ETH Zurich has recently launched a new center for augmented computational design in architecture, civil engineering and construction. 24 professorships, including the NSL chair of Christophe Girot, are joining forces under the name Design++ to develop digitally enhanced design methods which support rational and intuitive decisions during the design Mehr
The reconstruction of the Moroccan city of Agadir in the immediate aftermath of the devastating 1960 earthquake is an exemplary yet much overlooked cross-cultural «contact zone» between local and international rescuers, experts, citizens, organizations, and governments. Studying why the development aid Morocco received was not unconditionally accepted, but Mehr
Colombia has suffered an armed conflict for over 50 years. As a result, more than 1 million children lack access to education with a deficit of 3’000 schools and more than 8 Million civilians displaced from their homes. Growing Schools Prototype is a strategic up-scaling concept for replicating Mehr
Looking at the fields of wheat and orchards of almond blossoms around Senan, Spain, «crisis» is not the first word that comes to mind. The valleys appear tranquil and unchanging. However, like most rural landscapes in Spain, the area has transformed dramatically in the past decades.
Während Siedlungsnetzwerke im vergangenen Jahrhundert wuchsen, schrumpften vor allem Lebensraumnetzwerke. Im neuen SNF-Projekt EMPHASES werden wir die Dynamik dieser Netzwerke im Schweizer Mittelland untersuchen, indem wir historische topographische Karten klassifizieren. Wir werden langfristige Regelmässigkeiten und plötzliche Veränderungen im Wachstum oder in der Schrumpfung dieser Netzwerke analysieren.
Neben dem Lehrstuhl für Planung von Landschaft und Urbanen Systemen (Prof. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey) sind in den letzten Jahren zwei neue Forschungsgruppen im Institut für Raum- und Landschaftsentwicklung entstanden: Raumentwicklung und Stadtpolitik (Prof. David Kaufmann) und Spatial Transformation Laboratories (PD. Dr. Joris Van Wezemael). Ein neues Video stellt die Mehr
Until recently, urban planners and designers gave little consideration to the multifunctional design of green spaces. This was partly because quantitative information about the extent of ecosystem benefits was not readily accessible to landscape professionals. Future Cities Laboratory (FCL), Singapore-ETH Centre has developed an ‘Ecosystem Services-Design Loop’ that Mehr
What is the future of the manifold agricultural territories across the world that support contemporary cities? While discussions on urban sustainability have focused on cities and urban regions, many agricultural territories are equally exposed to rapid and far-reaching urban transformation processes with massive social and environmental implications, opening Mehr
Der Klimawandel verändert die Konditionen für die touristischen Regionen in den Alpen. Zahlreiche Speicherkapazitäten für die Produktion von Schnee wurden in den letzten Jahren gebaut oder sind projektiert. Diese artifiziellen Kleinstseen stellen massive Eingriffe in das sensible Gefüge der alpinen Landschaft dar. Das von den Toggenburg Bergbahnen geförderte Mehr
FCL Global addresses the globally significant challenges of expanding urbanisation and aims to create a better understanding of the relationship between the city and its surrounding region, so as to make city-regions more sustainable. Following FCL Global’s Launch Event on 2 March 2021, FCL Global Co-Director Professor Sacha Mehr
The capital city of Madagascar, Antananarivo, is a high-altitude city. Traditionally, the Merina culture settled on hills dominating rice cultivation in the plains. However, urban growth is changing this landscape fast as city dwellers are more and more settling in the rice plain. This growth also raises the Mehr
Digital technologies have become ubiquitous in current design practice for urban landscapes. Not only does the rapidly increasing extent and resolution of digital data help to study urban systems, but digital technologies have also enabled the inclusion of dynamic conditions in the design process. Understanding these conditions makes Mehr
Das Projekt «Oberstadt4D» unterstützt die Entwicklungsplanung des Badener Quartiers Oberstadt. Dieses soll sich zu einem dichten, urbanen Wohnquartier transformieren. Im Fokus der Untersuchung stehen die künftige bauliche Dichte, die Bebauungs- und Freiraumstruktur sowie das Nutzungsverhältnis von Wohnen und Arbeiten. Mit dem partizipativen Ansatz schliesst es Wissenschaft, Praxis und Mehr
Road owners are increasingly being confronted with the need to optimize highway design for an uncertain future. A recent research project at the Infrastructure Management Chair investigated the use of a real options-based method to evaluate alternative highway designs for a fictive case study based on the A15 Mehr
Online-Tools für die nachbarschaftliche Vernetzung gewinnen weltweit an Popularität, nicht zuletzt seit Covid-19. Das interdisziplinäre SNF-Projekt «Digitale Nachbarschaften – Lokale Online-Räume und ihr Potenzial für soziale Inklusion» nimmt den Einfluss digitaler Netzwerke auf nachbarschaftliche Beziehungen unter die Lupe und identifiziert ihr Potenzial für eine inklusive Nachbarschaft. Damit soll Mehr
