Urban Transformations: Public Spaces

Séréna Vanbutsele, head of the TRANSFORM Institute, and Estela Schaffner, scientific collaborator, present their work on the Vi-Vid project about urban voids on 8 September 2022 at the INUAS Conference with focus on public spaces hosted by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur.

The Vi-Vid project presented by the TRANSFORM Institute (HEIA-FR) explores the intrinsic value of urban voids, “empty” or “underdeveloped” spaces such as vacant lots, abandoned sites, unused farming plots or natural areas engulfed by the expanding city. Regardless of their specific form, urban voids represent a valuable resource for high-quality densification, offering a different set of opportunities and more adaptability than other, more regulated or standardized spaces, such as parks and natural reserves.

The INUAS conference series “Urban Transformations: Housing | Resources | Public Spaces” provides a platform for addressing current issues and perspectives for developing cities and regions. The international INUAS Conference 2022 is dedicated to the topic of public spaces as experimental areas of innovative, sustainable urban development in Winterthur-Zurich in September 2022. In the five sections PARTICIPATION / ECOLOGY / MOBILITY AND ENERGY / DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT as well as METHODOLOGY, questions related to the ecological, political, planning, social and technological challenges and opportunities in public spaces will be addressed.