Grenoble

Balancing urban growth with ecological resilience.

Grenoble-Alpes Métropole is located in southeastern France, nestled in a valley surrounded by the Alps. It encompasses 49 municipalities and is home to over 450,000 residents. This area combines a rich industrial heritage with a strong reputation for innovation, education, and environmental commitment. Physically, the territory includes a unique combination of dense urban centers, agricultural lowlands, forested hills, and mountainous natural parks, which creates a mosaic of landscapes with distinct soil characteristics and functions. Its diverse terrain and proximity to major natural reserves make it both a cultural and ecological crossroads. A unique fact about the region is its status as a "laboratory" for environmental transition - it was the European Green Capital in 2022 and is well known for pioneering sustainable urban planning.

Soil and Planning Challenges

Grenoble-Alpes Métropole is experiencing the same land pressures seen across much of Europe: urban sprawl, habitat fragmentation, and soil degradation due to construction, infrastructure development, and intensive land use. Soil sealing and compaction are common in peri-urban and commercial areas, while agricultural soils face risks of erosion and conversion. These trends threaten the ecological, agricultural, and climate-regulating functions of soils.

Moreover, while the region is environmentally ambitious, integrating soil data and soil health into spatial planning frameworks remains a complex task. Local planning tools like the PLUi (intercommunal land use plan) often lack detailed or accessible soil information, limiting the capacity of planners to make informed, soil-sensitive decisions.

Soil and Planning Opportunities

The territory offers major opportunities for innovation in soil governance. Grenoble-Alpes Métropole is actively pursuing France’s national goal of “Zéro Artificialisation Nette” (ZAN), aiming to halt net land consumption by 2050. This political commitment opens the door for systemic change in how soils are valued and managed across urban, peri-urban, and rural zones.

The Métropole has already launched several complementary initiatives—such as a biodiversity observatory and a participatory urban nature strategy—which can be leveraged to better integrate soil knowledge into land use planning. There is growing public and institutional interest in multifunctional land uses, sustainable densification, nature-based solutions, and the restoration of degraded or underused land.

Ambition for the SPADES project

As a pilot in the SPADES project, Grenoble-Alpes Métropole aims to operationalize soil intelligence in local planning. The project will support the revision of key documents like the Schéma de Cohérence Territoriale (SCoT) and PLUi to better reflect soil functions, land-use impacts, and sustainability criteria. The Métropole will also work toward developing a local soil observatory and improving access to soil data for planners and citizens alike.
SPADES will be carried out in partnership with local organizations such as the Chamber of Agriculture of Isère, AURG (local urban agency), the Region and the province, SAFER (land-use and rural property agency) and other planning institutions. Collaboration with academic institutions and local environmental NGOs will further ensure scientific rigor and broad community engagement.
Through SPADES, Grenoble-Alpes Métropole seeks to become a model for territorial planning that is not only climate- and biodiversity-conscious, but truly soil-smart.

Image by Municipality of Grenoble

Aerial view of Grenoble.