IMAGINE-SOIL

IMAGINE-SOIL: Communicating Soil Futures with Citizens and Communities

Location of activities and scope

Ulla River basin, Galicia, Spain, Local

Strand 1 – Innovative communication campaigns

 

Executive Summary

IMAGINE-SOIL is an innovative communication campaign to raise awareness of soil health in the Ulla River basin, a Natura 2000 site threatened by erosion and organic matter loss. The project combines science, digital art, and citizen participation to make soil challenges visible and relatable. A mobile/web app will allow citizens to upload soil photos and generate AI-based visualizations of ecosystem futures, while creative workshops in schools will directly engage around 2.000 students. Outreach through traditional media and social networks is expected to reach more than 150.000 people, generating about 800.000 impressions with repeated exposure. A final festival will showcase citizen contributions, immersive installations, and community art. Expected outcomes include 1.000+ citizen contributions, 5.000 AI visualizations, and a replicable guide “Imagine Your Soil”, leaving a lasting cultural and educational impact while amplifying the EU Soil Mission in Europe.

Motivation Statement

Soil is a dynamic, vital ecosystem, home to countless organisms, from earthworms to microbes, that support plant life. It’s crucial for storing water and nutrients, generating oxygen, filtering water, and acting as a carbon sink to protect the climate.

A core educational goal is to highlight the soil’s fragility: it takes centuries to form but can be quickly destroyed by erosion, overexploitation, or pollution. Proper soil management is essential for our existence.

For us, soil is a central pillar of the Ulla region’s heritage and a foundation for its conservation strategy, a vital resource, the matrix supporting all life, essential for forests; part of Ecological Ethics respecting soil through sustainable use and fighting degradation; and an environmental pedagogy tool used in workshops, inspiring environmental action.

In short, we see soil as a complex, fragile ecosystem demanding knowledge, respect, and direct action for long-term conservation.

Sub-project objectives

1. Building a New Language for Soil (Awareness)
We aim to make soil health a mainstream conversation by reaching over 150.000 people through a high-impact multichannel campaign. By blending creative storytelling with a dedicated digital gallery of “soil futures,” we are creating a universal toolkit that moves soil from a technical topic to a central element of daily life.
2. Digitizing the Invisible (Citizen Engagement)
Through our AI-powered collaborative app, we empower citizens to become active observers. Our goal is to transform real-world soil observations into AI-driven ecosystem visualizations. This process does more than create digital assets; it builds an emotional bridge between the user and the future of their land, making the consequences of soil health tangible and visual.
3. Cultivating the Next Generation (Mobilization)
We are bringing soil science to life in the classroom through intensive, hands-on workshops involving participants across the school system. By using murals, community art, and our “Creative Classroom” methodology, we aren’t just teaching facts, we are measuring a fundamental shift in soil literacy and environmental perception among the youth.
4. A Landmark Celebration of Land (Public Impact)
The project culminates in the high-visibility “Imagine Your Soil” Festival, designed to bring together attendees around immersive art and scientific insights. This isn’t just an event; it is a collective milestone designed to foster a sense of local pride and shared responsibility, proving that soil protection is a cultural value, not just a scientific necessity.
5. Creating a Blueprint for Europe (Replicability)
Beyond the 12-month pilot, we are committed to long-term impact through the “Imagine Your Soil” Methodology Guide. This resource will serve as a permanent roadmap for schools, NGOs, and cultural institutions across the continent, ensuring our model is fully transferable and directly amplifies the visibility of the EU Mission: A Soil Deal for Europe.

 

Challenges and how they will be addressed

Challenge 1: Visualizing Invisible Ecosystem Threats
The Ulla basin faces “silent” threats like nutrient depletion and mining pollution that are often invisible to the eye, making it difficult for the public to grasp the urgency of soil health. IMAGINE-SOIL addresses this through the AI-powered engine, which converts real-world soil photos into “Alternative Future” visualizations. By contrasting healthy landscapes with data-driven scenarios of degradation, the project makes invisible ecological risks tangible, emotional, and easy to understand for the general public.
Challenge 2: Translating Complex Science into Public Literacy
Technical data on soil chemistry and biodiversity is often too complex to engage schools and non-experts, creating a barrier between scientific research and social action. This is addressed by AMABUL’s “Creative Classroom”, which transforms dry theory into hands-on lived experiences. By using soil as a natural pigment for murals and building small-scale ecosystem models, the project turns abstract science into a sensory, artistic activity that fosters intuitive learning and long-term soil literacy.
Challenge 3: Maximizing Reach Across Diverse and Fragmented Audiences
Reaching a meaningful percentage of the Ulla basin’s population is a significant hurdle, as soil health is often perceived as a “hidden” technical issue by those
outside the scientific community. To overcome this, the project implements a Multichannel Outreach Strategy led by VOGA, designed to achieve a massive impact through social media, press, and digital channels. By adapting the tone from gamified metaphors for schools to practical, traditional advice for rural associations, the campaign breaks through “information silos”. This strategy culminates in the high-visibility “Imagine Your Soil” Festival, bringing together the community to ensure that the project’s message is not only seen but becomes a shared cultural conversation across the entire territory.
Challenge 4: Scaling Local Pilots to European Relevance
There is a risk that a project focused solely on the Ulla basin may be perceived as too localized to benefit the wider EU Soil Mission. The consortium addresses this through “Standardized Replicability,” designing all tools, from the AI app to the workshop packs, as modular blueprints. By documenting the methodology in a Replication Guide, the project ensures that the Ulla model can be easily adapted by other European regions, providing a scalable roadmap for the “A Soil Deal for Europe” mission.
Challenge 5: Ensuring Digital Safety and Universal Inclusion
Using AI and mobile apps across diverse age groups and rural populations raises concerns about data privacy and the “digital divide” for those with less technical experience. The project addresses this through an “Ethics by Design” framework, creating an anonymous, multilingual app that requires minimal data. By prioritizing accessibility features and simple user interfaces, the project ensures that its technology acts as an inclusive social asset that empowers all citizens while strictly adhering to GDPR standards.

