NSL – Netzwerk Stadt und Landschaft ETH Zürich
  • Projects
      • Projects of the Chairs
        • Prof. Dr. Bryan T. Adey | Infrastructure Management
        • Prof. Dr. Tom Avermaete | History and Theory of Urban Design
        • Prof. Dr. Kay W. Axhausen | Traffic and Transport Planning
        • Prof. Dr. Francesco Corman | Transport Systems
        • Prof. Dr. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey | Planning of Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS)
        • Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann | Spatial Development and Urban Policy
        • Prof. Hubert Klumpner | Architecture and Urban Design
        • Dr. Anastasios Kouvelas | Traffic Engineering and Control
        • Prof. Dr. Christian Schmid | Sociology
        • Prof. Milica Topalovic | Architecture and Territorial Planning
        • EiR PD Dr. Joris Van Wezemael | Spatial Transformation Laboratories (STL)
        • Prof. em Dr. h. c. Günther Vogt | Landscape Architecture
        • ETH Wohnforum – ETH CASE
        • NSL Archive
      • NSL Colloquia – The NSL Colloquia are a bi-annual presentation of exceptional work under a rotating theme determined by the inviting professor.
      • NSL Projects
        • Future Cities Lab Global
        • Urban Potential and Strategies in Metropolitan Territories
 – The Zurich Metropolitan Region as an Example (NFP65)
        • Landscape Visualization and Modeling Lab (LVML)
      • NSL Forum: Pandemie? Mitten im Klimawandel. Was bedeutet das für die räumliche Entwicklung der Schweiz? Ein Dialog.
      • Former Chairs
    Close
  • Teaching
    • Teaching
      • Bachelor and Master Degree Programmes, Department ARCH
      • Bachelor and Master Degree Programmes, Department BAUG
      • MSc in Spatial Development and Infrastructure Systems
      • MAS/CAS Spatial Development
      • MAS Urban and Territorial Design
      • MAS in Housing
      • Doctoral Programme in Landscape and Urban Studies
      • The teaching component of the NSL seeks to impart the knowledge and skills needed to develop the standard strengths of spatial planning and their interaction as well as the ability to develop strategies for the solution of spatial problems. These are central prerequisites for a responsible and successful exercise of planning functions in the service of the public commonwealth and of private companies. Especially important in fufilling these prerequisites is the quality of university-level education: graduate and post-graduate work as well as professional development in spatial, urban and landscape planning. The ETH Zurich has offered programmes such as continuing education courses and post-graduate programmes (NDS, now MAS) since 1965. The NSL (Network City and Landscape) is responsible for these courses and programmes.
    Close
  • Publications
    • NSL Newsletter – The NSL brings the experts at ETH Zurich together and also maintains a dialogue with other groups that deal with or are interested in issues relating to cities and landscapes.
    • Cover der Publikation: Erkenntnisse zum aktuellen WohnungsnotstandPublications of NSL Chairs – A complete list of publications can be reached via the following link, which also includes advanced search capabilities:
      • ETH Zürich Research Collection
    • DISP_58/3_CoverdisP – The Planning Review – The interdisciplinary scientific journal covers the topics of spatial development, urban planning, landscape and environmental planning, landscape architecture, traffic planning, and regional and environmental economics, as well as special issues on specific themes.
      • Publishing in disP – The Planning Review
      • Publisher
      • Book Review Guidelines
      • Editorial Staff
      • Latest Issue
      • facebook
    Close
  • Current
  • Contact
      • en
        • de
        • fr
        • it
      • Search

    • Close

Geographies of Opportunity

The Urban-Think Tank Chair of Architecture and Urban Design recently launched a two-year design research project in the informal settlements of Cape Town, South Africa, with field surveys, commented walks and the design and facilitation of a series of open workshops. Referencing methods of participation from the Informal Settlement Network (ISN), the team is developing a customized and scalable methodology for the upgrade of a pilot site in BT-Section, Khayelitsha.

The image above is a collation of measured field drawings recorded by community groups and accompanying ETH students during the HS2014 Seminar Week. Each group was tasked to survey an area of the site with the aid of a tape measure, graphite and paper. The shared site analysis had two advantages. Firstly, it offered a set of data for the production of maps, models, simulations, and proposals derived from the social forms of organization of the study space. Secondly, it mobilized the force of collective participation. Mediated skillfully, this can help support community cohesion and strengthen claims to formal recognition and eventually tenure security.

Although protection from eviction is afforded by South Africa’s 1994 constitution, and supported by a taboo on forced removal, development pressure and the constant expansion of informal settlements mean the judicial boundaries of the territory are being negotiated on a daily basis. Self-organization and the use of recognized methods of surveying and enumeration offer a stake in this negotiation and a powerful articulation of citizenry. They also represent a method of resistance to the continued legacy of poor urban management and exclusionary policy that has given rise to the settlements.

