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The landslide in Misox in summer 2024: Despite significant damage to the motorway and the blockage of a major transport artery, Switzerland’s Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) had traffic flowing again within two weeks. (Image: Samuel Golay / Keystone) 

Reasons to feel confident

From bridges and tunnels to railways, Switzerland has always invested heavily in the upkeep of its infrastructure. But how does it keep everything operating safely and smoothly while also instilling confidence that nothing will go wrong? Read the full article at ETH News

Luftbild Autobahnkreuzung Brunau © ETH Zürich

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

Broad bicycle road with a lot of trees left and right © D-Baug, Nightnurse

E-Bike City Results & Future

4 June 2025, 14:00-18:00 | ETH Zürich, Hönggerberg, room tba.

Arnór Elvarsson (l) and Bryan Adey (r) talk, sitting at a table, with a Swiss map on the wall behind them © ETH Zürich

Why the Rejection of the 2023 Expansion Step for the National Roads? Idea for a National Overall Mobility Concept

On November 24, the Federal Expansion Step 2023 for Road was put up for a public vote. The Expansion Step 2023 is a project programme for national roads consisting of six major projects, including the widening of the A1 highway between Bern and Nyon, as well as three More

A simplified national roads planning process in Switzerland, with the letters in the tasks’ upper right corner referring to the stakeholder feedback required © ETH Zürich, chair Bryan Adey

Responsiveness of Transport Infrastructure Planning Processes

Responsiveness of planning processes is the ability to meet changing societal transport needs quickly in ways that are acceptable to all stakeholders. In Switzerland, considerable traffic jams and overfilled trains indicate that planning processes could be made more responsive. As delays for travelers persist, their needs are not More

Cost Benefit Analysis of Cycling Infrastructure

Cost-benefit analysis is a tool frequently used in project appraisal to justify the implementation of infrastructures. Due to insufficient recorded data, the construction costs and safety benefits of urban bicycling infrastructure are difficult to estimate, weakening the appraisal and implementation of such projects. In this research, we conducted More

Fig. Data flow of the proposed methodological framework.

Adaptive Planning for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

Although a transition to electric vehicles (EVs) has potential to greatly reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, it faces significant challenges, including range anxiety and limitations in battery capacity. Effective long-term planning for EV charging infrastructure can overcome these barriers and increase the chances of widespread adoption.

Example setup of stress testing road networks subject to extreme rainfall events leading to flooding and landslides. The transport system is represented by five sets of events: source, which represent the initiating event, here rainfall; hazard, representing consequent hazards; object, which capture the impact of hazard on individual assets; network, which represent the functionality of the transport network, and societal, which capture the impact on the society, e.g., costs of restoration tasks and disruption to the traffic flow. Risks can then be assessed based on the ensuing direct and indirect costs. In line with the system representation, there are five types of stress tests. Each stress test concerns one or multiple parts of the system, pushing them to scenarios that are significantly worse than expected or planned and evaluating whether risks are still acceptable or not. If a stress test does not pass, it can guide infrastructure managers on what parts of the system require improving interventions. © ETH Zürich

Stress Testing Transport Systems

Transportation systems are vital for economic and social development, yet are susceptible to disruptions caused by natural hazards, especially considering the adverse impacts of climate change on increasing the intensity of frequency of climatic hazards. To manage these risks effectively, stress testing, as a diagnostic tool, has shown More

Climate change, Shared Autonomous Vehicles and Work-from-home trends as examples of future uncertainties in urban planning. Source: Freepik

Adaptive Urban Planning for an Uncertain Future: Infrastructure Interventions for the Technological Shift in Transportation

Planning cities to adapt to the future is challenging due to complex interactions between mobility, infrastructure, and land use. This challenge is exacerbated by the need to study future uncertainties such as ever-shifting demographics and industrial landscape, increased environmental and climatic changes, disruptive and unpredictable technological development, and More

Critical Mass-Demonstration 2022 in Zürich (Foto: Urs Jaudas, Tages-Anzeiger)

E-Bike City: Nur noch die Hälfte der Strassen für die Autos

30. August, 2023, 18:30 – 19:45 | Podiumsdiskussion | Karl der Grosse, Saal, Kirchgasse 14, 8001 Zürich.

NSL_Flyer_FS_23

NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2023

Das neue NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2023 ist da!

