Using regenerated soils as a planting substrate in newly implemented green infrastructure is considered a circular economy-oriented strategy alternative to traditional ways of depriving fertile soils from agricultural lands, and/or applying fertilizers and soil conditioners. However, knowledge on the environmental footprint of regenerating and applying such excavation soils on urban brownfields is quite fragmented. This study aims to illustrate a coupled application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and business modelling to a pilot nature-based solution (NbS) implemented on a post-industrial area in Turin, Italy. This NbS is configured as urban afforestation intervention on 1200 sqm where trees and shrubs are planted on a layer of excavation soil augmented with organic compost, zeolite powder and biostimulants, called “New Soil”. The rationale of combining LCA with a strategic management Business Model Canvas (BMC) is to identify the most relevant socioeconomic and environmental synergies and trade-offs associated with the potential upscaling of a New Soil NbS intervention in the market. On one hand, the use of LCA allowed to estimate the detrimental impacts generated along the entire supply-chain of the NbS implementation, as well as its environmental performances in comparison with hypothetical business-us-usual scenarios. On the other hand, results from expert-based surveys formulated with BMC provided the necessary (and complementary) knowledge for prospecting a sustainable pathway associated with the NbS deployment. It was observed that both life cycle upstream and downstream strategies of reducing environmental impacts can be implemented, which may help saving in between ∼70 % to more than 100 % the environmental footprint compared with conventional resource consumption streams. The outcomes of this study are useful to prospect strengths and challenges that land managers need to address for possible deployment of New Soil NbS at large territorial scales.

中文翻译：

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结合生命周期评估和业务建模来估计在城市林业中使用再生土壤作为基于自然的解决方案的可持续性

在新实施的绿色基础设施中使用再生土壤作为种植基质被认为是一种以循环经济为导向的战略，替代了从农田中剥夺肥沃土壤和/或施用化肥和土壤改良剂的传统方法。然而，关于在城市棕地上再生和应用此类挖掘土壤的环境足迹的知识相当分散。本研究旨在说明生命周期评估 (LCA) 和业务建模在意大利都灵后工业区实施的基于自然的试点解决方案 (NbS) 的耦合应用。该 NbS 被配置为 1200 平方米的城市绿化干预，其中树木和灌木种植在一层挖掘土壤上，并添加了有机堆肥、沸石粉和生物刺激剂，称为“新土壤”。将 LCA 与战略管理商业模式画布 (BMC) 相结合的基本原理是确定与新土壤 NbS 干预市场的潜在升级相关的最相关的社会经济和环境协同效应以及权衡。一方面，使用 LCA 可以估计 NbS 实施的整个供应链产生的有害影响，以及与假设的正常业务情景相比的环境绩效。另一方面，与 BMC 共同制定的专家调查结果为探索与 NbS 部署相关的可持续途径提供了必要的（和补充的）知识。据观察，减少环境影响的生命周期上游和下游策略都可以实施，与传统的资源消耗流相比，这可能有助于节省约 70% 至 100% 以上的环境足迹。这项研究的结果有助于预测土地管理者在大面积部署新土壤 NbS 时需要解决的优势和挑战。