Participatory Urban Governance

The realization of large urban infrastructure projects is necessary to achieve long-term planning goals such as sustainable cities, just cities or smart cities. Yet, these large urban infrastructure projects are more and more contested by city residents (for example Amazon HQ2 in New York, Toronto Sidewalk Labs, or More

Policy Analysis of Spatial Planning

Densification policies are at the core of the current revisions of the Federal Act on Spatial Planning. This research project analyzes the effects of densification policies on the housing market and the socio-economic composition of the population by making use of quasi-experimental research designs. We compare areas that More

Prof. Dr. David Kaufmann | Spatial Development and Urban Policy

David Kaufmann has been Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) at the Institute for Spatial and Landscape Development (IRL) since September 1st, 2019, leading the Spatial Development and Urban Policy (SPUR) group.

Sanctuary Cities in der Schweiz?

28. Oktober 2019, 18.00 – ca. 19.30 | ETH Zürich, LEE E 101, Leonhardstrasse 21, Zürich. Dieser Anlass ist Teil der Veranstaltungsreihe «Sanctuary Cities in der Schweiz?», die in Zürich, Bern und Genf stattfindet. Dabei werden städtepolitischen Entwicklungen zugunsten von irregulären Migrantinnen und Migranten in amerikanischen, europäischen und Schweizer More

MAS/DAS/CAS in Raumplanung 2019/21

Die Gestaltung unseres Lebensraumes und ein fachübergreifendes Verständnis für technische, ökonomische, rechtliche, soziale und ökologische Dynamiken der Raumentwicklung stehen im Zentrum dieser Weiterbildungsprogramme. Nebst Lernmodulen in verschiedenen raumrelevanten Disziplinen und der Arbeit an interdisziplinären Studienprojekten wird Planung als strategisches Problemlösungs- und Gestaltungsinstrument vermittelt. Das Bewerbungsverfahren für das MAS- und DAS-Programm 2019/21 ist abgeschlossen. Bei freien More

Spatial Planning Policy Analysis

Densification policies are at the core of the current revisions of the Swiss Spatial Planning Act. This new research project at the group of Spatial Development and Urban Policy (SPUR) analyzes the effects of densification policies on the housing market and the socio-economic population composition by making use More

The Grand Projet, Understanding the Making and Impact of Urban Megaprojects

25 September 2019, 18:00-19:00 | The Grand Projet Book Launch & Exhibition Opening | ETH Zürich, Hauptgebäude, im Lichthof, Erdgeschoss (HG E Nord), Rämistrasse 101, Zürich | exhibition open 25.9. to 4.10.2019. At this book launch and exhibition opening, The Grand Projet team at the ETH-Future Cities Laboratory presents the More

Form, Dichte und Werte – ein Vergleich von Ökosystemleistungen in Zürich und Singapur

Wie sieht die optimale Siedlungsform aus, welche Nachhaltigkeit mit einer hohen Wohn- und Aufenthaltsqualität verbindet? Während kompakte Strukturen den Landverbrauch minimieren, übt eine innere Verdichtung der Städte Druck auf die verbleibenden Grünflächen aus, was sich auf die Bereitstellung von Ökosystemleistungen und letztendlich auf die Lebensqualität der wachsenden städtischen More

Future Cities: Actions

24-25 September 2019 | Zurich. The FCL conference ‘Future Cities: Actions’ will feature outcomes of research conducted at the Future Cities Laboratory since 2015, when the second phase of the programme began. In particular, the conference will focus on actions and FCL’s contribution to sustainable future cities.

