Rethinking Urban Form: Switzerland as a "Horizontal Metropolis"

In light of the rapid population growth forecast for the coming years and the powerful transformations already occurring throughout its whole territory, today's Switzerland stands in urgent need of critical reflection on its urban future. A novel set of concepts and actions is needed in order to produce new visions and operational tools capable of critically reconsidering mainstream debates about Switzerland's future urban growth. On the one hand, national policies and narratives tend de facto towards lending increasing support to a dynamic of "metropolization," which usually leads to stronger territorial hierarchization strategies and processes aiming at a spatial condensation of urban services and functions in specific, selected locations. On the other hand, however, the Swiss territory-with its deep rootedness in federalism and its unique aggregative structure-still embodies key features of what, at different times, has been named a single "Grande Ville," a "dezentralisierte Grossstadt," a "Ville-Territoire" or, more recently, "Stadtland Schweiz." The country as a whole is still characterized by extended and layered conditions of inhabitability, where the dispersion of the urban fabric, enmeshed within the agricultural and forested landscape, is articulated through horizontal rather that vertical relationships. This paper offers a novel reflection on how the ongoing metropolization process could be seen as a positive force if a markedly different idea of metropolitan space is introduced-the "Horizontal Metropolis." Its key idea is to distribute and enlarge the benefits which metropolization, if conducted in line with the tradition of decentralization and horizontality, could bring to the Swiss territory and its population. The "Horizontal Metropolis" concept recovers and leverages the various forms of inhabitability and their relation with the infrastructural support. It considers the long-term construction of the Swiss "City-Territory" as a renewable resource, which means reflecting on new life cycles, capitalizing on the urban and territorial embodied energy, and therefore rethinking, without denying it, Switzerland's extensive and diffused fixed capital. This could be a precious resource to accommodate future urban growth and reorient the form it takes, keeping at bay indiscriminate sprawl as well as its currently predominant ideological counterpart, indiscriminate densification and polarization.

Spaces and Flows: An International Journal of Urban and ExtraUrban Studies

Nancy Raewyn Couling

Ocean space is currently being urbanized on an unprecedented scale, a phenomenon under investigation by the architectural laboratoire bâle, EPFL Switzerland. Lefebvre writes of the all-encompassing process of urbanization, that agriculture, industry and urbanization follow each other (Lefebvre 2003). This model can be tested for ocean space, which already plays a major role within mobility and organisational networks and is at the same time a fluid, partially industrialised landscape of dimensions often far exceeding comparable zones on land. The research aims to investigate these relationships, position ocean spatial typologies within the urban debate and identify planning tools informed by the physical, as opposed to the virtual, condition of flow, which implement the ocean itself as an “active” agent. In the case of the Barents Sea in northern Norway, the interest in ocean space is fuelled by the opening of the Northern Sea Route to Asia and the prospect of releasing vast off-shore reserves of oil & gas on the one hand, and the alarming rate of global warming as reflected in the receding ice-front on the other. The strategic development of infrastructure, the provision of access and the complex grid of international networks active in the region are indicators of a particular type of urbanism acting at the territorial scale. This specific character, however, demands an urbanism of flows. Despite its remoteness, its vastness, its extreme climatic and light conditions, its relatively sparse human population and its abundance of natural habitats, this territory is under extreme pressure. The Barents Sea exemplifies the need for a new kind of spatial strategy, a strategy which works with the dynamics of the ocean and its potential for the current urbanization processes. How can urban design methods and principles be applied to ocean territory and how can natural “clients” such as inhabitants, or phenomena such as ice, be catered for in planning terms? The laboratory’s project developed “territorial constitutions” for the Barents Sea which were then further articulated in singular architectural projects as a proof of concept. The context revealed itself to be both an extremely harsh and aesthetic natural environment and a correspondingly extreme artificial and utilitarian built environment.

