A new chair for urban ecology and the homes of the future
© Vincent Callebaut Architecte
Hosting almost half of the human population, today’s cities serve as fields of observation and unprecedented case studies on environmental issues and sustainable development. Beginning in Fall 2015, the new Chair in Urban Ecology will explore the urban environment in Switzerland and beyond.
Half the world’s population now lives in cities. This is also where 50% of the world’s energy is consumed. Therefore, on multiple levels urban centers play a vital and unprecedented role in the future of the environment. To study all aspects of this new situation and its implications in Switzerland and beyond, a new Chair in Urban Ecology and Sustainable Living will be established at EPFL as of Fall 2015. Funded by Swiss Mobiliar, which specializes in insurance and pensions, and with the aim to promote women's academic careers, this Chair will be part of the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering (ENAC).
“This chair gives us the chance to observe and understand the interactions between quality of life and the growth of cities, and thereby to anticipate problems that might arise within urban societies,” says Markus Hongler, CEO of Swiss Mobiliar.
Every day, cities import, process or reject huge amounts of food, waste and pollutants. They generate thousands of commutes, are perpetually being built and are constantly expanding. They also contain important animal and plant biodiversity as well as many energy and groundwater resources. Whether preserving built or natural heritage, cities are at the heart of debates on sustainable development. As a bearer of both problems and solutions, cities serve as laboratories for both observing our ways of life and making them compatible with the sustainability of our planet.
A new field
“This Chair fills a gap in the research, making it possible to better understand and improve well-being in cities,” says Marilyne Andersen, Dean of ENAC. “At the crossroads of several disciplines, such as environmental science, architecture and urban planning in the context of urban development in Switzerland, the Chair offers the opportunity to define how we can live together better while interacting with both our natural and built environments.”
Faced with today’s climate challenges, a new discipline is emerging whose goal is to decode both the functioning mechanisms of cities and the delicate balance between the well-being of their residents and environmental imperatives. It is also necessary to define new models and observation tools. These should facilitate the analysis of as yet unfamiliar fields of study such as human mobility patterns and urban micro-climates. They will also incorporate both historical and predictive data to provide, for example, a more precise understanding of the mechanisms of suburban sprawl. These models appeal equally to both the social sciences and technology.
The Swiss Mobiliar Chair will form part of ENAC, which already offers a wide range of expertise in urban planning, designing high-performance buildings, conserving sensitive buildings, mobility analysis, energy management, waste reduction and recycling, the protection of natural resources, etc. Connections and collaborations will also be established with EPFL’s new Fribourg antenna, the Smart Living Lab (SLL), which will be a center specialized in research on the building of the future.