Urban areas in transition
Jonction, Geneva © EPFL / LAST / N. Sedlatchek
Following a series of thematic articles for the 20th anniversary of the Ecoparc association, the Arcinfo newspaper devotes a page to the challenges of sustainable urban design. Interviewed in this context, Prof. Emmanuel Rey, director of the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) explains the main challenges of the transition of urban territories.
From city centers to the urbanized countryside, the urban territories that we know today are the result of layers developed over several centuries, particularly the centrifugal development that characterized the second half of the 20th century. Faced with the strong environmental impacts of the built environment, the continuation of this urban sprawl is called into question, as well as the segregation of functions and the dependence on the automobile that characterize it.
To meet human needs while consuming fewer resources, multiple actors are now working to develop urban territories towards increased sustainability. To make this transition a reality, research projects, pioneer projects, and field experiments aim to open the way to strategies allowing to reconcile built density with the awareness of a specific identity, maintaining the quality of life, reducing the ecological footprint, preserving biodiversity, and developing the local economy.
Given the complexity of urban interactions, there is no fixed model nor a universal recipe for achieving this. “It is not a question of densifying in a generalized and uniform manner”, emphasizes Emmanuel Rey, but rather of “finely” revisiting urban territories, taking advantage of existing networks, and identifying the most relevant sectors, such as urban brownfields and land close to public transport stops.
Consideration of the specificities of each site is essential to this approach. It implies the search for “tailor-made” morphologies, but also the activation of local stakeholders, the strengthening of local services, the development of new amenities, the development of renewable resources, and the implementation of short cycles.
If the transition has already started, it is clear that these changes take time. At the start of a decade impacted by the current crisis, it will require a particularly informed and cooperative commitment from the multiple actors involved in the transformation of urban territories.