Soils Building Health

Welcome to Soils Building Health, the NYC Urban Soils Institute's 11th Annual Urban Soils Symposium. Events will occur over two days. 

Day 1: Research & Perspectives

Friday, October 16, 2026 from 9:30 am - 5:30 pm at the Fordham School of Law, located at 140 W 62nd St., New York, NY. Please purchase a ticket for this event.

Day 2: Exhibitions, Artist Talks & Workshops

Saturday, October 17, 2026 from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm at Swale House (Nolan Park 6B) Governors Island. All Saturday events are free and open to the public. Stay tuned for special programming that will require an RSVP, including the People’s Garden ECO-system Tour, an environmental microbiome survey and other soil-related programs.

The full agenda will be posted soon.

The theme this year is Soils Building Health. It explores how discovering and incorporating soil-based ecological connections within elements of daily life and urban infrastructure reinvigorates our relationship with the planet's metabolism. By acknowledging the role of soils as one of the key raw materials embodied within living systems, we can understand soils’ beneficial influence on our ordinary interactions and environment. The adoption of a whole-ecosystem approach towards the built landscape unlocks opportunities to rethink food systems, reclaim food sovereignty, and investigate soils’ immuno-protective microbiome in strengthening the health of people, their environments, and their communities.

The Friday symposium is structured as a continuous experience that evolves across three sessions: Soils Reclaim, ‘To Your Health’, and Soilscape.

Soils Reclaim:‍ ‍Finding and reintegrating the foundation of terrestrial life within the city itself by demonstrating the necessity of soils and waste reclamation as a central component of urban metabolism repair. 

“To your health”:‍ Studies and stories detailing how building back soils in turn builds back ‘health’ within individuals, and across communities, economies, environments, and food systems.

Soilscape:‍ Tying it all together as we explore various ways to incorporate soil-based systems into our infrastructure and fabric of daily life and thought; to reinvigorate “community” at every scale.

In the last session, we seek to collectively co-develop our ideas by delving deeper into the concept of whole ecosystems serving as an ‘operating system’ behind immune function, health, community and connection. Presenters and exhibitors will help us uncover Nature’s ‘recipes’ as solutions to health and quality of life,

On Saturday, we are excited to host exhibition and workshops at SWALE House on Governors Island for Saturday, October 17, 2026 in conjunction with our 11th Annual Symposium! This includes the Indexical Earths Art Exhibition, Soil Microbe DNA Extraction Workshop, and People's Eco-SYSTEM Exploration.

You can find the latest information and growing list of contributors at our symposium webpage: Symposium 2026 — Urban Soils Institute