Today’s urban areas can be distinguished by many different types of urbanisation, which embrace specific poten-tials for spatial design. How can the different types be compared and evaluated? How can their potential be recognised and encouraged? The object of exploring the city of Zurich and its various districts is to demonstrate how "urbanity" can be interpreted and utilised today.
Background
Social and economic differentiation in recent decades has brought about far-reaching changes in cities and their spatial characteristics. Against the background of historic ideas of urbanity, today’s urban regions seem deficient with their dispersed and heterogeneous settlement structures and characteristics. In-depth quality discussions with regard to the urban region as a whole have only been held in recent years. To date there is no unversally recognised interdisciplinary evaluation scheme for assessing contemporary urban processes and forms.
Aim
The project is concerned with urban qualities and the potential of different districts in the metropolitan area of Zurich. Taking spatial, social and resource-specific characteristics into consideration, comparable statements of urban phenomena and information on the sustainable handling of current urban planning and design tasks are being formulated. In order to do this, different types of urbanisation in the metropolitan area of Zurich are being examined using three case studies and their respective potentials compared with one another. This will be used as a template for a catalogue of quantitative and qualitative indicators, which will allow urban qualities to be mapped, compared and evaluated.
Significance
The purpose of the project is to develop transdisciplinary strategies and measures in order to stimulate urban potential, and thereby make a contribution to the discussion of quality in urban and spatial development. It concerns both the medium and long-term development of scientific capacities and knowledge transfer within and without scientific institutions. The project is to establish a basis for understanding interdisciplinary planning, design and decision processes, which fulfils both scientific and practical demands and meets the requirements for design flexibility.
Original title: Urban potentials and strategies in metropolitan territories – as explored in the metropolitan area of Zurich
Grant: CHF 843'197.-
Duration: 36 months
Project leaders
- Prof. Marc M. Angélil, Netzwerk Stadt und Landschaft (NSL, Network City and Landscape), Departement Architektur, ETH Zurich (Department of Architecture, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich)
- Prof. Kees Christiaanse, Netzwerk Stadt und Land-schaft (NSL, Network City and Landscape), Departement Architektur, ETH Zürich (Department of Architecture, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich)
- Prof. Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, Netzwerk Stadt und Landschaft (NSL, Network City and Landscape), Departement Architektur, ETH Zürich (Department of Architecture, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich)
- Prof. Christian Schmid, Netzwerk Stadt und Land-schaft (NSL, Network City and Landscape), Departement Architektur, ETH Zürich (Department of Architecture, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich)
- Prof. Günther Vogt, Netzwerk Stadt und Landschaft (NSL, Network City and Landscape), Departement Architektur, ETH Zürich (Department of Architecture, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich)