{"id":5998,"date":"2021-03-09T11:07:14","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T10:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/2021\/03\/09\/new-agendas-under-planetary-urbanisation-designing-sustainable-agri-urbanisms\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T17:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T15:05:08","slug":"new-agendas-under-planetary-urbanisation-designing-sustainable-agri-urbanisms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/2021\/03\/09\/new-agendas-under-planetary-urbanisation-designing-sustainable-agri-urbanisms\/","title":{"rendered":"New Agendas Under Planetary Urbanisation: Designing Sustainable Agri-Urbanisms"},"content":{"rendered":"What is the future of the manifold agricultural territories across the world that support contemporary cities? While discussions on urban sustainability have focused on cities and urban regions, many agricultural territories are equally exposed to rapid and far-reaching urban transformation processes with massive social and environmental implications, opening a research gap for \u2018agri-urbanisms\u2019.<\/em>\n\n\n\nWith nearly half of the total land area on the planet currently dedicated to some form of agricultural production, agriculture is one of the most important fields of action to address the manifold problematic of sustainability. Extended urbanisation in agricultural areas often leads to unsustainable territories generating risks for climate change, exhaustion of water and natural resources, consumption of arable land, and depletion of soil fertility, as well as disadvantaging local population, generating forced migration, and affecting quality of life. Among the urgent issues are the consequences of the industrialisation of agriculture, including dependence on fertilisers, pesticides and fossil fuels, soil erosion, and various forms of environmental pollution.\n\nThese issues could be addressed through novel agricultural practices, such as agroforestry, regenerative, and conservation agriculture. In line with the principles of agroecology, a more regional dimension of food production could become central to local economies, bringing multiple benefits, from ecological diversity and food security to better local participation and governance.\n\n\n
\n
\"Portrait
Portrait of urban Switzerland, showing metropolitan regions (red), networks of cities (orange), quiet zones (green), alpine resorts (blue) and alpine fallow lands (brown). Source: ETH Studio Basel, 2006. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Urban
Urban form of Geneva: \u2018Gen\u00e8ve la ville\u2019 and \u2018autre Gen\u00e8ve\u2019, hand sketch by Pierre De Meuron. Source: ETH Studio Basel, 2006.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Territories
Territories of urbanisation in the trinational metropolitan region Singapore-Johor-Riau. \nTrinational metropolis (red) is surrounded by territories of industrial primary production (beige) \nand quiet archipelago (green). Source: ETH Architecture of Territory, M. Topalovi\u0107, K. Kostka, 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\nIn this context, more theoretical and empirical work on processes of extended urbanisation in agricultural territories is urgent. This project aims to address the gap by analysing processes of extended urbanisation in agricultural territories across Europe and Asia in three typical forms:\n
    \n \t
  1. operationalised landscapes of industrial agriculture;<\/li>\n \t
  2. peripheralised mountain regions; and<\/li>\n \t
  3. enclosed and fragmented agricultural landscapes in extended metropolitan regions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nThe project combines detailed qualitative analysis with quantitative geospatial analysis and modelling thereby linking the social, political, and cultural aspects of urbanisation to transformations in land use patterns, soil ecosystems, and ecosystem services. Building on analytical investigations, the project also aims to develop large scale urban-territorial design strategies and governance models for agri-urbanisms, based on the principles of agroecology and sustainable urban development.\n\nThe extended metropolitan region of Zurich serves as the central case and reference model. Three additional comparative studies (Arcadia, Johor and Delhi) will allow for a generalization of the findings and their contextualization in different urban constellations in Europe and Asia. Methodologically, the territorial approach originally developed at ETH Studio Basel and FCL Singapore is at the centre of the project.\n

