Department / Institute: Istituto di studi urbani e del paesaggio (LUS)
Arcadia. A Journey into the Pastoral
Zurich: ETH D-ARCH. Mehr Drawing from its mythological past, Arcadia remains one of the most enduring pastoral utopias in Europe. Seemingly unaffected by urban growth, it is here where radical urban transformations took place and unexpected new forms of living and production emerged. The book documents the first semester Continua
Reactivate Athens: 101 Ideas
Ruby Press. Mehr Can architecture and design respond to cities under stress? With its roots in a research and design initiative, this book presents a collection of 101 spatial ideas that map a post-crisis urban vision for Athens. Targeting a range of challenges, from the economy and public space, Continua
Theater for Informal Settlement
Having collaborated with Khayelitsha-based NGO Theater4Change on the 2016 production Holy Contract, the Urban-Think Tank Chair is now designing a new arts complex to replace the group’s existing self-built space. The Makukhanye Shack Theater will greatly expand the impact of programs already underway, as well as improve access Continua
Urban Game: Action! On the Real City
Initiated in 2014, the Urban-Think Tank Chair is developing an urban game that aims to facilitate decision-making and design processes to understand complex, real-life urban transformations in cities worldwide. Part educational tool, part platform for scenario planning, the ongoing project supports a sustainable approach to urban development while Continua
Forget About Utopia
In: Hou, Jeffrey; Spencer, Benjamin; Way, Thaisa; Yocom, Ken (Hrsg.): Now Urbanism: The Future City Is Here. Routledge. More This book explores the intersections of critical inquiry and immediate, substantive actions. The contributions recognize the rich complexities of the present city not as barriers or obstacles but as grounds for uncovering opportunity Continua

Il MAS si concentra sulla valutazione delle sfide dell’edilizia abitativa e sull’accessibilità economica, l’efficacia e la sostenibilità di un’ampia serie di strategie di sviluppo abitativo e residenziale perseguite da comuni, cooperative, governi locali, enti governativi e non governativi e organizzazioni internazionali in paesi e contesti diversi.
Il programma mira a contribuire all’individuazione di soluzioni alle sfide dell’edilizia abitativa in Svizzera, in Europa e in paesi a reddito medio-basso di tutto il mondo attraverso la formazione e la ricerca multidisciplinari di alto livello.
Il MAS ETH in edilizia abitativa accetta ogni anno 10 – 12 candidati qualificati. Si rivolge principalmente, ma non esclusivamente, a professionisti con un background in architettura, urbanistica e pianificazione cittadina, ma è aperto anche a candidati di altre discipline interessati all’edilizia abitativa.
SLUM Lab: Empower Shack.
PDF Mehr The Empower Shack team is a response to unsustainable housing approaches in South Africa. What began as a design and build workshop, aimed at developing a double-story shack prototype for Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township, has evolved into a more ambitious project to implement design innovations for rapid and Continua
Torre David. Informal Vertical Communities
Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers. Urban-Think Tank, Lehrstuhl für Architektur und Städtebau, ETH Zürich. Fotografien von Iwan Baan. Mehr Torre David, a 45-story skyscraper in Caracas, has remained uncompleted since the Venezuelan economy collapsed in 1994. Today, it is the improvised home to more than 750 families living in Continua
SLUM Lab: Asia Mode. Volume 7
Zurich: ETH Zurich, FCL Singapore. Mehr The magazine has grown to address a wide variety of global urban themes. Since its first edition, S.L.U.M. Lab has proven to be both provocative and popular. Knowledge sharing has always been a core aspect of the magazine, and many leading Continua
Urbane Qualitäten. Ein Handbuch am Beispiel der Metropolitanregion Zürich
Zürich: Edition Hochparterre. Mehr Unsere Siedlungsgebiete haben sich grundlegend verändert: Agglomerationen, Städte, Dörfer und Landschaften bilden metropolitane Netzwerke, neue funktionale Zusammenhänge und räumliche Strukturen sind entstanden. Dieses Handbuch verschafft Orientierung und hilft Qualitäten und Defizite in urbanen Gebieten festzustellen. Als praxisorientiertes Arbeitsinstrument richtet sich das Buch an alle, die sich mehr für Qualitäten Continua
The People’s Museum
Can a museum be a force for change in a city? Inspired by citizen-led solidarity initiatives, the Urban-Think Tank Chair and Baier Bischofberger have redefined the iconic, but neglected, Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina – not as an institution dedicated solely to the display of objects, but as Continua
«Prof. Milica Topalovic: What is Territorial Planning?»
