SOIL > cement, commissioned by the Urban Center of the Municipality of Milan, is a research project undertaken by KoozArch, with the support of Federico Godino, investigating soil consumption and the burden of neglected and abandoned sites in contemporary cities. The research challenges the prevailing notion of “regeneration,” which in Milan—as in many other contexts—has too often been equated with cementification and real-estate speculation.

In contrast, the project identifies a series of privately owned sites—ranging from individual villas to office blocks and industrial complexes—as opportunities to “lighten” the city in response to urgent environmental challenges, foremost among them soil sealing and the urban heat island effect. Reflecting on the need to reconsider the city as a commons, the research advocates for a model of regeneration that places soil and public health, rather than cement, at its core.

Bringing together approximately 80 critical contributions from the fields of science, anthropology, sociology, urbanism, architecture, and the arts—including voices such as soil scientist José Luis Rubio, Italian jurist and magistrate Paolo Maddalena, and spatial practitioner Charlotte Malterre-Barthes—the project also presents a compendium of best-practice case studies on adaptive reuse and urban greening.

The volume is further enriched by a curated selection of artworks by internationally renowned artists including Agnes Denes, Robert Smithson, and Gabriele Basilico, alongside more than 34 cartographies developed by KoozArch, in collaboration with Federico Godino.