**3. Key to understanding, the soil as a living matter**

The soil is an environmental matrix, formed by a highly variable mixture of minerals, organic matter, water, gas and microorganisms that interact with each other [2–4].

Richter [26] describes the soil as: 'the biomantle of unconsolidated material that makes life possible on planet Earth'. According to the researcher, soil is the hidden layer supporting our daily life. It is a great and extensive connective tissue, through which environmental networks spread and allow us to live our daily life as we imagine it today. The natural and the built environment are anchored to the ground through very complex relationships. The surface layer and the subsoil exchange matter, energy and information, in a sort of osmotic relation [27].

Soil-forming processes include atmospheric deposition of water, dust and solutes, mineral weathering, organic decomposition, pedoturbation, plant rooting, redox reactions, fire effects, chemical leaching and erosion. The combination of all these agents contributes to produce soil organic matter, organo-mineral complexes, secondary minerals, aggregates, clay skins, complex surface areas, soil pans and pore networks [26]. Many substances are stored, filtered and transformed in the soil including water, nutrients and carbon. Soil also provides a habitat for soil biota, and the preservation of its biodiversity is essential for maintaining processes and functions—like nutrient cycling, decomposition and bioturbation—thereby for maintaining a flow of ecosystem services7 [1, 28, 29].

In this regard, in ecology, soil is considered the central processing unit of the Earth's environment [30].8

With humanity being nowadays the Earth's primary geomorphic agent, the quality of human life and the earth's environment have never been more related to soil management than it does today<sup>9</sup> [19, 27, 28, 33].

<sup>7</sup> Some ecosystem services [29] provided by soils [1, 28] include producing adequate quantities of nutritious and safe food, feed, fiber and other biomass for industries; storing and purifying water, regulating flows, recharging aquifers and reducing the impact of droughts and floods, thereby helping adaptation to climate change; capturing carbon from the atmosphere and reducing emission of greenhouse gases from soils, thereby contributing to climate mitigation; nutrient cycling supporting crop productivity and reducing contamination; preserving and protecting biodiversity by preserving habitats both above and within the soil; supporting the quality of our landscapes and greening of our towns and cities. <sup>8</sup> On the institutional level, the definition of the soil is not univocal [31, 32]. In the following pages we will talk about soil, meaning the thin porous and biologically active medium that represents 'the top layer of the earth's crust, formed by mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms. It is the interface between earth, air and water and hosts most of the biosphere.' [32], that can sustain the life of plants, characterized by its own flora and fauna and by a particular water economy. <sup>9</sup> The importance of soil protection is now recognized in international policy programs such as AGENDA 2030, (SDGs ONU, 2015) or international scientific report, such as the Special Report on Climate Change and Land drafted by IPCC [19], the Report of the Mission Board for Soil health and food [24] drawn up by the EU [20] and FAO's report [33].

*Moving Horizon, Design Praxis through Soil Transformation: A Landscape Manifesto DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110176*

The President of the European Society for Soil Conservation, José Luis Rubio, thus clarifies the importance of soil in relation to major global challenges, echoing that 'Soil is a crucial link between global environmental problems such as climate change, water management and biodiversity loss' [34].

The new challenge facing soil science is how to create a policy to address its health10 embracing the whole system instead of single soil properties or processes [1, 31]. As first conclusion, the value of soil as an element of planning and design [21, 22]11 lies in handling live and dynamic physical matter.

Soil is the vibrant matter that we interpret and draw up. Soil is alive and in continuous exchange. On very distant time horizons the soil itself compose and recompose its history and so ours.

### **4. The moving horizons approach**

Starting from the proved correspondence between the soil transformation and landscape evolution, the approach named moving horizons has been traced for


The moving horizon approach implicitly criticizes traditional landscape practice's seemingly uncritical reproduction of stereotypical 'aestheticized' images.12 It is not a question of rejecting or abandoning a formal and compositional language, but rather of encouraging a view that favors investigation and observation of reality in its different stratifications offered by embedding the soil as a palimpsest in 'reading' and 'writing' the landscape (**Figures 6**–**8**) [25].

The proposed approach is not a mere conceptual overcoming in a speculative sphere. It is rather presented as the attempt to concretely express the linkage between fixity and mutability features, capable of transcending the idea of still image. The horizon here is the line of the visible, a recognizable layer of soil and a time-framed process.

<sup>10</sup> The soil health is considered as the most important, functional characteristic of any soil ecosystem service. The soil unhealth expresses its degradation.

<sup>11</sup> As evidenced by Girot on one hand 'This lack of understanding about terrain is quite typical of our modern age and has been detrimental to landscape in general, where it is always assumed that a site can be made flat to assume a program' [22]. On the other hand, Girot continues 'Understanding territorial continuity physically helps to better identify qualitative priorities in a landscape' [22].

<sup>12</sup> Over time the landscape appreciation has evolved. As we have seen through several examples from Corner [20, 36, 37], Belanger [38], Sjimons [39] and many others, contemporary landscape design approach is moving away from the ancient, controlled and Arcadian image, and it is embracing this new process framework of design.

*Land-Use Management – Recent Advances, New Perspectives, and Applications*

#### **Figure 6.**

*Ravenna pedological units, used at the basis for understanding territorial asset and geo-pedological continuity. Source: Emilia Romagna GIS open source, author re-elaboration.*

#### **Figure 7.**

*Analysis vocation, reference pattern synthesis in south coast area, used as reference for landscape evolution. Source: SECAP Ravenna 2020.*

*Moving Horizon, Design Praxis through Soil Transformation: A Landscape Manifesto DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110176*

#### **Figure 8.**

*Ravenna geomorphological units and isophreatic, used at the basis for understanding territorial underground asset and geomorphological continuity. Source: Emilia Romagna GIS open source, author re-elaboration.*

The thesis methodology can be described as deductive process headed to set a model based on research by design. In this regard, research stand as 'development of new knowledge' and design as a 'counterintuitive thinking' [35].

The aim is to assist designers, scholars, and professionals involved in territorial transformations, as well as decision-makers, by elaborating and visualizing prospective landscape shifting on several scales.