Empower Shack News
The Empower Shack project continues to evolve. The design research program has been completed, resulting in the documentation of a phased urban layout plan and a ‘fit for purpose’ low-cost housing prototype linked to an incremental plan for formal building code compliance. Initially conceived for a 68-unit pilot Continua
Bezahlbarer Wohnraum fordert soziale Gerechtigkeit
Schnell, simpel und billig gebaut ergibt bezahlbaren Wohnraum? Ein Trugschluss. Bezahlbaren und guten Wohnraum bieten vielmehr Bauten, die ökonomisch und architektonisch sinnvoll sind und soziale Qualität besitzen. Auf der anderen Seite stellt sich bei kostengünstigem Wohnraum auch die Frage nach dem gerechten Preis.
«Wohnforschung wird an Bedeutung noch weiter zunehmen»
Modeling Future Urban Scenarios for Switzerland
SwissAIM is an advanced software platform. It delivers dynamic high-resolution modeling of urban structures, landscapes, demographics, weather, energy, resources, and socio-economic conditions. Possible future urban scenarios will be synthesized for the whole of Switzerland from 2020 to 2050.
Supermercato
Founded in 1978 as a secluded site for drug rehabilitation, the Italian village of San Patrignano today consists of 1,600 residents whose therapy includes learning to produce food, furniture, and other goods. After visiting the community and markets in Emilia-Romagna, Urban-Think Tank’s design studio has been developing flexible Continua
Das Kunstgärtnertum von Theodor und Otto Froebel
Theodor Froebel (1810–1893) und sein Sohn Otto (1844–1906) zählen zu den bedeutendsten Kunst- und Handelsgärtnern der Schweiz des 19. Jahrhunderts. Die kürzlich von Claudia Moll abgeschlossene Dissertation untersucht anhand des Werks der beiden Protagonisten exemplarisch das «Kunstgärtnertum» des 19. Jahrhunderts in der Schweiz. Im Zentrum der Betrachtungen stehen Continua
The Hinterland of Contemporary Cities
The Architecture of Territory project investigates the urban transformations of contemporary territories. Since 2011, we have conducted the Hinterland research project, using the island state of Singapore as the paradigmatic research case. The project is based on investigations of resource flows of sand, water, food, labour and energy Continua
Planetary Urbanization in a Comparative Perspective | Module V
The last two decades have seen a sharp increase in the speed, scale and scope of urbanization, which has fundamentally changed the character of urban areas. Transcending physical borders, political jurisdictions and social spheres, urbanization has become a planetary phenomenon. Urban forms associated with relatively stable human settlement Continua
Politiken der Urbanisierung in der Metropolitanregion Zürich
Auf Ebene der Metropolitanregion Zürich lassen sich gleichzeitig Informalisierungen und Flexibilisierungen, aber auch neue Formalisierungen beobachten, die zu einer schrittweisen Institutionalisierung der Metropolitanregion als neuer Handlungsebene führen. Der «Verein Metropolitanraum Zürch» (VMZ) beschreitet neue Wege in der Schweizer Urbanisierungspolitik.
Urbane Potenziale und Strategien in metropolitanen Territorien
Das Forschungsprojekt Urbane Potentiale und Strategien in metropolitanen Territorien leistet einen qualitativen Beitrag zur aktuellen Stadt- und Raumentwicklungsdebatte in der Schweiz und unterscheidet dabei nicht nach den Kategorien städtisch, suburban oder periurban, sondern entlang von ausgewählten urbanen Qualitäten, die sich aus zahlreichen Untersuchungen konkreter Fallbeispiele in der Metropolitanregion Zürich herauskristallisiert Continua
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 Continua
Empower Shack: South African informal settlements
The Empower Shack project introduces an integrated approach to upgrading South African informal settlements, merging design innovation with community-driven spatial planning and livelihoods programming. The initiative links the roll-out of a two-story, self-built housing prototype with a participatory urban planning methodology supported by computational analysis. Funded by the Swiss Re Foundation, led by Continua
Post-disaster Planning Task Force Established in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The devastating floods that hit Bosnia and Herzegovina in May revealed outdated planning mechanisms, as well as a growing problem of landslides in areas with informal settlements. A task force initiated at the open plenum of architects in Sarajevo aims to develop a response.
