Despite a European training and an early career working with Peter Behrens, a migration from Vienna to the Australian state of Queensland positioned the architect Karl Langer (1903-1969) at the very edge of both European and Australian modernism. Confronted by tropical heat and glare, the economics of affordable More
Kay Fisker (1893-1965) is considered one of the most influential Danish architects of the twentieth century, and yet there has existed until now no in-depth English-language study of his works and writing. Fisker’s output is closely associated with the functional tradition, a hybridization of international modernism and regional architectural More
Architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers (1909-1969) was a towering figure in 20th-century Italian architecture, with a significant impact at the international level. Through the work of his collaborative firm (Banfi Belgiojoso Peressutti Rogers, or BBPR), the editorship of publications such as Domus and Casabella, and his teaching at the More
The difficulty of reconciling our basic needs with the long history of cultural landscapes, in all their inherent beauty and sufficiency, has become clear. With our deep trust in modern technology, in progress and in a demanding global lifestyle we have become a real threat to our world.
This paper retraces the fundaments of the ‘nature-culture’ divide within the study of Swiss alpine ‘cultural landscape commons’, showing how this notion was shaped by early ecological thinking expressed through environmental determinism, dynamic systems, and cultural ecology. These fields of research are seen as precursors to some of the More
The Gauteng City-Region (GCR) in South Africa is a paradigmatic example of extended urbanization, in which the legacy of mining and apartheid continue to impact spatial practices and the experience of everyday life. The dynamics between urban centralities such as Johannesburg and regional-scale peripheries established by this legacy More
The Alpine region is characterized by a great diversity in all spatial dimensions and qualities. This circumstance is not to be read primarily as the result of adfirst of all as an expression of the alpine topography, determined ministrative drawing of borders, but at the same time by More
How far will you walk when it gets hot? The global climate is warming at a rapid pace, and cities around the globe are confronted with increasing temperatures. In this work, we study how the future climate will affect urban walkability in Zurich by modeling the thermoregulatory functions More
Land use regulations in Switzerland do not meet the requirements of the spatial planning act (SPA) in their guidance for parsimonious land use. If parsimonious land use is to be achieved, urban economic theories and price-based regulations must be leveraged to determine the intensity and balance of land More
Human mobility impacts many aspects of a city, from its spatial structure to its response to an epidemic. It is also ultimately key to social interactions, innovation and productivity. However, our quantitative understanding of the aggregate movements of individuals remains incomplete.
Cities rely heavily on the services provided by water distribution networks. These networks are large and complex, consisting of thousands of kilometres of buried pipes and dozens of facilities where water is treated, pumped and stored. Infrastructure managers are entrusted with the planning and execution of interventions on More
The second volume in the ‘Chapters’ series from Brussels-based architecture firm 51N4E focuses on how design processes can be shaped through dialogue. First, it investigates their work together with two design-focused consulting firms, endeavour (Antwerp) and Denkstatt (Basel), wherein all three explore the boundaries of architecture, advocating openness More
This project stemmed from the editors’ shared interest in theories of urban form and a reading seminar they jointly taught at the D-ARCH, ETH Zurich. In their ongoing investigations into questions of form in theory and practice, the relationship between the social and the material emerged again and More
This short paper sets out the basic dilemma of transport policy making today, as how to strike the balance between the benefits of accessibility and the induced externalities in terms of sprawl, greenhouse gas emissions and congestion. The impacts of the Corona19 pandemic sharpens the dilemma.
Mountain forests provide a wide range of ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration and protection from natural hazards. Forest cover in the European Alps has increased over the last century, but in recent years, these forests have experienced an increasing rate of natural disturbances by agents such as windthrow, More
The uncertainty on the future treatments demand, recently evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, makes it challenging for hospitals managers to determine the optimal design of new clinics. Flexibility can help in optimally minimizing the service risks when the benefits of the investments justify the costs, considering the dynamism of treatment More
Switzerland’s widely adopted spatial policy rejects the use of new land in favour of promoting the densification of existing buildings or brownfield developments. However, to date there has not been an assessment of the volumetric building reserves that are still available within the current building regulatory framework. This More
Die Herausforderungen der europäischen Raumentwicklung sind nur in transdisziplinärer Kooperation zu bewältigen. In einem sich dynamisch verändernden Europa mit seinen komplexen Wandlungsprozessen sind neue, integrierende Planungs- und Entwurfsansätze gefragt, um den Zusammenhalt zwischen den Ländern und Regionen zu stärken.
