1, Vengolis, Mvuijlst, William Wergin and
Richard Sayre. Colorized by Stephen Ausmus (U.S.
department of Agriculture), Tony Wills, Toby Young
Artist impressions, design of graphics
Louis van Amerongen 69 (3D model street)
Jean Carlos Ocampo Cantillo, Constanza Guzman,
Rosita Hemelaar, Marina Vasarini Lopes and Lujia
Zhu 84-86, 88-92, 95-97 (axo drawings measures)
Jean Carlos Ocampo Cantillo 22-23 (graphic: Facts
and figures), 53 (graphic: soil profiles), 54-55
(graphic: Time, mass and scale/photos platform
Publieke Dienstverlening Op de Kaart (PDOK).
Constanza Guzman 32 (graphic: formation soil),
69 (graphic: soil inzooms below 3D street model),
72-75 (graphic: Street profile Yesterday/Tomorrow)
Alicia Sanchez Fonseca 56-57 (graphic: Seven
trees of Amsterdam)
Alessandra Riccetti cover inside (Timeline), 24-25
(graphic: Soil threatening habits: global/re­gional),
70-71 (graphic: Soil threatening habits: city)
Marina Vasarini Lopes 65 (impression of proposed
street profile Hogehilweg Amsterdam)
Chong Yao cover inside (Timeline), 64 (graphic:
6 steps IOOR), 67 (artist impression street
Hogehilweg IOOR), 112-113 (two graphics:
Mycorrhizal networks 25 trees in Artis)
Lujia Zhu 46-51 (graphics: Ecological cycli,
foodweb and mycorrhizal network)
16 pages soil animals
Spread throughout the publication are 8 thin
pages with 16 images of soil animals.
Photos taken by Theodoor Heijerman;
Shutterstock: Nicolay Antonov, Eric Isselee,
Anan Kaewkhammul, Protasov AN
Red-breasted carrion beetle / Oiceoptoma thoracicum

Common neobisid / Neobisium carcinoides

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