In addition, the mapping exercises also provided the base material to articulate the shared ambitions of the community. Specifically, the survey recorded the land currently occupied by each resident in square meters, while also documenting the material construction of each house, the position of openings, common pathways, and shared social and commercial spaces. Investigating further, a hybrid method of recording was developed and undertaken during the Chair’s initial field research into owner-built, two-story houses in 2013. The ‘commented walk’ was a survey conducted as a personal guided tour, during which resident volunteers presented their living spaces, the surrounding social spaces, and the history and methods of housing construction.

Critical practice in design research offers a richer understanding of the complex layers of experience, and real limitations of the built environment, which shape everyday life in informal settlements. This feeds back into the design process as a responsive and creative exercise based on a reading of space drawn deep beyond material surface and form. The South African government has rolled back its 20-year social housing program and is embarking on a ‘paradigm shift’ in relation to informal settlement interventions. In situ, community-driven upgrading has emerged as the only effective tool for responsive engagement. The paradigm shift is also one of responsibility, whereby residents will continue to build the city and redefine its limits outside the formal urban system.

Scott Lloyd manages the Urban-Think Tank Chair of Architecture and Urban Design’s ‘Empower Shack’ project, partnering with Cape Town-based NGO Ikhayalami. The IA and MIS chairs at ETH Zurich are collaborating on methodological and analytic tools, while the project is supported by the Swiss Re Foundation.

 

Share this...
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Email
This article has been published in the following newsletter edition:

25 | März 2015: Mapping

  • Mapping Everything
  • When the Dog is Dead, Throw it in the River – Mapping and the Challenges of the Ciliwung
  • Geographies of Opportunity
  • Verkehrsinfrastruktur, Macht, Staat
  • «Explorative Data-Mapping – Experimental Teaching Tools» innerhalb des MAS in Landscape Architecture
Kurzmeldungen
  • Improving Pedestrian Mobility Through Bottom-Up Strategies, ETH-EiABC Workshop 2014 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
  • Workshops zur Kartierung von Ökosystemleistungen
  • Effiziente Flughafenerschliessungssysteme im Hinblick auf die Landnutzung an Flughäfen
  • NSM – Advancing the Model for Safety Improvement of the Road Network in the City of Zurich
  • Teilnehmende für Eye-Tracking-Studie gesucht
  • Neue Studienleitung des MAS, CAS, DAS Raumplanung
Publikationen
  • Young-Old: Urban Utopias of an Aging Society.
  • From absolute protection to controlled disaster: New perspectives on flood management in times of climate change
  • Analysis of the Network Exit Functions for different urban grid network configurations
  • Forget About Utopia
  • Integrated Transport and Land Use Modeling for Sustainable Cities
  • How international borders affect local public transport: Analyses and evaluations of cross-border agglomerations in Switzerland. France and Germany

Chairs

Prof. Dr. Bryan T. Adey
Prof. Dr. Kay W. Axhausen
Prof. Dr. Tom Avermaete
Prof. Maria Conen
Prof. Dr. Francesco Corman
Dr. Jennifer Duyne Barenstein
Prof. Teresa Galí-Izard
Prof. Dr. Adrienne Grêt-Regamey
Prof. Dr. Guillaume Habert
Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann
Prof. Hubert Klumpner
Dr. Anastasios Kouvelas
Prof. Freek Persyn
Prof. Dr. Christian Schmid
Prof. Milica Topalovic
EiR PD Dr. Joris Van Wezemael
Prof. em Dr. h. c. Günther Vogt
ETH Wohnforum – ETH CASE

Contact

Address
ETH Zürich
NSL – Netzwerk Stadt und Landschaft
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5
HIL H 44.2
8093 Zürich

NSL Director
Director: Prof. Hubert Klumpner
Deputy Director: Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann

NSL Coordination
Claudia Gebert
Telephone: +41 (0)44 633 36 33

Register for the NSL Newsletter

disP Publication Office

Editor-in-Chief
Dr. sc. techn. Martina Koll-Schretzenmayr, Spatial planner ETH/NDS,
Telephone +41 (0)44 633 29 47

Editorial Assistant
Telephone +41 (0)44 633 29 69

Mailing address
ETH Zürich
Redaktion disP
NSL – Netzwerk Stadt und Landschaft
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5
HIL H 33.2
8093 Zürich
Fax +41 (0)44 633 12 15
E-Mail

 

NSL Archive (gta)

Research and Bequest Archive for
Swiss Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning

Consultation Requests

Mailing address
ETH Zürich
NSL Archive (gta)
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5
HIL C 65.2
CH-8093 Zurich