Informality
Popular Urbanization – A comparative concept in urban studies
Following calls for differentiation within informalities, critical debates on binary concepts such as formal/informal and calls to decolonize ‘informality’ studies, the concept of ‘popular urbanization’ seeks to shift away from exceptionalizing and marginalizing static categories of urban form in order to recognize it as a dynamic process of Continua
Visualization as Experimentation
«As a creative practice, mapping precipitates its most productive effects through a finding that is also a founding; its agency lies in neither reproduction nor imposition but rather in uncovering realities previously unseen or unimagined, even across seemingly exhausted grounds. Thus, mapping ‘unfolds’ potential; it re-makes territory over Continua
Linear Park
The ETH Zurich and the IDB launched a pioneering collaboration in 2012, with the goal to provide applied research and integrated design solutions for Port of Spain, Trinidad. The Brillembourg & Klumpner Chair critically assessed river regeneration, cultural heritage restoration, and urban renovation within the framework of two Continua
Urban Parangolé. The Syncretic City
Urban Parangolé is a framework that responds to the human need and desire for movement – it engages us in a dance with the city. This notion pays homage to the work of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica and extends the central tenet that ‘life is movement’ from the body Continua
Vertical Cities Asia // Everyone Harvests
Vertical Cities Asia is an annual architecture and urban design competition aimed at developing new urban models for rapidly growing cities in Asia. The competition uses high density as a tool to address the challenges of growing cities and to counter the perpetual multiplication of destructive typologies. Each Continua
Das Konstrukt der Dichte
In Zukunft sollen Wachstum und bauliche Entwicklungen innerhalb des bestehenden Siedlungsgebietes stattfinden – vorzugsweise an im öffentlichen Verkehr gut erschlossenen Lagen. Eine vermehrte Durchmischung städtischer Funktionen und mehr räumliche Nähe sollen gleichzeitig die Wege verkürzen und dadurch die Verkehrsentwicklung stabilisieren. Dies erfordert unweigerlich eine dichtere Bebauung. Der Begriff der Dichte Continua
Urbane Prozesse: Sozialräumliche Prozesse
Das Teilprojekt Urbane Prozesse analysiert die gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen der Entstehung von urbaner Qualität. Es erarbeitet vergleichende Analysen der relevanten sozialräumlichen Prozesse in den untersuchten Teilgebieten und fokussiert auf die involvierten Akteurinnen und Akteure, Aktivitäten und urbanen Praktiken. Besonderes Gewicht liegt auf der Frage der Kommunikation und der Partizipation Continua
Emerging and Sustainable Cities: Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
The current design studio of the chair of Architecture and Urban Design (Alfredo Brillembourg & Hubert Klumpner) is the pilot project of a new, on-going collaboration between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the ETH Zurich. The IDB recently launched the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative (ESCI). Within Continua
Torre David: Alternative Infrastructures
In our trajectory of urban research on informality, Torre David, an abandoned and subsequently invaded 45-story office tower in Caracas, Venezuela, presents a shift from the marginalized fringes of the city to the urban core. As such, the tower represents an opportunity to test new, alternative urban models.
Urban-Think Tank wins Holcim Gold Award for «Fábrica de Música»
Urban-Think Tank – Prof. Alfredo Brillembourg and Prof. Hubert Klumpner, with Michael Contento and Lindsey Sherman – has won the Holcim Gold Award 2011 for Latin America with their project «Grotão – Fábrica de Música», a terraced landscape and multifunctional public building located in the Paraisópolis favela of Continua
Vertical Cities Asia
Das Special Urban Design Studio – Projekt «SymbioCity» gewinnt den internationalen Studentenwettbewerb Vertical Cities Asia 2011, Chengdu, ausgelobt von der National University Singapore. Das Special Urban Design Studio wurde von der Professur Christiaanse zusammen mit der Professur Brillembourg/Klumpner geleitet. Mehr. Ansprechperson: Nicolas Kretschmann
Stadtsoziologie – Globale Verstädterung aus vergleichender Sicht
Two New Professors for the Chair for Architecture and Urban Design
Professor Alfredo Brillembourg and Professor Hubert Klumpner hold the chair for Architecture and Urban Design at the ETH Zurich as of July, 2010. They currently run an interdisciplinary practice dedicated to high-level research and design on a variety of subjects surrounding contemporary architecture and urbanism. Here, they present Continua
Wo die grossen Kisten sind, ist die neue Mitte
In Agglomerationsräumen entstehen grossmassstäbliche Cluster neben den historischen Siedlungskernen. Stellen diese «Big-box Welten» als neue Zentralitäten nur ein Risiko für die Entwicklung der Gemeinden dar oder bieten sie ihnen neue Chancen? Könnten qualifizierte Big-box Welten eine Katalysatorwirkung für die städtebauliche Entwicklung der Gemeinden und der Region haben?
