Authors: Ximena Barrón, Heng Fu, Anna Hartung, Alec Rovensky
This project develops a metabolic transect across Zurichberg, a major topographic feature that structures the eastern part of Zurich and reveals deeper socio‑spatial and political divides within the city. Oriented along a line extending from the city center, through the residential hills, Überlandpark, and towards the Glatt river, the transect exposes a stark dichotomy between the affluent, sun‑exposed “Gold Coast” to the west and the historically rural, industrial, and increasingly densifying periphery to the east. This spatial opposition translates into uneven distributions of green space, climatic microclimates, and patterns of mobility, which in turn reveal how power relations are inscribed in urban morphology, landownership, and infrastructural decision‑making. Through fieldwork and scenario analysis, the inquiry foregrounds a network of interstitial spaces (abandoned construction sites, underused residential backyards, highway‑adjacent parcels, alleyways, and degraded riverfronts) that function as seams and barriers within the urban fabric. Rather than treating these voids as residual leftovers of the formal city, the project econfigures them as productive interstices through four spatial‑metabolic typologies: an urban green corridor weaving through residential backyards to create pedestrian‑oriented right‑of‑ways; a continuous blue‑green spine that structures future growth as a ‘city within a park’; a centralized composting facility at Kasernenareal that closes a local metabolic loop for organic waste; and a community‑led soil nursery that transforms excavated soil into living infrastructure. These interventions collectively re‑activate privatized, marginal, and infrastructural spaces as shared, democratic, and ecologically productive territories, thereby re‑negotiating the relationship between public interest, private property, and urban metabolism.