2014

Vers un assainissement urbain durable en Afrique subsaharienne

Halidou Koanda

Justification In Sub-Saharan Africa, excreta and wastewater disposal is characterised primarily by on-site sanitation systems. This sanitation option is more likely to increase as governments, municipalities, communities, private operators and donor agencies strive to reach the Millennium Development Goals aimed at reducing by half the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation facilities. Due to increased urban population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, the faecal sludge volumes will increase to alarming quantities in the coming decades. An evaluation of faecal sludge management practices reveals that the main shortcomings relate to the widespread lack of involvement and foresight by the municipalities, the paucity of effective legal provisions and organization, and the absence of stakeholder coordination. Stakeholder involvement for planning and implementing faecal sludge management is virtually inexistent or excluded from urban sanitation planning processes. In the majority of situations, faecal sludge management is financially not viable. This is a major cause of the indiscriminate dumping of faecal sludge in urban areas or its untreated use in urban agriculture. These practices not only pose permanent and serious health risks but also contaminate both scarce ground and surface water. Objective and general approach On the basis of these facts, which present a real challenge to sector specialists, the overall objective of our research is to develop an innovative strategic planning approach for sustainable faecal sludge management in urban areas which allows minimising public health and environmental risks. Focus is placed on developing a reproducible methodology for stakeholder involvement, on enhancing population awareness for improved faecal sludge disposal and attributing a leading role to the dynamic private faecal sludge emptying and transport operators. These aspects form the three pillars of our search for a comprehensive methodological approach. The municipality of Ouahigouya in Burkina Faso with a population of about 65'000 inhabitants was used as pilot site to launch, implement and scientifically validate the approach. Analysis and stakeholder involvement The stakeholder-based planning approach developed in Ouahigouya relies on a combination of stakeholder identification and analysis, and participatory planning techniques (focus groups, workshops, informal meetings, all-stakeholder workshops). A quantitative survey among households allowed collecting stakeholders' proposals and evaluating suggestions for improvement of faecal sludge management and neighbourhood hygiene proposed by the population. The main steps in the stakeholder involvement approach include: Jointly clarifying the objectives of the planning process together with the stakeholders; Identifying stakeholders and their interests; Classifying stakeholders according to their importance and influence based on defined criteria and confirmed by the stakeholders themselves; Identifying the interactions between the stakeholders; Verifying the results of the stakeholder analysis by the stakeholders themselves; Choosing stakeholder involvement techniques; Implementing the chosen method of stakeholder involvement: development of faecal sludge management scenarios, acceptance of the scenarios by the stakeholders in focus groups, choice and acceptance of a basic scenario for development of the future strategy in an all-stakeholder workshop; Evaluating the chosen involvement process by the stakeholders. The experience gained with the planning methods developed and implemented in Ouahigouya reveals that the "Stakeholder analysis" method is efficient and provides answers to questions such as: Who are the important and influential stakeholders? Who should participate in the planning process and in which manner? This experience also revealed the need for capacity building of certain stakeholder categories (emptying operators, women's associations, etc.) to increase their degree of involvement in the planning process. Improvement in stakeholder involvement was achieved thanks to a combination of workshops, focus groups and other informal meetings allowing less influential stakeholders (associations of local women, horticulturists, emptiers) to share information and to freely express their opinions and concern and to defend their interests. Thus, providing an excellent example of local democracy appreciated by all stakeholders of Ouahigouya. The approach developed provides tools for policy-makers and planners to ensure an effective stakeholder involvement in the process of developing a common vision and implementation of improved urban sanitation measures. The conditions for replicating the approach developed and tested in Ouahigouya are due to participatory democracy, great commitment of the local authorities and the high motivation of the stakeholders involved. Levers for the willingness-to-improve faecal sludge management and neighbourhood hygiene The evaluation method of the willingness to improve faecal sludge management by the population was based on a combination of the planned behavior model of Ajzen and the contingent valuation method, financial analysis of the pit emptying and faecal sludge enterprise, and on focus groups of stakeholders. By focusing on local practices, perceptions and individual behavior, this method revealed that financial viability – often reduced to willingness-to-pay – is not the only factor to consider when planning improvement of sanitation practices. Willingness-to-improve is highly dependant on psycho-sociological factors such as attitude towards and beliefs in an improved neighbourhood environment, social pressure on the households by the neighbourhood as well as the subjective costs and benefits expected from improved faecal sludge management. These factors therefore present levers allowing planners and decision-makers to encourage, increase and develop the demand for improved latrine emptying services, e.g. though social marketing. Promoting private entrepreneurs According to market analysis of emptying services and stakeholders involved, small private and mainly informal enterprises play a leading role in faecal sludge management in most cities of Sub-Saharan Africa. These operators, dynamic but fragile, require an appropriate institutional, jurisdictional and economic environment based on a balanced partnership between the municipality (public) and the private sector. Our study reveals that for a company truck to be profitable, about 1'000 trips per year (at 6'000 FCFA per trip) are required or the equivalent of a city of 56'000 inhabitants. In the case of Ouahigouya, profitability is increased if the emptying operators apply the latest management and professional tools and techniques, and manage to provide emptying services in neighbouring towns. Decision support tools The research led to developing decision support tools for professionals and policy-makers. These tools facilitate the development of a tariff-oriented policy to avoid uncontrolled faecal sludge discharge into the environment, to render investments by private operators profitable, and still make emptying services accessible to low-income households. This involves: Analysis of the cost structure of 3 pit emptying companies has revealed that fuel, maintenance/repair and personnel costs make up 45%, 20% and 30%, respectively, of an enterprise's operating expenses. An Excel programme was developed to allow municipalities and private operators to determine the operating costs of emptying services. This allowed to establish a sustainable money flux between the different stakeholders involved and to define the tariffs. To prevent faecal sludge discharges in the immediate residential environment or on unauthorised sites, it might under specific circumstances prove necessary and feasible to reimburse rather than charge entrepreneurs for delivering faecal sludge to the treatment sites, hence, create a strong incentive for good emptying and haulage practice. Evaluation methods of the sludge quantities to be disposed of have been developed to allow faecal sludge planning by the municipal authorities, assessment of the potential market and return on investment by the private operators. Advantages of the approach for the population of Ouahigouya Based on the results of our study, it was possible to formulate practical recommendations for the organisation of the urban sanitation sector for the municipality of Ouahigouya – now in possession of a sustainable faecal sludge management strategy. Our study has also contributed to promoting local consultation and raising the awareness of the role and contribution of each stakeholder group, in particular the previously neglected manual emptiers in their daily efforts to improve the living conditions of the urban inhabitants. The "Strategic Excreta and Wastewater Sanitation Plan", that was developed and supported by the "Office National de l'Eau et de l'Assainissement - National Water and Sanitation Agency", provides an excellent framework for the implementation of the elaborated faecal sludge management model (as part of the this strategic plan).

