Les étudiants, l'université de masse et la ville durable

In a globalized space where mobility is growing, the capacities of attraction of the city are becoming increasingly decisive. Between the cities, through its attractive quality and attraction capacity, the university will become a decisive factor of location activity. The contribution of the capacity of city culture, development of meeting places is fantastic. Universities cannot live permanently on their side, next to the city. However, for too long, the city and the university in Tunisia have developed in ignorance of each other. Universities, since they have existed, admit with difficulties contingencies of civil societies. Governments are wary of students and teachers. This latent divorce materialized especially through the creation of campus, away from city centers in the functionality and the monotony of isolation. The urban university countdown is now universally condemned. Addressing universities as major facilities for both generating modern middle classes and meet the needs of these classes is probably a new perspective in the architectural and urban studies in Tunisia. Investigate the essence of the university and its space, understand, give it a face, it takes to trace the sources of the university, the genesis of the position in relation to our time, in any its specificity, to lay a few landmarks able to give an account for the complexity of its course. Why, how, by whom and under what conditions taking shape at a given time an edifice (the university) from a social vocation? What general needs and specific answers? In short, what is the territorial space that University now covers? In this sense, the systemic approach presents an additional interest because it proposes to connect into a single and same application dimensions of reality that are sometimes addressed separately by different disciplines and different actors, professional town planning, culture, life student or teaching. Indeed, we have chosen to begin this research by presenting a sample of general policies of academic development in an international perspective. In a second stage, we will continue research on the same theme, but by focusing it on Tunisia. In this context, we will consider the current inadequacy between the university and the changing needs of society. In the third part, we will study the spatial impact and synergy between the university and the economic environment. This theme is central to the debate on the complex interactions of urban dynamics and local development. We will conclude by reviewing the first two parts in the light of the results of the third. Furthermore, this research involved a provision of knowledge, which is able to provide solid foundations for working professionals in architecture and urban, social scientists, lawyers, economists and current officials in charge to define strategies and projects of agglomeration.

Incremental Urbanism: A study of incremental housing production and the challenge of its inclusion in contemporary planning processes in Mumbai, India

Tobias Stefan Baitsch

Whilst urbanisation reached an unprecedented dimension, in a not so distant future half of the urban population will live in

informal¿ settlements. Often subsumed under the pejorative term slum, these habitats account for the majority of the future urban growth. Incremental urban development was once accepted as a viable means of addressing housing needs for large parts of the urban population. However, these approaches were largely abandoned in the 1990s in favour of mass housing provided through public private partnerships. While these largely failed in providing the required quantities and produced poor urban spaces, the scale of the phenomenon is such that incremental urban development needs reconsidering. However, in contrast to the well-documented experiences of the 1970s and 1980s, there is a lack of knowledge about the actual functioning of incremental development in contemporary regimes of urbanisation. Adopting an approach informed by French pragmatist sociology (Boltanski and Thévenot 2006), particularly the sociology of convention (Thévenot 1984), this research inquires into the production of slums at two levels: the intricate reality of housing production in Mumbai¿s slums and the contemporary controversies revolving around urban development. Building on fieldwork in a

self-built¿ resettlement colony in Mumbai forty years after it was established, this research examines how incrementally developing settlements are made, maintained, and transformed through everyday practices of local actors. Standing at the crossroads of the market, the political, and the social the so-called contractors are key figures engaged in the processes of construction and house making. As mediators in and of incremental urbanism they produce not only built-up space but also social space. Focusing on contractors as hitherto under-examined figures reveals that self-help housing in Mumbai, in contrast to conventional believes about housing practices of the urban poor, is by and large a professionalised mode of urban production. This research offers a refined account of the intricate reality of housing production and the ambiguous nature of incremental urbanism. Regarding urban planning, this research analyses the on-going revision of the Mumbai Development Plan 2014-2034 and the controversies accompanying it, which brings to the forefront the interplay of powers and arguments that otherwise are disguised in the dispersed and detached everyday making of the city. To better understand the discourse on current planning practices and struggles over conflicting approaches towards slums, this research examines the arguments and legitimization principles that underpin four major positions advocated in the controversies as the `good¿ way to urbanisation. Considering them as equally valid positions allows drawing comparisons between the different conceptualisations of urban planning and development, and the role and legitimacy they confer to modes of incremental urbanism. Reading the two moments in the production of Mumbai¿s slums together sheds light on the challenges to incorporate incremental urbanism into planning processes. It is argued that these challenges lie not solely with the conflicting rationalities ¿ or cosmos ¿ of how to create a just city, which clash in the controversies, but also with the ambiguity of incremental urbanism itself. Both of which contribute to complex processes of invisibilisation, or subalternisation, of incremental urbanism.