    Research Team<\/h3>\nProf. Dr. Christian Schmid<\/strong><\/a>, PI, ETH Zurich, D-ARCH, Chair of Sociology.\u00a0His scientific work is on planetary urbanisation, on comparative urban analysis, and on theories of urbanisation and space. He is collaborating with Neil Brenner on a long-term theory project on planetary urbanisation.\n\nAssoc. Prof. Milica Topalovi\u0107<\/a><\/strong>, Co-PI, ETH Zurich, D-ARCH, Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning. Her work is concerned with territories beyond-the-city and urgent transformation processes they are exposed to, through the movement of capital, social restructuring, and environmental change. She undertook a range of territorial studies around the world, in remote regions, resource hinterlands, and countrysides, in an effort to decenter and \u201cecologize\u201d architect\u2019s approaches to the city, the urban, and urbanization. In her recent work, she looks at regions whose social and environmental qualities have been degraded through unsustainable agriculture and resource harvesting practices, with intention to design their transformations on the principles of agroecology.\n\nProf. Adrienne Gr\u00eat-Regamey<\/strong>, ETH Zurich, D-BAUG, Planning of Landscapes and Urban Systems (PLUS)\n\nProf. Dr. Johan Six<\/strong>, ETH Zurich, D-USYS, Chair of Sustainable Agroecosystems\n\nDr. Christoph Kueffer<\/strong>, ETH Zurich, D-USYS & HSR Rapperswil, Chair of Urban Ecology\n\nAsst. Prof. Dr. Naomi Hanakata<\/strong>, NUS School of Design and Environment\n\nAssoc. Prof. Dr. Nancy Couling<\/strong>, Bergen School of Architecture & Senior Researcher at\u00a0ETH Zurich, D-ARCH, Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning\n\nAssoc. Prof. Dr. Nikos Katsikis<\/strong>, TU Delft BK, Department of Urban Design\n\ncan Doc Nitin Bathla<\/strong>, ETH Zurich, D-ARCH, Chair of Sociology\ncan Doc Hans Hortig<\/strong>, ETH Zurich, D-ARCH, Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning\nVesna Jovanovi\u0107<\/strong>, ETH Zurich, D-ARCH, Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning\nKaroline Kostka<\/strong>, ETH Zurich, D-ARCH, Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning\ncan Doc Metaxia Markaki<\/strong>, ETH Zurich, D-ARCH, Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning\nMuriz Djurdjevic<\/strong>, ETH Zurich, D-ARCH, Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning\n\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What is the future of the manifold agricultural territories across the world that support contemporary cities? While discussions on urban sustainability have focused on cities and urban regions, many agricultural territories are equally exposed to rapid and far-reaching urban transformation processes with massive social and environmental implications, opening a research gap for \u2018agri-urbanisms\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"departemente":[138,194,159,203,247,183,199],"newsletter_ausgabe":[300],"class_list":["post-5998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter-artikel","departemente-departement-architektur-d-arch","departemente-departement-bau-umwelt-und-geomatik-d-baug","departemente-institut-fuer-landschaft-und-urbane-studien-lus","departemente-institut-fuer-raum-und-landschaftsentwicklung-irl","departemente-prof-dr-adrienne-gret-regamey","departemente-prof-dr-christian-schmid","departemente-prof-milica-topalovic","newsletter_ausgabe-nl-49"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":23,"label":"Newsletter-Artikel"}],"departemente":[{"value":138,"label":"Departement Architektur (D-ARCH)"},{"value":194,"label":"Departement Bau, Umwelt und Geomatik (D-BAUG)"},{"value":159,"label":"Institut f\u00fcr Landschaft und Urbane Studien (LUS)"},{"value":203,"label":"Institut f\u00fcr Raum- und Landschaftsentwicklung (IRL)"},{"value":247,"label":"Prof. Dr Adrienne Gr\u00eat-Regamey"},{"value":183,"label":"Prof. Dr. Christian Schmid"},{"value":199,"label":"Prof. Milica Topalovic"}],"newsletter_ausgabe":[{"value":300,"label":"NL 49"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/210317-GREATER-GENEVA-FIGURE-PLAN-Territories-of-Potentials-scaled-1-1024x806.jpg",1024,806,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Yaxin Hou","author_link":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/author\/houya\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":23,"name":"Newsletter-Artikel","slug":"newsletter-artikel","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":23,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":680,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":23,"category_count":680,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Newsletter-Artikel","category_nicename":"newsletter-artikel","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5999,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5998\/revisions\/5999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5998"},{"taxonomy":"departemente","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/departemente?post=5998"},{"taxonomy":"newsletter_ausgabe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xoxo.capsule.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter_ausgabe?post=5998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}