Mar 22 2013
The future of the planet will take place in the cities, which researchers see more and more as complex organisms in constant evolution. In this optic, research aims at developing innovative solutions in order to meet many challenges in matters of urban densification, energy transition, resource management, infrastructural evolution and social equilibrium.
The magazine REFLEX devotes a substantial portfolio to this topic by interviewing several researchers of which Professor Emmanuel Rey from the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST).
REFLEX is a scientific magazine destined to all those who want to understand how science, technology and innovation transform their everyday life. It is published three times a year in English and in French at a rhythm of three publications per year. The March 2013 edition is devoted to the emergence of the "science of the cities". One of the articles, entitled "To save the countryside, densify the cities", deals more specifically with issues related to the impacts of urban sprawl and the potentialities of urban densification.
Urbanization of the countryside is directly linked to the incapacity of cities to absorb the population increase. While the total population in Switzerland has increased from 6.5 to 8 million inhabitants between 1980 and 2012, it has remained around one million for the five largest cities (Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern and Lausanne) according to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. This phenomenon did not start yesterday, but its consequences - inefficient use of ground, pressure on landscape, infrastructural costs and environmental impacts – as well as its rapid growth have raised awareness on the need of management.
"As from 2002, Switzerland set the objective of stabilizing the urbanization surface per inhabitant to 400 square meters", underlines Prof. Emmanuel Rey. This means finding the means of enabling cities to evolve towards greater density, but also at the same time to confer them a global quality. In other words the idea is to transform urban areas into a living frame offering a credible alternative to the continuation of urban sprawl.