Architecture and Urban Planning Day
© LAST / E.Bettinelli
The "Architecture and Urban Planning Day" was held on April 28 at the Littoral Rinks and at Microcity, the new branch of EPFL in Neuchâtel. At this occasion, a number of professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds exchanged opinions on the topic "Sagacity and Density". These experts included notably Vincent Callebaut, Jean-Philippe Lassal, Prof. Luca Ortelli of the Construction and Conservation Laboratory and Prof. Emmanuel Rey of the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST)
Given the multiple consequences of urban sprawl, a consensus emerges gradually to reorient the development of the built environment inward and to promote the processes of densification. Some sectors, particularly those located near to public transport and presenting a potential for densification, are strategic opportunities for the metamorphosis of urban territories.
The question, however, is not limited to the issues of localization and the quantitative aspects of density. If the latter are unavoidable issues, they must be considered as a necessary, but not sufficient condition. In the perspective of urban quality research, this development also raises many qualitative questions for the architectural project.
Among the many notions to be taken into account in this urban territories transformation process, we find, in particular, mobility, coeducation, housing diversity, urban intensity through public spaces interconnection, creation of new meeting places, as well as optimized resource management.
"There is no single recipe for reconciling densification with urban quality. Each project must seek an optimal solution to meet the diversity of urban contexts and to value the specific identity of the multiple entities of the built environment”, insisted Prof. Emmanuel Rey on that occasion.