Maren Brakebusch ist Gesamtbüroleiterin bei Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten und steht der Geschäftsleitung der vier Bürostandorte in Zürich, London, Berlin und Paris vor. Sie studierte Landschaftsarchitektur an der Leibniz Universität Hannover. Nebst Jury- und Vortragstätigkeiten unterrichtet sie seit 2017 Architekturstudierende an der School Of Architecture in Potsdam. An der ETH Zürich Mehr
Die Idee des Generationenwohnens hat heute hohe Konjunktur. Immer mehr Wohnprojekte setzen sich zum Ziel, das Zusammenleben und die Solidarität zwischen den Generationen zu fördern. Hierzu spielt Kommunikation eine zentrale Rolle und immer wieder gilt es zwischen unterschiedlichen Perspektiven zu vermitteln. Ein neues Forschungsprojekt am ETH Wohnforum nimmt Mehr
Raum+ schafft sachliche Grundlagen zur Übersicht von freien Baulandreserven. Im Kanton Obwalden wurde 2016 eine Ersterhebung durchgeführt. Im Sommer 2020 wurde der gesamte Perimeter aktualisiert. Dabei sind die Gespräche mit den Gemeindevertreter*innen ein zentraler Ansatz der Methode. Die aktualisierten Daten sind auf der Raum+-Plattform aufgeschaltet und stehen den Mehr
Urban scale models are crucial for communicating urban design ideas between various stakeholders, from those directly involved in a project – e.g. client, developer, contractor, municipality – to the broader public. However, our knowledge about this tool is limited. Understanding the shifting role of urban design from the Mehr
Wie gelang es dem Botanischen Garten der Universität Zürich, in einem Land ohne Häfen, Kolonien und fernab der grossen Gartenbauzentren, durch Handel und Austausch neue Pflanzen einzuführen, in der Gartenkultur zu verbreiten und sich als Akteur im globalen Pflanzenhandel des 19. Jahrhunderts zu profilieren? Damit beschäftigt sich die Mehr
In many cities around the world, urban ecosystem services (UES) are under pressure. With a growing urban population, the pressure on UES in the remaining open spaces increases. The planning of new residential areas to accommodate urban dwellers increasingly requires the consideration of UES, especially when taking into Mehr
In a cooperation between the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation (IKG) and the Chair of Planning of Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS) a 3D Decision Support System (3D DSS) has been developed as a communication tool to support the planning of power lines. Now the 3D DSS has Mehr
With a fast population increase and a high housing demand projected to continue in the coming decades, Geneva encounters a profound challenge. Since decades, the city has been spilling over across the national border. Urban growth and land consumption in the Canton and in the French part of Mehr
In case of railway delays, train operating companies update the planned timetable to the actual disturbed conditions to keep offering high quality services to travellers. Passengers face an adjusted service, and corrective actions (a disposition timetable). This communication is often assumed to be perfect, complete and immediate, which Mehr
Green city areas are under pressure. Compact cities aim to reduce land consumption outside cities, but densification puts pressure on urban green areas. Will the existing green areas suffice for the increased demand during pandemics such as COVID-19? Using recent mobility data before and during the pandemic, we Mehr
The potential large-scale transition from working in the office to working at home, is a massive uncertainty related to the future needs of office space in our cities. It is in the face of this uncertainty, that real estate developers must manage their portfolios. The use of the Mehr
Paulownia (Paulowniaceae) is one of the world’s fastest growing trees, originally introduced from Asia to Europe in the 17th century. Its wood is one of the lightest, while keeping high flexibility and stability, making it an ideal wood for regenerative composite constructions (a wood core sandwiched by fiber Mehr
The elective course «Territory of the city» focused on Marseille and Naples, two cities enduring long-term economic and social crises. Like other Mediterranean port cities, they are directly affected by global warming and face increasing threats of natural hazards. The recent creation of the «Métropole Aix-Marseille-Provence» (2016) and the Mehr
How do you teach students during a lockdown, when they are supposed to map a city, meet Albanian students in Tirana, or even interview passersby in Zurich? Easy! They map their quarantines instead, meet online (which interestingly intensified the exchange even more), or simply create an ethnographic documentation Mehr
Over the last four years, the Institute for Transportation Planning and Systems (IVT) at ETH Zurich and CITIES at NYU Abu Dhabi have gathered urban traffic data from over 40 cities worldwide, including London, Tokyo, and Zurich. In total, almost 5 billion vehicles covering a combined time span Mehr
incolab bringt Innovationen in Technik und Prozessdesign der Gruppe Planung von Landschaft und Urbanen Systemen (PLUS) in die Praxis. Das ETH Spin-off denkt die integrierte Landschaftsentwicklung weiter und bewirkt damit einen nachhaltigen Wandel im Umgang mit der Landschaft. Hierzu verbindet incolab bspw. das Assessment von Ökosystemleistungen, Visualisierungstechniken und Mehr
Initiative to form across different institutes a group responding to the diverse challenges and opportunities around daylight, with a multidisciplinary research platform to address questions of better including aspects of daylight in sustainable urban design and innovative energy technologies to support human wellbeing, living comfort, and health. The project offers two Mehr
