Conceptual framework situating the role of living labs to improve soil health

The conceptual framework for using the living lab approach to improve soil health according to the 8 objectives defined by the “Mission A Soil Deal for Europe” comprises:
• A model of change outlining the activities to improve soil health and the way to implement them that will accelerate the changes, effective for every soil use
• A map setting the unique and expected features of living labs designed to improve soil health, whatever is the use of soil (generic features)
• 3 tables specifying the specific features of living labs for improving soil health in i) the agroecosystems, ii) urban areas, iii) industrial surroundings/brown fields
• An ideation to anticipate the feature of living labs for soil health in natural areas
• A reflection regarding living labs in forest areas, considered as “mixed”, combining, according to their specific situation, the features from the agroecosystems, natural areas, urban and industrial living labs.
The method to co-design the conceptual framework comprised 4 steps
• The drafting of the model for change and generic features of living labs based on the outcomes of former European projects (CSAs) aiming at setting the scene for improving European soil health, in general, for developing LL for the agroecological transition or improving urban resilience, completed by literature analysis
• The 1st proximal revision of the by the contributors to the task and the identification of expertise lacking to improve the precision of the framework thanks to regular monthly meetings
• The 1st proximal iteration with the members of the consortium, thanks to 2 successive workshops of collective intelligence.
• The 2nd iteration with experts not included or sufficiently represented in the consortium, thanks to a workshop of collective intelligence.
The outcomes are: the conceptual framework synthetised in 6 maps [1 model of change, 1 generic features of LL for soil health, 4 specific features for agroecosystems-urban-industrial-natural areas LL for soil health], background to consider Forest LL for soil health as approaches mixing the specific features of LL for the 4 different land uses, and a kit to implement workshops aiming at collective design for improving soil health.