Fertile City

Fertile City is an architectural project that demonstrates how architecture can act as a catalyst for soil regeneration in fragile dryland ecosystems. It addresses the research question: How can erosion-driven design and the 3D printing of structures made with local soil and organic additives help mitigate desertification in the western Negev?

Desertification is a process in which soil erodes and gradually loses its fertility, biological potential, and capacity to function as habitat. It threatens entire ecosystems and is expected to expand as climate change and poor land management intensify. At the same time, human demand for cities and settlements continues to grow, meaning that urban environments will soon have to coexist with decertifying landscapes. This creates an urgent need for new architectural models capable of confronting this conflict.

The intervention site is located along the Besor stream, a major drainage basin with high ecological value in the western Negev, where signs of wind and flood erosion are already visible. The choice of site is based on two motives: first, to rehabilitate an ecologically sensitive area through design that responds to local erosion patterns; second, to create a prototype for a city that can both meet human needs (housing, commerce, employment, etc.) and regenerate the soil on which it is built.

The project introduces the concept of “Restorative Architecture”- a spatial approach that combines soil rehabilitation with architectural programming. Within this framework, two typologies are proposed:

1.         Water retention suburbs – designed to slow down flood-induced erosion.
2.         Wind diffusing city – aimed at mitigating wind erosion.

Both rely on a restorative design toolbox composed of modular elements and 3D-printed components made from local soil, ensuring the lowest possible environmental footprint. In this way, architecture shifts from being a driver of ecological degradation to becoming an active agent of regeneration, capable of interrupting the feedback loop of desertification and proposing a new urban model: the Fertile City.