EPFL2018

Villes à la frontière et transformation de l'espace

Lena Poschet El Moudden

Few borders exist which separate two countries as dramatically disparate as the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Both share the territory of the Hispaniola island, but a profound process of differentiation rooted in the colonial division of the island between France and Spain and ideologically maintained by both modern nations, has lead to what Théodat (1998, 2003) calls the "twofold insularity" – each country behaves as if it were located on a separate island. In spite of all prejudices and ethnical, historical, linguistic, social, economic or religious differences, people living in the border regions established cross-border relations which, even if largely based on economic interests, are much more frequent and important to both nations than officially admitted (De Jesus Cerdano and Dilla, 2005; Sillé & Segura & Cabral, 2002). The local dynamic created by this exchange becomes palpable when one observes the busy binational market in the border towns of Ouanaminthe (Haiti) and Dajabón (Dominican Republic). Twice a week, people from nearly the whole northern part of both countries travel to these towns located on either side of the Masacre River, in order to buy and sell goods or to offer services in the market of Dajabón. The other days, tons of cargo transit to Haiti, to the extent that the once small borderland settlements have become an important junction in the economic subsystem of the northern part of the island. Moreover, the construction of a free zone in Ouanaminthe in 2002 –to produce textiles for the US-market– has connected the borderland towns to the international economy. This recent development is set within a context of progressive opening of borders (Martinez, 1994). It is the result of international policies that have been decided in the capitals, without consulting the concerned regions. In Ouanaminthe and Dajabón, local institutions are weak and receive no or little financial and administrative support from central administration. They do not have the means to cope with growing pressure on land and infrastructure, as the emergence of legal and illegal livelihood opportunities in the borderland has generated a threefold increase of the overall population in the past twenty years (Dajabón grew from 8'500 inhabitants in 1980 to 16'000 in 2002 and Ouanaminthe from 7'000 in 1981 to 39'000 in 2003). How did these recent economic, political and societal transformations shape the urban space of the two borderland towns? I addressed this issue by analyzing the motivation of stakeholders involved in the process of spatial transformation, and the impact of their actions. In my work I refer to the conceptual framework of urban intermediation (Bolay and Rabinovich, 2004), i.e. the spatial issues that each town has to address according to its internal characteristics, its function in national and international networks and its relation to the direct rural environment. In order to use this framework for the borderland issues, the conceptual part of this study proposes to develop the concept of "borderland intermediation". To the existing urban intermediation concept, it adds the influence of the characteristics of the border (based on policy and political aspects, economic issues, local identities, social networks, national defense issues and geographical insertion). By doing so, it relates the bi-national system of borderland towns to the intermediation concept. Data has been collected over three and a half years during several periods of fieldwork: observation and mapping of occupation and use of urban space, cartography, qualitative interviews with local stakeholders and residents, completed by other primary and secondary sources. This study shows that the recent transformations have accentuated the existing unbalanced relationship between the two towns. The powerlessness of the municipality of Ouanaminthe to meet population growth and to impose regulations or taxes related to the growing trade has enhanced its dependency to the Dominican town. For a growing number of Haitians, it is of existential importance to cross over to Dajabón in order to seek income, healthcare and education and this, in spite of latent racism and mistreatments. Founded on a strong sentiment of exploitation, Haitians often criticize the capitalist or even colonialist relationship imposed by their neighbors: not only the fact that the bi-national market takes place in Dajabón, but also that Dominican enterprises develop subsidiaries in Ouanaminthe, taking advantage of cheap labor and the absence of local production. On the contrary, the majority of Dajabón residents interviewed do not need to cross the river for their living. Most of them have never been to Ouanaminthe, but consider it insalubrious, out of control and dangerous. Both towns lack application of regulations in urban planning matters. Thus, spatial growth has entirely been ruled by landowner structure and land occupation practices. Around Dajabón, the adjacent land belongs mainly to two landowners, whose strategy –to enhance soil value through development of equipped middleclass neighborhoods– has restricted the urban sprawl. In Ouanaminthe land belongs to a multitude of small peasants. The selling and illegal occupation of rather small plots leads to sprawling urban growth, guided by rural pathways and leaving entire parts of neighborhoods inaccessible to motor vehicles. Population growth has also been absorbed by high densification of existing neighborhoods. No formal collaborations exist between the two municipalities. Informal ones do, through the implication of the two mayors, but overall, cross-border collaboration is left to NGOs and professional associations who militate for human rights, environmental issues and fair treatment inside the bi-national market. International development agencies present in the borderland initiate projects with bi-national concern, but these are disconnected from the local level and strongly influenced by the fact that these agencies relate directly to the central governments. We also observe a process of internal segregation in both towns, as commercial establishments progressively occupy parts of the town centers and the emergent middle class gathers in specific neighborhoods. Ouanaminthe and Dajabón are functionally interlinked and their transformation is undeniably governed by the progressive permeability of the border. Nevertheless, this border separates two completely different urban landscapes that are deeply marked by the internal characteristics of each town. Furthermore, the unequal and complex relationship of both populations creates the paradox that their spatial proximity accentuates the segregation in both towns, as it allows the citizens of both countries to stay in their environment and to commute –if necessary– even daily. This work shows that the application of the intermediation concept is relevant for the study of complex relationships that govern borderland space. The analysis based on this concept has enabled to study, on a local level, processes that are taking place on a global level. In so doing, it has allowed us to provide some answers to the central question: "How do local populations, national and international firms and governments react when a territorial economy, based on agriculture, is progressively linked to international networks? "