This chapter illustrates the inadequacy of the term ‘informality’ by applying two categories of socio-spatial analysis: origin stories and urban outcomes. Densification (and de-densification) is a historical process of urbanisation – an area’s origin story – that produces socially constructed spaces – urban outcomes – in the built environment.
During public transport disruptions, the performance of the public transport network is degraded due to unexpected events, resulting in delays and inconvenience for passengers. Therefore, the infrastructure managers and operating companies typically generate a new public transport timetable, called disposition timetable, to reduce passengers’ delays, thereby limiting a More
This paper presents a case study based on accident reports from the Zurich City Police. Using a joint GIS and time series analysis based on negative binomial regression, the data is analyzed to identify trends in accident development for several accident subgroups (e.g., bicycle accidents, senior citizen accidents, More
Parking garages are often currently designed assuming that parking demand will be stable over their lifetime. The looming mobility shift towards automated vehicles (AVs), however, makes parking demand highly uncertain, with some scenarios leading to its complete disappearance at some time in the near future. The design of More
Most cities in Canada do not charge a stormwater fee; consequently, stormwater programs may need to compete with other funding priorities in public works. This often leads to a lack of dedicated and predictable cash flow, which can limit municipalities’ capacity to sustain stormwater services.
Production and manufacturing have shaped nations, cities, and urban environments worldwide. The rise of China as the leading global industrial power, the phenomenon of radical automation or the new cutting-edge developments in Silicon Valley, California, have for some time attracted the focus of academic study. Contrastingly, the form More
Formalised knowledge systems are important but arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we used a novel futures-oriented and participatory approach that asked what future More
Mit der IBA_Wien 2022 wurde in Wien erstmals eine Internationale Bauausstellung ins Leben gerufen. Damit stellte sich die österreichische Hauptstadt der Aufgabe, wegweisende Lösungsvorschläge und Zugänge zu den Herausforderungen unserer Zeit zu entwickeln. Im Zentrum steht das Thema des neuen sozialen Wohnens. Marie Glaser veröffentlicht in der Publikation More
«Aging in Place», so lautet heute das favorisierte Leitkonzept der Alterspolitik. Wenn das selbstbestimmte Wohnen und der möglichst lange Verbleib in den eigenen vier Wänden gelingen sollen, muss gleichzeitig für ein Wohnumfeld gesorgt werden, das ansprechend und sicher ist und Begegnungen fördert. Bulletin 2/20 «Lebensräume – Lieux de More
Rewriting Architecture explores and embraces the potential of place. The book claims that the idea of ‘tabula rasa’, or creating from scratch, is no longer a viable option. It considers the quality of the existing urban and social fabric – the tabula scripta – as an inspiration, motivation More
Mobility service bundling has received a lot of attention recently due to its centrality to Mobility as a Service (MaaS) business models and potential to foster sustainable travel behavior. Despite an increasing number of academic studies and commercial trials, however, there is a surprising dearth of research on More
There are a variety of reasons to support the premise that public lighting is beneficial to urban communities. At the same time, a key challenge for the provision of public lighting in informal settlements is their constant physical transformation. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the More
Die intensive Planungs- und Bautätigkeit im Bahnbereich äussert sich in einem breiten Interesse an einem Einführungswerk. Dieses Buch ist auf Grundlage jahrzehntelanger Tätigkeit in Lehre und Forschung entstanden. Die Struktur folgt – nach einer übergreifenden Einleitung – dem Lebenszyklus einer Infrastruktur, von der Planung über die Realisierung bis More