Authors: Lena Meyer Brenneker, Anna Sophie Hartung, Ekrem Ilter, Ryo Sawano, and Selma Juana Schulte-Frohlinde.
At the interface of the geo-, bio- and atmospheres, soils form thin, fragile and dynamic layers which lay the foundation of ecosystems across natural and cultivated landscapes and inhabited territories. The Chair for Transitioning Urban Ecosystems is committed to develop design strategies for URBAN SOIL preservation and regeneration through the ecological transition and sustainable redevelopment of metropolitan areas. Carbon Scenarios – Case Zurich Ma Design Studio concludes a transdisciplinary and research-by-design project on carbon sequestration in the urban soils of Lausanne and Zurich supported by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment.
Through field measurements and policy analysis, this research has demonstrated that, compared to agricultural land, Swiss urban soils capture a significant amount of organic carbon, and therefore play an important role in climate change mitigation, with several environmental and social co-benefits. The research also highlighted urban renewal projects as an opportunity to increase carbon stocks in urban soils, through desealing, soil reconstruction and improvement of the maintenance practices related to different types of vegetation cover.
The objective of the design studio is to build up 4 urban redevelopment scenarios aiming to increase the carbon sequestration capacity of urban soils. By performing cross-scalar mapping and conceiving novel typologies of urban habitats, each scenario will address a specific thematic at the territorial scale of the Zurich agglomeration: (a) The city as a network of voids: Urban morphology and the preservation/regeneration of Freiräume in the urban fabric; (b) The city as a resource deposit: Urban metabolism and the circular management of mineral and organic waste to recreate fertile substrates; (c) The city as a garden: Vegetation cover and habitat diversification within the urban ecosystem; (d) The city as an ecological infrastructure: Water regulation as a co-benefit of carbon sequestration. On the urban scale, the scenarios will be applied to a 4 transversal valley sections across Zurich's geomorphology and land use gradient, individuating 8 sites of opportunity for urban and spatial renewal projects.