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Agritopia
(2023)Our first concrete utopia will be an AGRITOPIA. The recurrent focus on agriculture in this studio is not accidental—we believe that the crisis of our imagination is reinforced by the separation of the urban and the rural in our culture, and by continuing to think the future only in terms of urban life disconnected from the land and nature. To imagine a different urban future for Zürich, we will work on agricultural territories that lie ...Educational Material -
New Ecologies
(2020)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 is human and non-human life in these environments affected by cities and by urbanisation? In our discipline, discussions on sustainability have remained focused on buildings and on cities, while these extended territories are equally exposed to rapid and ...Educational Material -
Agrarian Project
(2023)Studio Series New EcologiesAgricultural land is all around. Nearly half of the surface of the Canton of Zurich is dedicated to agriculture, yet the traditional Swiss pastoral has all but disappeared. Non-agricultural economies and ways of life have spread across the former rural areas. Much of the landscape has been homogenised through large scale commercial farming based on industrial monocultures supported by seasonal labour. Right next to agricultural fields—and ...Educational Material -
Power to the People
(2022)Studio Series New EcologiesWho owns and controls the energy we use? The energy crisis looming over Europe this fall as a consequence of the Ukraine war has made it clear that European geopolitics and power asymmetries have been built on fossil fuels. Yet the discussions around energy transition usually revolve around reducing carbon emissions through technofix solutions, without questioning the broader politics of energy. The promise of energy transition, that ...Educational Material -
Village Life
(2022)Studio Series New EcologiesVillages have lost most of their historic features. Peasant populations and traditional farming no longer exist. In Switzerland the share of people working in agriculture has plunged from around 60 % in 1800 to 2.5 % today, and to only 1.1 % in the Canton of Zurich. Non-agrarian economies and ways of life have spread across former rural areas. It appears that the urban-rural dichotomy has collapsed and that villages are becoming more and ...Educational Material