How can city-regions be governed in ways that foster innovation, equity, and resilience? This disP Collection brings together leading thinkers, among them Klaus R. Kunzmann, Patsy Healey, Susan Fainstein, and John Friedmann, to explore the dynamics of metropolitan governance. Together, these contributions from the disP Archives challenge conventional More
MOSAIC is an EU-funded project that is working to understand and influence how land across Europe can be managed more sustainably. The project aims to address the overexploitation and unsustainable management of land across Europe in order to adapt to and mitigate the climate and biodiversity crises. To More
Renovating existing buildings is a great way to reduce grey greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs). However, despite net-zero targets, replacement new construction is often preferred to renovation. There is therefore a need for political and planning instruments (policies) that lead to a reduction in grey GHG by targeting the More
Book launch 21 October 2026, 18:30 | ZAZ Bellerive, Zentrum Architektur Zürich, Höschgasse 3, 8008 Zürich. This publication summarises the results of five years of groundbreaking research at the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) Global and 15 years of interdisciplinary, international collaboration at the Singapore-ETH Centre, including the outcomes More
The serious board game is a participatory activity related to urban spatial planning that engages experts from different backgrounds. The term “serious game” emphasises that it is a game where the primary purpose is something other than entertainment. The serious game, the adaptation process, collaborations and workshops are More
This summer’s heatwave was the earliest, warmest and driest in Swiss history: everyone wanted shade. The moment shade arrives, people are drawn towards it – a collective need made visible, yet planners struggle to allocate such spaces in existing urban structures. Might a “social thermostat” provide the tool More
Graue Emissionen machen bis zur Hälfte der Lebenszyklusemissionen eines Gebäudes aus, verbindliche Vorgaben aber fehlen. Welche Instrumente könnten den Umbau gegenüber Ersatzneubauten stärken? Eine Befragung von über hundert Fachpersonen liefert Antworten. Sie zeigt vor allem eines: Nicht die einfach umsetzbaren Informationsangebote versprechen die grösste Wirkung, sondern verbindliche Vorgaben.
Für die Raumplanung ist es entscheidend zu verstehen, wo in Zukunft Bevölkerung und Beschäftigung zu- oder abnehmen. Die bestehenden Szenarien geben auf Bundes- und Kantonsebene Orientierung, lassen die kleinräumige Entwicklung jedoch offen. Am Departement Bau, Umwelt und Geomatik der ETH Zürich entwickeln wir ein schweizweites GeoAI-Modell, das Veränderungen More
More trees, cooler streets and energy-efficient buildings make cities more liveable but also more expensive, especially squeezing people on low incomes. That’s why climate action and socially just urban development need to go hand in hand, argues urban researcher David Kaufmann. Read the article at ETH News
We are excited to share that disP – The Planning Review now offers ONLINE FIRST publication. This means accepted articles will be published online as soon as they are ready—making new research accessible earlier and supporting faster knowledge exchange within the planning community. A great step forward for More
The transdisciplinary research project «NewUrbES – Co-creating new urban leaving space for biodiversity and ecosystem services» propose a paradigm shift in urban design and planning towards transforming cities into ecosystems, wherein buildings act as living organisms seamlessly integrated with their surrounding environments. The building envelopes, including facades and More
Series One: Rethinking Cities – Governance, Diversity, and Community. This special issue from the disP archives provides a foundation for examining how inclusive governance and community-building can address the challenges of difference and inequality in contemporary cities.
At its meeting on 4 and 5 March 2026 and upon application of Joël Mesot, President of ETH Zurich, the ETH Board appointed twelve professors, including Professor David Kaufmann. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Spatial Development and Urban Policy and is based at the Institute for More
Urban open space urgently needs transformation to meet the global urban challenges coming along with climate change and environmental degradation. Merging two integrated co-creative processes of modeling and design, CoCoNet aims to provide a method to reveal synergies between sustainable mobility, climate adaptation and biodiversity, and to guide More
Urban streetscapes need a redesign to meet pressing challenges associated with climate change and environmental degradation. This requires collaboration among a range of stakeholders. A user requirement study has specified what modelling and visualization tools are needed to support the co-creative design. These tools should facilitate cross‑disciplinary integration, More
Between Streets and Screens offers a comparative ethnography of digital video activism in Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town in the early 2010s. Focusing closely on the practices of filming protests and police violence, the book shows how eyewitnesses and activists navigate the fine line between power and More
Im Rahmen des Aktionsplans Biodiversität wurden neue Erkenntnisse zum aktuellen Stand, zur Nachfrage und zu Hindernissen der Berücksichtigung von Ökosystemleistungen (ÖSL) in raumrelevanten Entscheidungen veröffentlicht. Der Schlussbericht eines vom BAFU beauftragten Projekts sowie eine neue Website der ETH unterstützen Fachpersonen dabei, geeignete Planungstools zu finden.
If you agree and would like to have a printed poster to hang on your wall – accompanying you for half a year with events in the fields of urban design, spatial planning, landscape architecture, infrastructure, and mobility – just let us know. We will be happy to More
Urban humanitarian housing is one of the most significant challenges for today’s humanitarian actors, who are seeking new ways of providing adequate housing for displaced persons in cities. At the same time, a growing number of refugees are struggling to find affordable and dignified housing, often resorting to More
Displaced people often struggle to find affordable and dignified housing in cities, relying on the informal market. This is also true in Bogotá and Beirut, which host large numbers of displaced persons. This project explores and compares the housing challenges faced by displaced persons in the two cities More
This publication explores how residents of Bramfischerville, an underprivileged area in Johannesburg, South Africa, understand public participation in urban development. The study reveals that for many community members, participation is less about influencing policy and more about gaining recognition and fostering relationships. These locally grounded perspectives challenge dominant More
We return from another record-breaking summer of heatwaves and extreme weather. Yet as days shorten and evenings cool, the topic of heat and urban development will remain a pressing concern for both science and planning. We illustrate how pre-trained deep learning models and open data can make it More
Background Therapies to improve gait security in the context of rehabilitation should be designed as close to everyday life as possible so that patients can train activities of daily living. In this context, training in virtual reality (VR) is gaining increasing attention. Immersive VR simulations of real environments More
Kann ein Waldspaziergang im Spital Stress senken? Virtuelle Realität macht es möglich. Eine Untersuchung mit gangunsicheren Seniorinnen und Senioren zeigt: Nach VR-Trainings in verschiedenen Landschaften fühlten sich die Teilnehmenden entspannter und sicherer, auch wenn ihre physiologischen Stresswerte stabil blieben. Ob Wald, Stadt oder Landwirtschaft: Die Wirkung war ähnlich More