EPFL2006

Entre ville et campagne

Sophie Lufkin

Environmental, social and economic concerns linked to the sustainable development of the built-up environment are increasingly calling into question models of territorial development based on urban sprawl. This is because the process of dispersed urbanization generates social inequalities; it is based on the extensive use of automobiles, and leads to increased spending on infrastructure networks. This phenomenon tends to be explained by the search for a combination of life in the city and life in the wide-open which creates new life-styles based on the extensive use of transportation and communication systems. The analysis of these emerging practices indicates that they arise from a double pressure exerted on the population: on one hand, attraction to rural and mountain areas, and on the other hand the economic and cultural dependency vis-à-vis the large urban centers. In this context, the regeneration of urban wasteland areas appears to be a strategy capable of favoring a better anchoring between urbanization and public transport. The dynamics of off-shoring enterprises has freed up a large number of plots that are however connected to existing networks, and benefit from good accessibility and sometimes enviable centrality. The requalification of industrial wasteland has been the object of much research in the nineties, which has led to establish as principles density, mixed use and the preservation of the industrial heritage (for instance Escher-Wyss in Zurich-West, Sulzer in Winterthur, ABB in Baden, SIP in Plainpalais-Geneva). In the same way, following the abandonment of some mobility structures, research has started to focus on the fate of urban railroad wastelands. These are considered to be strategic locations to develop "compact cities", attractive for habitat and favorable for the development of social and cultural activities. Several examples in Switzerland illustrate these attempts: Ecoparc in Neuchâtel, Zurich HB, La Praille in Geneva, etc. Today, in order to offer alternatives to the urban paradigm of the compact city we focus our attention on a different type of railroad wasteland. By regional railroad wasteland we refer to areas located close to a train station, either abandoned or in the process of being abandoned, and situated in suburban or periurban zones. Though these regional railroad wastelands present advantages similar to those of the urban wastelands in terms of accessibility to public transport, they are very different by their relationship to the landscape and nature. In addition, much more affordable land prices than in city centers allow more flexibility in the choice of programs and target users. In line with the thinking led by Thomas Sieverts among others, we attempt to go beyond the antagonisms between city and country, by formulating the hypothesis that these regional railroad wastelands bring an answer that is able to reconcile the aspirations to life in the country with the requirements of sustainable territorial development. The present research aims to explore a series of urbanism strategies induced by the simultaneous and inseparable presence of the railroad and natural dimensions, which constitutes the specificity of these periurban and suburban sites. In a first phase, in order to reveal these specific characteristics we conducted a typology exercise on a sample of thirty railroad sites located on the Geneva to Sankt-Gallen axis. It extends the whole length of the country from Lake Geneva in the southwest to Lake Constance in the northeast and goes through the main city areas of the country as well as several so-called calm areas. These thirty wastelands were measured, photographed, described, analyzed and finally represented according to an innovative methodology that combines architectural, urbanism and sociological approaches. This first phase concludes with the construction of the "face" of each site; beyond the fundamental distinction between urban and regional wastelands, it leads to the identification of six individual types. In a second phase, the focus moves to the project process. In order to understand precisely the mechanisms and the stakes at play, we have analyzed several case studies of urban wastelands in various stages of advancement, going from construction finished (Zurich-West), to the beginnings of the launch of a project (Fribourg), the first stages of construction (Zurich Stadtraum-HB) and planning in the course of development (Lausanne-Malley). We thus show the main obstacles to development, then the levers, triggers or planning instruments capable of surmounting them. Finally, in the last part, we elaborate development scenarios up to 2025 for three regional wastelands of the Lake Geneva urban hub, which come from a distinct group within the typology: Versoix, La Plaine and Palézieux. The project recognizes two scales of intervention: the train station and its immediate surroundings on one hand, and the extended perimeter on the other hand, which includes land within a 500 meter radius around the station. The developments of these two perimeters are intimately linked: the creation of a pole of urbanization may induce an improvement of the rail service and vice-versa. These two embedded scales thus constitute a complex dynamic system, within which specific, though coordinated urbanism strategies are implemented, and the stakes proper to each perimeter dictate these. For the station and its immediate surroundings, the goal is primarily to increase the hospitability of the site, that is principally to increase the symbolic role of the station, to plan the equipment and infrastructure necessary in view of the increased flows of travelers, and arranging the external space by accentuating the presence of vegetation, in agreement with the local character. All of these interventions lead to the creation of a "railroad landscape" which is the regional counterpart to the urban public space. Within the extended perimeter, the project strategy rests upon the recognition of five complementary qualities: inhabited, equipped, wild, productive, to be contemplated, whose proportions vary according to the territorial insertion of the wasteland. Densification is then effected in a punctual and targeted manner, in coherence with the logic resulting from the encounter between rail and nature.

EPFL2010