https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/8840
Authored by Isotta Cortesi, Laura Valeria Ferretti, and Federica Morgia, the research paper “Soil and Water as Resources: How Landscape Architecture Reclaims Hydric Contaminated Soil for Public Uses in Urban Settlements” (published in Sustainability, 2020) articulates a crucial conceptual pivot within contemporary spatial practice. The authors contend that contaminated topographies and polluted or storm-swollen waters, historically pathologized as urban hazards or industrial waste, must be re-framed as foundational resources for regenerating sustainable, public-facing ecosystems in dense urban settlements.
Central to this thesis is the deployment of botanical remediation systems, specifically highlighting aquatic flora such as Lemna (duckweed) to extract domestic and industrial contaminants. The study foregrounds the pioneering bio-engineering and land art interventions of Viet Ngo, exemplified by his monumental water purification infrastructure at Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, and the Molgora River in Italy as canonical paradigms where utilitarian remediation merges seamlessly with aesthetic spatial design.
Ultimately, the authors position landscape architecture as a reconciliatory discipline bridging urban sprawl with heavily exploited natural systems. By synthesizing ecological engineering with rigorous spatial aesthetics, this approach not only mitigates toxic contamination and manages hydrological vulnerabilities, but also reclaims degraded environments for the public realm, transforming them into vibrant civic spaces anchored in ecological awareness and environmental ethics.