Lecture series « The future of the past »
PDL Gare-Lac © Yverdon-les-Bains / Archigraphie.ch
Organized by SwissEngineering, in partnership with the Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes, the Cercle Littéraire de Lausanne and PONT12, the lecture series entitled "The future of the past" has closed on September 7 with a lecture of Prof. Emmanuel Rey from the Laboratory of architecture and sustainable technologies (LAST). Entitled "From urban disused areas to sustainable neighborhoods", his lecture highlighted the strategic dimension of regenerating these areas in the perspective of finding alternatives to urban sprawl and functional segregation.
This lecture series concept intended to engage four authors of the Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes, to share their reflections on the notions of memory, continuity and evolution in their respective discipline. The speakers were respectively Gilbert Coutaz, Prof. Jacques Lucan, Prof. Frédéric Kaplan and Prof. Emmanuel Rey.
The observation of contemporary urban territories shows a singular paradox. If public politics try hard to decrease land consumption and pressure on the landscape by promoting strategies to curb urban sprawl, a significant amount of sites located in the heart of cities and agglomerations remains however abandoned.
These disused areas, former grounds of industrial, railway, military or infrastructural activities, nevertheless provide valuable reserves of building land. According to recent estimates, an area greater than that of a city like Geneva currently lies at the heart of urban territories in Switzerland.
Several examples of reconversion projects have highlighted the interest and the relevance of efforts to regenerate disused areas into lively neighborhoods, attractive for housing environment and suitable for the expansion of economic, social and cultural activities.
During his lecture, Prof. Emmanuel Rey provided an overview of the current situation, a presentation of diverse regeneration strategies in the context of a sustainable territorial development and a perspective on this theme in the future.