Ideassonline.org

Soil Bioengeneering

Soil Bioengineering (“slope and river bioengineering stabilization”) is a branch of technical science that studies ways of using living plants, parts of plants or different plant associations as construction material, often in conjunction with nonliving material such as stone, earth, wood, and steel. It seeks to achieve hydro-geological soil consolidation by establishing a blanket of vegetation to retain rainfall, protect soil from wind erosion and provide it with efficient drainage. Bioengineering is primarily concerned with the stabilization and environmental regeneration of slopes and riverbanks subject to landslides. However, it also has an important added value: it respects the landscape and the ecosystem.

By Alessandro Petrone and Federico Preti