Urban Research and Architecture: Beyond Henri Lefebvre
Die Gesellschaft produziert ihren Raum – der Raum ist ein gesellschaftliches Produkt, lautet eine der zentralen Thesen des französischen Soziologen, Intellektuellen und Philosophen Henri Lefebvre, welche er vor etwa 40 Jahren aufgestellt hat. Lefebvres Anliegen war es, zu zeigen, dass sich «Raum» nur aus der jeweiligen Gesellschaft heraus Continua
Enhancing urban density through sustainable housing development strategies (in German: ANANAS – Angebotsstrategie NAchhaltig NAchverdichteter Städte)
A growing number of people wish to enjoy the advantages of affordable accommodation in a dense urban environment and combine this with a socially and ecologically sustainable lifestyle. The project ANANAS aims to develop strategies that contribute to a housing stock which is attractive to this target group Continua
Aumentare la densità urbana attraverso strategie di sviluppo abitativo sostenibili (in tedesco: ANANAS – Angebotsstrategie NAchhaltig NAchverdichteter Städte)
Un numero sempre maggiore di persone si orienta verso i vantaggi offerti da alloggi convenienti in un ambiente urbano densamente popolato e li unisce a uno stile di vita socialmente ed ecologicamente sostenibile. Il progetto ANANAS intende sviluppare strategie che contribuiscono a creare un patrimonio edilizio interessante per Continua
Riparazione, manutenzione e assemblaggio urbano
Questo progetto evidenzia la riparazione e la manutenzione come caratteristiche delle infrastrutture e dell’ambiente edificato. Mentre gli sforzi attuali volti ad aumentare la densità delle città offrono speranze per una nuova rivoluzione urbana, riparazione e manutenzione diventano le caratteristiche principali dello sviluppo urbano nel 21° secolo. Le persone Continua
Dare nuovi impulsi per un’edilizia abitativa sostenibile
Salvo poche eccezioni, il mercato delle abitazioni in affitto dal 1970 fino a metà del 1980 ha registrato pochissime innovazioni. Le poche iniziative emerse, generalmente su piccola scala, sono state promosse da costruttori privati o da cooperative d’abitazione di nuova costituzione. Uno di questi costruttori privati è la Continua
Architettura accademizzata: progetto come pratica di ricerca
Questo progetto di cooperazione dell’ETH Wohnforum – ETH CASE, diretto da Monika Kurath e in cooperazione con Michael Hagner, ricerca scientifica, e Philip Ursprung, gta, è stato finanziato da una borsa di ricerca dell’ETH. Analizza le basi epistemiche, la forma e il contenuto della ricerca di progettazione in Continua
Come crescere: pianificazione per un utilizzo completamente sostenibile del territorio
Studio di strutture spaziali e proiezione di immagini teoriche di opportunità di pianificazione dinamiche Sfruttamento del territorio Background: le aree metropolitane sono sistemi organizzati in modo complesso, estremamente adattabili al mutare delle circostanze o all’emergere di nuove richieste di utilizzo. A minare la prevista crescita qualitativa futura sembra Continua
L’Avana
Tra il 2004 e il 2007 è stato condotto SeDUT, un progetto di ricerca collaborativo svizzero-cubano sullo sviluppo urbano dell’Avana. La cattedra di Sociologia del Dipartimento di architettura del Politecnico federale di Zurigo ha collaborato con gli uffici di progettazione di Metron AG per dirigere i contributi svizzeri Continua
Hoograven Invites You
Il progetto «Hoograven Invites You» è stato presentato l’anno scorso all’«Utrecht Manifest». Partendo da un confronto tra il Marocco urbano e l’Olanda urbana, l’obiettivo era quello di allargare i confini delle nostre conoscenze sulla qualità dell’ambiente urbano e dell’esperienza umana relativamente alla progettazione sociale, abbracciare l’informalità, definirne elementi Continua