Symbolbild: Velofahrende in Paris (P. Kosmider / Adobe Stock)

E-Bike City Kolloquium

8. Juni 2023, 9:00 – 18:30 | ETH Zürich, Zentrum, Audimax. An diesem Kolloquium werden die sieben Forschungsgruppen des D-BAUG Leuchtturmprojekts «E-Bike City» nicht nur ihre vorläufigen Ergebnisse präsentieren, sondern auch die Teilnehmenden aktiv in die Gestaltung der Forschungsfragen einbeziehen.

NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Herbstsemester 2022

Das neue NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Herbstsemester 2022 ist da!

Symbolbild (Y. Artemenko / Adobe Stock / remixed by o-​media)

Will E-​Bikes Bring Amsterdam and Copenhagen to Switzerland?  

Kick-off event | 23 November 2022, 13:30, aperitif around 18:00 | HG F 30 (Audi Max), ETH Zürich, Zentrum. Registration deadline 9 November.

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NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2022

Das neue NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2022 ist da!

Expected total costs with alternative interventions over a simulated time period of 60 years © Infrastructure Management, ETH Zurich

Investing in Water Supply Resilience Considering Future Uncertainty and Management Flexibility

The infrastructure required to provide sufficient high quality drinking water to urban areas over long time horizons is highly uncertain. The use of the real options method, which accounts for future uncertainty and considers management flexibility over time, can significantly improve the evaluation of water supply resilience enhancing More

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NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Herbstsemester 2021

Das neue NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Herbstsemester 2021 ist da!

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NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2021

Das neue NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2021 ist da!

Quantitative Evaluation of Highway Designs Considering Uncertainties in Future Mobility Patterns and Flexibility Using Real Options

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 More

Figure 1 – Empty offices due to the transition to home-office working mode, after the COVID-19 crisis (source: https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-remote-first-companies-are-another-covid-19-calamity/)

Flexible Office Space for the Age of Distributed Work

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 More

Prof. Michael Neuman, Sustainable Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Westminster.

Are Integrated Infrastructure Networks Governable in Contemporary City Regions?

Guest: Prof. Dr. Michael Neuman, Professor of Sustainable Urbanism, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, University of Westminster. The very possibility of governance that is critical — in terms of providing robust human rights, meaningful participative democracy, equitable distribution of wealth, goods and services, and strong environmental More

Film still from Blade Runner (1982) Los Angeles. © and Source: https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/10/2/16375126/blade-runner-future-city-ridley-scott

Future-proofed Urban Areas: Real Options in Urban Planning

The societal needs for infrastructure change drastically over time depending on a large variety of factors, which are very difficult to predict. It is in the face of this massive uncertainty, that urban planners are expected to make infrastructure decisions. To minimize the service risks over time, the More

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NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2019

Das neue NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2019 ist da!

Bryan Adey. Foto: ETH Zürich

Bryan Adey appointed as Full Professor of Infrastructure Management

On the recommendation of ETH President Lino Guzzella, the ETH Board has appointed Professor Bryan Adey (*1972), currently Associate Professor at ETH Zurich, as Full Professor of Infrastructure Management.

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NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Herbstsemester 2018

Das neue NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Herbstsemester 2018 ist da!

Photo: pxhere 138038 (Creative Commons CC0)

To Exploit Big Data for the Management of Infrastructure

The management of infrastructure involves estimating how infrastructure is likely to deteriorate and how demands infrastructure change over time. Increasing amounts of data and increasing modelling capabilities are providing infrastructure managers with improved abilities with which to determine the optimal maintenance and development interventions on infrastructure. Their exploitation More

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NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2018

Das neue NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2018 ist da!

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NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Herbstsemester 2017

Das neue NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Herbstsemester 2017 ist da!

The Interdisciplinary Nature of Planning Interventions on Network Infrastructure in Urban Areas

Interventions must be executed on infrastructure networks in urban areas to ensure that they provide adequate levels of services. The optimal planning of these interventions requires consideration of the work of many experts to appropriately consider the spatial and temporal aspects of the networks, how the networks might More

Bryan T. Adey, the Professor for Infrastructure Management at the ETH Zürich, Joins the NSL

His research mission is to improve the construction and management of infrastructure with special attention focused on the improvement of decision making from general planning for entire networks to detailed planning for specific projects. This mission is being achieved through teaching the fundamentals of infrastructure management, and pushing More