Densifying Switzerland: Debates and Research Avenues for an Analysis of Spatial Planning Policy

Densification is the central paradigm of the current revisions of the Swiss Spatial Planning Act. Densification can be motivated by concerns as to ecology or affordability. The newly established research group «Spatial Development and Urban Policy» (SPUR) at ETH Zürich will examine effects of densification policies in Switzerland. More

Dr. David Kaufmann is Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Spatial Development and Urban Policy

On the recommendation of ETH President Joël Mesot, the ETH Board appointed several new ETH professors during its meeting on 10 and 11 July 2019. Amongst them Dr. David Kaufmann (*1985), currently a post-doctoral student at the University of Bern, as Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Spatial Development More

Tagung Landmanagement 2019

12. November 2019 | ETH Zürich, Zentrum, Auditorium Maximum (HG F 30). Eine der grössten Herausforderungen des ländlichen Raumes sind bauliche Entwicklungen: Infrastrukturprojekte, Umnutzungen von landwirtschaftlichen Gebäuden oder Schutz vor Naturgefahren gelten oft als eine Voraussetzung für seine regionalökonomische Entwicklung und stellen zugleich Eingriffe in Natur und Landschaft More

Unseren Lebensraum erfassen, analysieren und gestalten – Einblick in die Welt der Geomatik

13. November 2019 | 5. Tag der Geomatik | Kongresshaus Aarau. Die ETH Zürich und die FHNW laden auch in diesem Jahr wieder zum Tag der Geomatik. An dieser Veranstaltung mit interaktiver Ausstellung und Lernmodulen für Schulklassen, geben Expertinnen und Experten spannende Einblicke in ein vielseitiges Fachgebiet.

Political Forests

The project Managing telecoupled landscapes for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services and poverty alleviation (2015-2020), supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), assesses the impacts and opportunities that arise when distant but coupled, or telecoupled, systems interact with More

disP 55/2, June 2019

disP – The Planning Review, Volume 55, Issue 2, June 2019 is now available online on Taylor & Francis Online.

Das Laboratorium der Raumentwicklung ist die Wirklichkeit

Die Siedlungsentwicklung im gewachsenen Bestand definiert einen Wendepunkt in der Raumentwicklung. Sie verändert Wesen der Planung und Anforderungen an sie. Die Spatial Transformation Labortories (STL) bieten eine neue Plattform zur Erforschung integrativer Ansätze für die kommenden Herausforderungen der Planung und Entwicklung unserer Lebensräume.

Innenentwicklung in der Stadt Zürich – Instrumente zur Aktivierung von Aufstockungspotentialen

Die geringe Aufstockungsrate soll in der Stadt Zürich insbesondere durch die Abstimmung auf energetische Sanierungen gefördert werden. Die hier präsentierten Lösungsansätze können sowohl einzeln, als auch in Kombination angewendet werden.

The Historic Centre of Bern

The content of the film is only available in German and French. After the Second World War, people looked for comfort instead of tradition. To make room for new buildings, some towns even wanted to demolish their historic town centres – including Bern. Link to the archives of More

Le Landeron

In 1963, Shell bought land in Cressier (NE) and, in 1964, began to build a large refinery there that was put into operation in 1966. A Category 3 national road had already been planned in the Cressier area within the scope of the national-road project 1954-1959. The prospect More

The Spreitenbach Shopping Centre

In the 1960s, Zurich’s rapid development began to penetrate as far as the community of Spreitenbach in the Limmat Valley. The former village slowly turned into a part of the Greater Zurich Area. In 1967, the foundation stone for the first Swiss shopping centre was laid here – More

The A2 and Its Structures

The construction of national roads had to deal with a lot of topographic obstacles. Here, engineering feats came into their own. The new structure was to “perfectly fit into the grand landscape”. However, the impact of the national roads on the spatial structure were largely disregarded in the More

Modular-Type Construction

The housing shortage that prevailed in the 1960s, had new construction methods emerge. Innovative construction techniques based on prefabricated concrete elements were tested to allow building more flats in a shorter time. At the same time, there was a call for spatial planning meeting the demand for new More

Neuer Promofilm Master Raumbezogene Ingenieurwissenschaften: Geomatik, Raum, Verkehr und Infrastruktur

Unseren Lebensraum kennen und gestalten Mit digitalen Modellen unseres Lebensraums, nachhaltiger Raumplanung und cleveren Verkehrskonzepten tragen Absolventinnen und Absolventen des Studiengangs Raumbezogene Ingenieurwissenschaften wesentlich zur Gestaltung der Zukunft bei. Google Maps, Geocaching, der Schweizer Weltatlas, der Bau von Tunnels und die Bewältigung der ganz grossen globalen Herausforderungen wie More

NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2019

Das neue NSL Veranstaltungsplakat Frühjahrssemester 2019 ist da!

