Department / Institute: Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann
Can cities go green without gentrification?
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
disP Now Online First
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
disP 62/1, January 2026
Treasures from the disP Archives
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.
David Kaufmann appointed Professor of Spatial Development and Urban Policy
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
disP 61/4, December 2025
Density, Densification, and Travel Perspectives from Zurich and Cambridge
NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2026
Global Urban Policy. A Framework for Analyzing State and Society
Between Streets and Screens. Digital Video Activism and the Right to the City
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
disP 61/3, September 2025
Housing in Urban Humanitarian Crises
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
Housing in Urban Humanitarian Crises
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
disP 61/2, June 2025
Reimagining Public Participation in Urban Development: Insights from Bramfischerville, Johannesburg
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
Webinar: AI for Spatial and Transport Planning
NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Herbstsemester 2025
Kompaktkurs: KI für Stadt und Raum
CAS ETH Raumentwicklung und Prozessdesign
AI + Environment Summit
Informationsveranstaltung CAS Raumentwicklung und Prozessdesign
«Das Raumkonzept Schweiz ist ein Referenzrahmen, der über seinen Inhalt wirkt»
disP 61/1, March 2025
«Vertical extensions of buildings are becoming a key option for urban redevelopment»
Why are more new housing units being constructed in Geneva each year, while Zurich is seeing a decline? Why are older residential buildings in Basel, Geneva and Lausanne being vertically extended, while they are being demolished and replaced in Zurich? ETH researchers provide new answers to the role More
The E-Bike City. Designing Sustainable Streets
The E-Bike City project’s design is anchored in shifting away from private car use, particularly for daily commuting. It does so by ensuring access to shared vehicle hubs within 200 meters (or another designated distance) of every residence, promoting convenience and accessibility.
E-Bike City: Results
If you missed the event «E-Bike City: Results & Future», have a look at the downloads and recordings section on this website. It offers a brochure, presentations, posters, video recordings, and street visualisations. May they positively impact our traffic situation and quality of life!
disP 60/4, December 2024
Tenure Lecture David Kaufmann: Weaving the Urban Fabric. The Governance of Sustainable Urban Development
David Kaufmann is New Editor-in-Chief of the disP – The Planning Review
Den Lebensraum der Zukunft gestalten
Der ETH Master-Studiengang Raumentwicklung und Infrastruktursysteme bietet eine fundierte, interdisziplinäre Ausbildung in Stadtplanung, Mobilität und Infrastrukturmanagement. Durch die Verbindung von Theorie und Praxis entwickeln Studierende nachhaltige Lösungen für aktuelle Herausforderungen. In Kooperation mit Professorinnen, Professoren und Studierenden ist ein kurzes Video entstanden, um Studieninteressierte für diesen Fachbereich und More
D-BAUG Urban Research Seminar
E-Bike City Results & Future
Jubiläumsfeier ETH RAUM & Vernissage
Tagung Landmanagement 2025: Klimaresilientes Wassermanagement im ländlichen Raum
Brownbag Lunch zum Thema Wissenschaftliche Politikberatung im Bereich Raumplanung
NSL Forum & Cycling Research Board: Video and Manifesto now online!
Did you miss the NSL Forum and Cycling Research Board «Digital Twins for Europe’s Future Mobility», on September 4th? The video link is now available on the event website! In addition, for a quick read and an overview of the workshops, you can download the «Collective Manifesto for More
Housing Precarity in Six European and North American Cities: Threatened by the Loss of a Safe, Stable, and Affordable Home
Problem, research strategy, and findings: Increasing numbers of urban dwellers face housing precarity in cities worldwide. We conceptualize housing precarity as a multidimensional phenomenon, using five different dimensions: 1) housing affordability, 2) tenure security, 3) housing satisfaction, 4) neighborhood quality, and 5) community cohesion.
Urban Research Seminar
A Comprehensive Toolbox for Flood Risk Mitigation in Refugee Settlements
SPUR launches a comprehensive toolbox for flood risk mitigation in refugee settlements: www.humanitarian-risk.org. The toolbox includes a GIS tool to create flood risk maps and mitigation strategies, a compendium of flood risk mitigation measures and a participatory risk mapping methodology. We are thankful for the support of our More
Creating inequality in access to public transit? Densification, gentrification, and displacement
Densification is a key concept in contemporary urban planning. Yet, there are widespread concerns about densification causing displacement and gentrification. This paper examines densification around train stations—a prevalent form of transit-oriented development (TOD) in cities with established public transit systems—in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland.
What can cities do to promote acceptance of densification?
Swiss cities are more likely to accept densification when densification projects provide affordable housing and green spaces compared to densification that is implemented through reduced regulations for housing construction. By prioritizing a socio-ecological densification, extensive planning procedures and delays might be minimized. Read the article on ETH News.
Public Participation in Urban Planning
Public participation has become a widely used concept in the rhetoric and practice of planning, and an accepted approach in the formulation and implementation of spatial plans, urban policies, or development projects. Despite the widespread use of the concept in both theory and practice, there is however no More
NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2024
Public Support for Participation in Local Development
NSL Forum & Cycling Research Board
4 – 6 September 2024 | ETH Zürich, Hönggerberg, HIL E3 and HIT. Today’s design reflects the car-oriented consensus, which was formulated between the 1930’s and 1950’s and adopted around the world since then. The climate crisis challenges this orientation and asks for designs which emphasize the micro-mobility. More
NSL Forum & Cycling Research Board
4 – 6 September 2024 | ETH Zürich, Hönggerberg, HIL E3 and HIT. VIDEO NOW ONLINE! Today’s design reflects a car-oriented consensus, which was formulated between the 1930’s and 1950’s and adopted around the world since then. The climate crisis challenges this orientation and asks for designs that More
Humanitarian Planning Hub
The Humanitarian Planning Hub is a research and policy hub for co-creating knowledge between academia and practice to serve the housing needs of displaced populations worldwide through environmentally and socially sustainable humanitarian planning. The first project of the humanitarian planning hub is a cooperation with the Geneva Technical More
Zwischen Wolkenkratzern und Zustimmung? Über Akzeptanz für urbane Verdichtung aus raumplanerischer Perspektive
Seit in Kraft treten des revidierten Raumplanungsgesetzes (RPG) auf 1. Mai 2014 sind alle 26 Schweizer Kantone und über 2130 Gemeinden dazu verpflichtet, ihre «Siedlungsentwicklung nach innen» zu lenken. Politik und Behörden müssen folglich ihre bestehenden Siedlungen verdichten, um Zersiedlung zu verhindern und den Flächenverbrauch pro Kopf zu More
Urban Research Seminar
29.11.2023, 12:00 – 17:30 | ETH Zürich, Hönggerberg, HIL H 35.1. Urban Research Seminar is a new initiative hosted by D-BAUG with the aim of building a bottom-up network that brings together early career researchers and their ongoing urban research projects across ETH Zürich.