From Recognition to Practice: Integrating Ecocentric Values in Urban Soil Management

Urban soils are central to ecological functioning and urban resilience and have value not only for the services they provide to people but also for their intrinsic ecological worth. However, this ecocentric dimension remains underrepresented in urban sustainability research and practice. This study examines how urban soil management can be transformed to incorporate ecocentric values of nature by analysing both the practices through which this transformation can be achieved and the barriers that stand in the way. Based on a survey of 80 urban practitioners conducted in 2023, the study explores stakeholder roles, value orientations, soil indicators, regenerative practices, and perceived barriers to implementation. The results show that nearly all respondents recognised at least one explicit value of urban soil (95%), and a majority (60%) attributed several values at once, with future and intrinsic values each recognised by a substantial share of practitioners (65% and 50%, respectively), suggesting that ecocentric framings are present among a substantial share of practitioners. Whether this recognition translates into practice is more limited: about half of the respondents (51%) consider soil properties in their professional practices. Soil assessment is predominantly based on physical and chemical indicators, with biological indicators receiving comparatively little attention. The central empirical finding of this study is a pronounced awareness–action gap specific to soil regeneration: 96% of respondents recognise the importance of soil regeneration, yet only 40% report implementing regenerative practices. Regeneration, understood here as the restoration of biological activity and natural soil processes, is conceptually located towards the ecocentric pole of an anthropocentric–ecocentric continuum, since it engages with soil as a living system with intrinsic value rather than as a substrate for human use. Respondents identify knowledge gaps, fragmented governance, and financial constraints as key barriers to wider adoption, which indicates that the principal barriers are structural and institutional in nature; a lack of practitioner commitment does not appear to be the issue. Embedding ecocentric values in everyday practice will require integrating biological indicators into standard soil assessments, strengthening knowledge exchange through living labs and practitioner-oriented tools, and extending soil health targets across the policy, procurement, and funding mechanisms that govern urban development.