NEW ECOLOGIES — Soil, Water, Labour

Abstract

NEW ECOLOGIES is dedicated to the practice of architecture in the post-anthropocentric era. In this semester we will look at Zurich and its region through the lenses of three highly interconnected notions—soil, water and labour. Taking a close look at the influence that soil, water and labour have on the territory, will enable us to put in focus specific and urgent ecologies in the Metro Zurich.

Objective

PROCESS AND RESULTS The semester consists both of investigative journeys and intensive studio sessions. Architecture of Territory values team spirit, intellectual curiosity and commitment. We are looking for avid travellers and team workers to develop their highly motivated and independent positions. Our approach enables students to work with a wide range of methods and sources pertaining to territory, including ethnographic explorations, interviews, reading exercises, large-scale drawing techniques, photography, creating models, books and online exhibitions. Several workshops will help students to learn the tools needed: drawing software, GIS, online CMS, photography and more. We will welcome guest speakers and craft common agendas through debates. Each student group will write their own project brief and will receive our unreserved support in creating their project. COLLABORATION The studio NEW ECOLOGIES—Soil, Water, Labour is part of a long-term studio series and research program focusing on Agriurbanisms in the context of the metropolitan region of Zurich. Selected institutions, experts, citizens and fellow designers will work with us in the process. TRAVEL Investigative journeys constitute the core of the project. We start exploring on the first day of our studio, turning our heads away from the city and traversing through the backyard territories of the ONA. Investigative journeys will continue throughout the semester and during the seminar week where we visit different actors in the realm of agricultural pioneering. We explore the field–by foot, by bike, by bus or by train–followed by individual days of investigation on the research topics and sites in the respective student teams. The seminar week will take part from the 19th to 23rd of October and is integrated and mandatory. The cost frame is A. CREDITS The semester project offers the total of 19 credit points: The Design Studio with Integrated Discipline (Planning) 14+3 KP and the Seminar Week 2KP.

Content

What is the future of the manifold landscapes and territories across the world which support contemporary cities, such as Zurich, with water, food, human labour and other resources? How are the human and hon-human ecologies of these environments affected by cities and by urbanisation? In our discipline, discussions on urban sustainability still tend to be narrowly focused on buildings and cities, while these extended territories are equally exposed to rapid and far-reaching transformations with massive social and environmental implications. How should architects and urbanists respond to these urgent changes? With nearly half of the total land area on the planet currently dedicated to some form of agricultural production, agricultural landscapes might be the most important field of action to address the manifold problematic of “sustainability”. Oddly enough, agriculture remains in the blind spot of the architecture profession, despite the fact that urbanisation processes in agricultural areas have been leading to highly unsustainable territories generating risks for climate change, exhaustion of water and natural resources, and depletion of soil fertility, as well as disadvantaging local population, and affecting quality of life. An awareness of the consequences of industrialisation of agriculture, including its addiction to fertilisers, pesticides and fossil fuels, and its links to soil erosion and various forms of environmental pollution has been growing. These issues stand at the core of the climate and biodiversity crises, and they call for new approaches in the discipline of architecture. NEW ECOLOGIES is a new studio series at the Architecture of Territory, dedicated to the practice of architecture in the post-anthropocentric era. The anthropocentric and city-centric paradigms, based on binary thinking that divided “city” from “nature”, or “city” from “periphery”, need to be rethought. Architects have yet to include a conception of ecology, both human and non-human, into the scope of the architectural discipline and of practicing architecture. In this semester we will look at Zurich and its region through the lenses of three highly interconnected notions—soil, water and labour. Taking a close look at the influence that soil, water and labour have on the territory, will enable us to put in focus specific and urgent ecologies (“good” or “bad”) in the metropolitan region of Zurich, from food distribution networks, water cycles, seasonal migration to industrial animal farming. The largest in Switzerland, the Metro Zurich is composed of the relatively compact city of Zurich and the dense urban valleys extending along the Glattal and the Limmattal. Agricultural lands dominate the region: in the Canton of Zurich 41.9% of the total surface is still dedicated to agriculture. Whereas in the vicinity of the City of Zurich these productive lands are under extreme urban pressure and are facing the risk of being consumed by the built fabric in the coming decades, other more peripheral agricultural landscapes, such as the Zürcher Oberland, are facing a decrease in population and the loss of social and economic resources. Above all these issues hovers the urgent need for a radical overhaul of agricultural practices in the face of climate and biodiversity crises. Recently, across the public landscape of Zurich, widespread protests, ecological activism and movements—Fridays for Future, Climate Strike, Extinction Rebellion, and many small, solidary ecological pioneer groups and cooperatives — have gained momentum. These movements have led to a raise in awareness and helped promote pioneering practices in land cultivation such as permaculture and agroforestry. During the semester we will engage with Zurich’s land pioneer culture: Through intensive field explorations we will get to know the protagonists and learn from them.

Resources