Expected outcomes

1. Significant Increase in Soil Literacy
The project will transform soil from an “invisible” technical subject into a relatable cultural narrative. By combining scientific accuracy with communication strategy, the outcome will be a measurable shift in knowledge. At least 70% of participants in workshops and events are expected to demonstrate improved soil literacy, moving beyond abstract concepts to understand soil’s vital role in food security, water quality, and climate action.
2. Enhanced Emotional Connection through Digital Innovation
A key outcome is the shift in how citizens perceives their land. Through the collaborative app, users will generate AI-driven visualizations based on their own soil photos. These “Alternative Futures” will act as a powerful emotional bridge, allowing citizens to witness the potential for both degradation and recovery. This visual engagement turns passive awareness into a personal connection with the Ulla basin’s environmental health.
3. Mobilization of the “Next Generation” and Local Communities
The project will result in a highly engaged network of active knowledge “multipliers”. By involving at least 2.500 students from 20 schools and various rural associations in hands-on workshops, the outcome is the creation of tangible community assets, such as murals, soil-pigment artworks, and local testimonies. This fosters a lasting culture of stewardship and collective pride in protecting the Natura 2000 habitats of the Ulla.
4. Amplified Visibility for the EU Soil Mission
IMAGINE-SOIL will serve as a high-impact local amplifier for the EU Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”. Through a multichannel campaign reaching 150.000 people and a culminating festival, the project will make European soil priorities visible and relevant at the community level. The outcome is a strengthened legitimacy for the Mission, demonstrating how local actions contribute to continental climate and biodiversity goals.
5. Long-Term Replicability and Methodological Legacy
The project’s impact will extend far beyond its 12-month duration. A primary outcome is the publication of the “Imagine Your Soil” Replication Guide, a step-by-step manual documenting the methodology, narratives, and metrics used. This ensures that the campaign model is fully transferable, providing NGOs, schools, and municipalities across Europe with a proven blueprint to launch their own soil awareness initiatives.

Meet the Project Team

Tesla Technologies

Tesla is a technology SME and creative studio specializing in the intersection of artificial intelligence, extended reality, and digital art. Serving as the project’s digital backbone, this multidisciplinary team of software engineers, digital artists, and creative coders transforms complex soil science into captivating visual narratives and immersive installations. With a specialized track record in digitizing cultural identity and territorial heritage, Tesla leverages its expertise to develop the AI-driven mobile app and interactive tools that turn citizen science into an inclusive social asset. Their dual role as a tech provider and creative actor ensures that the campaign’s digital infrastructure is not only technically robust and data-driven but also artistically engaging.

Contact – Roberto Pérez

VOGA

VOGA is a self-employed professional specializing in strategic marketing, project management, and multi-channel communication. Acting as the central storyteller for the project, this expert bridge-builder translates complex technical and ecological concepts into inspiring, accessible narratives designed to reach citizens, schools, and decision-makers alike. With a strong focus on community engagement and stakeholder outreach, VOGA coordinates the project’s pulse to ensure that outreach activities are both effective and highly visible.

Contact – Maximino Vázquez

AMABUL

AMABUL is an environmental NGO with deep expertise in soil science, ecological restoration, and environmental education. Serving as the scientific backbone of the project, the organization operates a specialized creative classroom dedicated to science communication and public engagement. Through the development of participatory workshops and artistic activities, AMABUL’s team of scientists and educators ensures the technical accuracy of all soil-related content. Their work focuses on bridging the gap between complex research and the community, delivering hands-on experiences that transform theoretical soil knowledge into tangible, lived experiences for citizens.

Contact – Rubén Villasenín