The Construction of the A9

The construction of the national road network mainly took place between 1965 and 1975. The realization of the new traffic infrastructure was also considered an aesthetic challenge as road construction always involves interventions in the landscape. Link to the archives of RTS

Private Residential Building

The housing shortage of the 1960s was a topic that was observed with great attention and also was of great political concern. In 1965, the Federal Act on Measures to Promote Housing Construction was enacted. Among other things, the Delegate for Housing Construction advocated setting up Swiss national More

Jura Water Correction

Between 1962 and 1973, the second Jura Water Correction was carried out to prevent recurrent and catastrophic flooding. Link to the archives of Memobase

Men and Planning

The village landscape as the very emblem of a safe personal biography slowly disappeared, towns grew endlessly and traffic ate up the landscape. “Plan wherever planning is still to be done” became the motto – because land-use planning had started later in Switzerland than in other European countries. More

Construction of the Swiss National Roads

In Switzerland, national roads were planned from 1954 till 1959 – quite late by international standards. The first section of the new motorway network was inaugurated just in time for the opening of Expo’ 64 in Lausanne. Link to the archives of Memobase

Satellite Town Meyrin (GE)

The need for additional housing space that had existed since the 1940s also led to new concepts of housing development in Switzerland and, in Meyrin, to an entire satellite town being built. Link to the archives of Memobase

Typhoid Fever in Zermatt

The typhoid epidemic of 1963 was caused by contaminated drinking water. As a result, Switzerland introduced a ban for construction projects that were outside the scope of general sewerage projects. Link to the archives of Memobase

Nature Conservation

In the 1960s, “gems of the Swiss landscape” were increasingly caught up in the maelstrom of potential builders and speculators. Measures were sought to curb rising land prices, and the population was made aware of the need to protect the landscape in order to preserve it for posterity. More

National Roads

From 1954 till 1959, national roads were beginning to be planned. The first section – between Lausanne and Geneva – was opened in 1963 in view of the organization of the Expo ’64 in Lausanne. Switzerland wanted to present itself with a modern transport infrastructure at the Landesausstellung, More

disP 55/1, March 2019

disP – The Planning Review, Volume 55, Issue 1, March 2019 is now available online on Taylor & Francis Online.

The Magadino Plain

At the end of the 19th century, a water correction took place in the Ticino, and the Magadino Plain was able to develop from marshland into an intensively used agricultural area. In 1974, the Bolle di Magadino Nature Reserve was created. In the following decades, the settled area More

Land Speculation

The strong increase of settled areas after the end of the Second World War led to an overheating of the land market in the 1960s. In 1963, the Social Democratic Party SP and the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions submitted the so-called “land-rights initiative” (rejected in 1967). The More

The Halen Housing Estate

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Halen housing estate was built in a forest clearing near Bern. Halen was built using a construction method focussing on structural density and designed as a communal housing estate intended for families. Link to the archives of Memobase

Severe Weather Hits the Calanca Valley

In the 1950s, the Calanca Valley was marked by hard work and poverty. Natural hazards plagued the valley – including landslides that destroyed buildings. Link to the archives of Memobase

Floods in the Ticino

The snowmelt following the avalanche winter of 1951 led to high waters in the Ticino and the Engadine that destroyed houses and the infrastructure. Link to the archives of Memobase

Future Cities Laboratory Indicia 02

This second volume in the Indicia series focuses on the tools, methods and approaches needed for research on future cities. Following Marshall McLuhan’s famous provocation, we focus less on the ‘message’ and more on the ‘medium’ of research. This involves retreating from research contents—the topics, themes, questions, hypotheses, More

Actors’ diversity and the resilience of social-ecological systems to global change

