| Abstract | The elective series "Territory of the City" deals with current transformation processes of metropolitan landscapes in Europe and introduces to landscape architectural design on different scales.
In the autumn semester 2020, students will develop concrete strategies for Lausanne and its agglomeration, on the basis of a field trip and cartographic analysis. |
| Learning objective | The elective introduces to the subject and complexity of the urbanized landscape and teaches the critical engagement with the challenges and potentials of current tendencies in Landscape Architecture. On the basis of a concrete study area, students examine the large-scale processes of reuse, reform and reinterpretation of metropolitan landscapes in Europe and develop new approaches and strategies on various scales. They become familiar with GIS as an analytical tool, model building as a design methodology and the representation of landscape through plans. They develop a project based on the perception of place, knowledge of landscape-architectonic typologies and conception of public space. The design process is accompanied by workshops, lectures, excursions, critiques and a workbook. |
| Content | The nature and extent of the use of landscape has changed fundamentally in recent decades. On the one hand, the resource landscape is being used much more intensively today, as evidenced by the sharp increase in raw material extraction and material transports as well as the massive expansion of infrastructures. At the same time, the exploitation in some areas is also being extensified, resulting in processes of verbalization and finally of repression. In addition, landscapes are increasingly subject to rapid and sometimes global changes in mobility, climate, agriculture, energy and leisure behavior. All in all, this leads to a profound transformation of landscapes, whereby the change is inconsistent, uneven and sometimes diametrical. The historical coexistence and spatial separation of uses that have hitherto been embedded in the landscape (such as agriculture, transport, military, tourism or energy production) is increasingly dissolving. It is replaced by an operationalized landscape in which informal recreational and sports uses are often inscribed in the metropolitan context. The new forms of "parks" that arise as a result of this are no longer clear and comprehensible, but spread out temporarily and spatially into the urban territory. The driving forces behind this development are on the one hand the expansion of the infrastructure networks of public transport, especially the S-Bahn, and on the other hand in the often chronic overuse of inner city open spaces to locate. As a result, those seeking relaxation are expanding their radius of action to the quickly accessible and immediately available recreational landscapes. This process is often informal and unplanned; People take the space for their activities, where and how they see fit. The superimposition and interdependence of partially contradictory interests, which are often excluded, leads to friction and conflicts that can be consistently positive and productive: landscape is no longer conceived only as an economic, but increasingly also as a public resource, which is a future debate on the way the (use) of the landscape and the possibility of an integral, democratic development of the landscape as a public space is necessary. |
| Lecture notes | A workbook with texts and background information is available for purchase (CHF 20.-). A digital version is available for free. |
| Prerequisites / Notice | The participation in the course is subject to the following three conditions:
1) The course is limited to 12 students. The restriction follows the time of the inscription according to the first-come-first-served-principle.
2) A two-days trip to the respective metropolis is mandatory for all students. This trip is scheduled on the weekend from 3rd to 4th October.
3) The contribution to expenses will be max. 100.- CHF per student (included: hotel with breakfast, meals for one day). In case of short-notice cancellation, all non-refundable costs will be charged to the student. |
Performance assessment as a semester course