Could we imagine extending the concept of participation beyond the social and civic aspects of a community? Could we go far enough to include non-humans, landscapes, histories, ecologies and the environment in which a community is rooted? What kind of new constellations would this imply and what possibilities Mehr
Wie definiert man schöne Landschaft, wenn die Schönheit im Auge der Betrachterin und des Betrachters liegt? Was viele gar nicht wissen: Die Schweiz hat sich dazu verpflichtet, Landschaften und ihre Qualitäten zu erfassen, zu beschreiben und zu bewerten. Machine Learning Algorithmen können hierbei hilfreich sein. Interview im Zukunftsblog Mehr
How do we plan the adaptation of mountain territories for the challenges of the future? In particular, how do we maintain key ecosystem services to guarantee their capacity for adaptation? We engaged with stakeholders about these challenges through participatory research, building their vision for the future of their Mehr
Prof. Teresa Gali-Izard started her chair of landscape architecture at ETH Zurich in 2020, co-creating the new master in landscape architecture which starts this autumn semester. In our interview she talks about her influences such as Augustin Berque, her background, and her commitment to experimenting with new forms Mehr
Citizen participation in planning and politics was a central promise of the first democratic government in South Africa. However, despite efforts for engaging civil society in local governance, planning remains state-driven and problems of implementation prevail. We explore participatory practices in South Africa from the perspective of the Mehr
It is widely assumed that popular visual art, such as murals, can potentially be a powerful driver for urban regeneration with important social, economic and environmental benefits. The voices of those directly affected by these type of interventions, however, are often missing. Our research in two informal neighbourhoods in Mehr
This dissertation project examines the emergence, narrative, and translation of traditional landscape meanings in contemporary landscape architecture projects. It uncovers a complex web of meanings, ideologies, and conflicts grounded upon different cultural and historical interpretations. On this basis, the dissertation argues for a mediating approach in landscape architecture Mehr
Spatial design is often confronted with an immense diversity of transformation processes. As a designer it is often difficult to fully acknowledge this immanent complexity and find a position to intervene. How can we answer questions as ‘With whom do I collaborate? How does personal transformation play a Mehr
Access to and the safeguarding of suitable and affordable housing is difficult for disadvantaged groups in Swiss cities as such groups often include people with few professional qualifications, various kinds of handicaps, and few financial resources. Among them are migrants and refugees, elderly people, and the «working poor», Mehr
Wie nehmen wir unseren Lebensraum wahr? Wie erleben wir die Atmosphäre eines Ortes, wo fühlen wir uns sicher, wo fühlen wir uns gut? Diese Fragen werden umso wichtiger, je mehr Menschen in städtischen Gebieten leben. Ziel von Streetwise ist es, das Wissen und die Betroffenheit der Bevölkerung für Mehr
The transdisciplinary research project «Virtual Environments as a Decision-making Tool for Public Lighting in Bogotá» focuses on lighting technology and its performance in Bogotá’s densifying urban environments. New lighting approaches are co-created together with informal settlement dwellers and tested with Colombian policy-makers through a Virtual Environment.
Following the six-year r4d project «managing telecoupled landscapes», PLUS received an r4d Transformation Accelerating Grant to continue its work in northeastern Madagascar. Based on the developed land-use change scenarios, a collaborative visioning and planning will be conducted over a period of twelve months. For this project, PLUS collaborates Mehr
Das NFP 70-Projekt «ENERGYSCAPE» untersuchte gesellschaftliche Präferenzen für eine Landschaftsentwicklung durch Infrastrukturen erneuerbarer Energien. Die aus den Ergebnissen abgeleiteten Empfehlungen können helfen, die landschaftliche Beurteilung von Anlagen erneuerbarer Energien aus Sicht der Bevölkerung in Landschaftsentwicklungskonzepten besser zu berücksichtigen. Ulrike Wissen Hayek, PLUS
What are key skillsets of the next generation’s planners, designers, architects or engineers? The instrumental and social capacities to creatively cope with complexity, within ever changing environments, in a cooperative way surely are amongst them. Systemic Design Labs are ETH Innovedum financed real-world experimental courses that foster such Mehr
Addressing the former industrial area of Acetati in Verbania (IT), on the northern Italian shore of Lago Maggiore, the project sets out to explore the ambiguous nature of contemporary residual landscapes. With an attitude of carefully collecting and radically exposing materials, flows, historical layers and traces of production, Mehr
Under the headers of ‘collaboration’, ‘participatory design’ and ‘co-production’ participation is nowadays at the centre of the debate on urban design. Architects and urban designers are developing new concepts, tools and roles to comply with these new participatory modi operandi. However, it seems that it is sometimes forgotten Mehr