Biological diversity is known to enhance the resilience of ecosystems to environmental change. It is, however, unclear whether a high diversity of social actors analogously increases the capacity of social-ecological systems to maintain the provision of ecosystem services while undergoing socio-economic and climate changes. Here, using an empirically More

Eine neue Landschaftstypologie zur Sicherung der Landschaftsqualität

Um die Qualität von Landschaften sowohl im urbanen als auch im ländlichen Raum zu sichern und gemäss entsprechenden Zielen zu entwickeln, ist eine flächendeckende Beschreibung der vorhandenen Landschaftstypen nötig. Diese dient als Grundlage zur Festlegung von Entwicklungszielen, zur Ausscheidung von besonders schützenswerten Gebieten sowie zur Beobachtung der längerfristigen More

MAS, DAS und CAS ETH in Raumplanung 2019/21

Bewerbungsfenster: 1. Januar bis 30. April 2019. Die Raumplanung in der Schweiz steht vor grossen Herausforderungen. Revision und Umsetzung des Raumplanungsgesetzes samt Integration der Infrastrukturen sind wichtige Themen der aktuellen politischen Diskussion. Zentrales Anliegen ist eine nachhaltige Gestaltung und Nutzung unseres Lebensraumes.

Spatial Planning: Here’s Why



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The NSL Archives were founded in 2001 and have, since 2007, been part of the Archives of the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta Archives) at ETH Zurich. The NSL Archives contain holdings on landscape architecture and spatial planning and urbanism in Switzerland.

By international comparison, the institutionalization of spatial planning and urbanism in Switzerland was rather late. For a long time, planning was characterized by the commitment of a few key players, including freelance planners and ETH Zurich itself. Large holdings in the field of spatial planning are available from the NSL Archives in the form of the estate of Hans Marti, the holdings of the Institute for Local, Regional, and Land Planning (ORL-Institut) and the Institute for Transport Planning and Technology (IVT) of ETH Zurich, Planpartner AG (Zurich), plus the study for the New Alpine Crossing (NEAT study, 1986–1988).

The landscape architecture inventory focuses on the landscape-architecture dynasty of Theodor Froebel, Otto Froebel, and Robert Froebel as well as Gustav Ammann, Peter Ammann, Eduard Neuenschwander, and Dieter Kienast, which spans around 150 years of Swiss horticultural history.

Further information on the holdings and their use can be found at the gta Archives. Bequests to Swiss garden and landscape architecture can also be found in the Archive for Swiss Landscape Architecture ASLA.


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Innenentwicklung in der Stadt Dübendorf

10. April 2019, 12.45 bis ca. 14.00 Uhr | ETH Zürich, Hönggerberg, HIL H 35.1. Vortrag des Stadtplaners von Dübendorf, Reto Lorenzi, im Rahmen der Vorlesung «Haushälterische Bodennutzung».

Innenentwicklung und Umsetzung RPG1 im Kanton Bern

27. März 2019, 14.00 bis ca. 15.15 Uhr | ETH Zürich, Hönggerberg, HIL H 35.1. Vortrag des Kantonsplaners des Kantons Bern, Dr. D. Wachter, im Rahmen der Vorlesung «Haushälterische Bodennutzung».

EiR PD Dr. Joris Van Wezemael, Dr. Markus Nollert | Spatial Transformation Laboratories (STL)

Joris Van Wezemael was Professor of Human Geography at the Université de Fribourg and CEO in charge of mandates of a real-estate investment foundation of the Pensimo Group. Since 2019, he has been Executive-in-Residence at IRL/STL of ETH Zurich.
Markus Nollert is the founder of urbanista.ch (bureau für raumentwicklung) and, since August 2018, head of the Spatial Transformation Laboratories (STL) group at IRL. In addition to his own research activities and lectures, he is co-ordinating the continuation of teaching activities at the Department of Spatial Development.

Transformation of Urban Landscapes

7 Sessions on selected Mondays, 10:00–12:00 ETH Zurich, Hönggerberg, HIL E 4. Cities and their planning have always been complex. The era of globalization exposed and brought to the fore this complexity. The reason behind this is the networking of hitherto rather iso­ lated places and systems across More