EPFL2006

Le vide

Stephanie Bender

Today the question of how to work in the continuous contemporary urban landscape, is a big concern for urban development professionals. Still marked by the modern obsession to define the building forms, a vision influenced by the functionalist movement of the Thirties, these same professionals have lost their means of working sustainably in a contemporary city which is both continuous and fragmented, like an individualised collection of various materials and shapes without urban links, spreading out without limits in the overall landscape. In this chaos, an urban approach has appeared, changing the interest from the building to its landscape, from the built to the non-built, and above all from the filled to the void, and offers a new approach more adapted to the context of today's urban environment, capable of creating links with the non built, of offering new urban materials through the 'non urban', and generating public spaces in the presence of 'non-form' buildings. This approach, which here is called The void. New urban strategies, works with the 'non-materials' such as the landscape, the infrastructure or the programmes, and tries to meet the challenge of a new urbanism in the contemporary city. To understand this, the thesis will strive to explore the chronology of this idea through its different chapters. A 'prehistory' will provide an understanding of the origins of this, via its discoverers, pioneers and precursors and will present an astonishing picture of first attempts to define the urban environment via the void. The case of Melun-Senart, the urban strategy developed in 1987 by Rem Koolhaas and his Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), considered as the starting point for this search and as the masterpiece of the Void approach, will demonstrate the extremely innovative phenomena which resulted from what it called by its author as the "Strategy of the void". Putting this into perspective in the work of Rem Koolhaas will reveal a dense web of projects and writings on, or with the void, which again reinforces the idea of its pertinence. The exploration of the artistic fields and parallel philosophies, will demonstrate the pre-existence of the 'void' concepts amongst the protagonists and will prove the huge influence that they had in the construction of this new urban idea for the architects and the urban planners, and in particular Koolhaas. Finally, other contemporary urban protagonists will illustrate through their projects and their writings, a variety of approaches for the void up to the present day. And right at the end, an experiment through the void projects of the author, will offer an introspective vision of the process. More than two decades after the 'Strategy of the void' this approach goes beyond the diagrammatic stage of a competition, confirming not only its pertinence, but also its ability to provide answers that are both varied and renewed to the extremely complex and confused situations that are to be found in today's urban environment. This new way of conceptualising the urban landscape by the void, the reference for the dense area of the historical city, is replaced by the informal void of the contemporary city considered as the very identity of this new continuous urbanism and shows itself ultimately to be the void. a new urban strategy.

EPFL2011