New Master's Program Spurs Fresh Urban Planning Approaches

By rethinking their approach to managing and developing urban areas, city officials can play a role in responding to modern-day challenges such as climate change, the depletion of natural resources and the impact of manufacturing and other anthropogenic activities on the environment and human health. The goal of ENAC's new master's program in urban systems is to support such efforts by cultivating experts who can address urban-planning challenges related to sustainability, from a cross-disciplinary perspective. "We want to equip engineers and architects with the skills they need to take a holistic view that goes beyond the confines of their specific disciplines and to use systems thinking to make urban planning more sustainable," says Prof. Vincent Kaufmann, head of EPFL's Urban Sociology Laboratory (LASUR) and academic director of the new master's program. "Industry associations have told us there's a big need for graduates with these kinds of skills. At EPFL, we already produce engineers who are talented at finding technical solutions to complex problems - with this new master's program, we're aiming for excellence in producing leaders who can also implement these solutions."

We want to equip engineers and architects with the skills they need to take a holistic view that goes beyond the confines of their specific disciplines and to use systems thinking to make urban planning more sustainable.

Graduates of the new program will be given the title of ETH engineer, which means they must have excellent mathematics and technical skills. But they will also be trained strategists who can think up creative solutions that take political, social and economic factors into account. The new master's program will be practice-oriented with a variety of student projects, workshops and guest speakers. It will include a core curriculum followed by three specializations students can choose from: mobility and transportation in a changing climate, sustainable transitions in urban systems, and health and well-being in the urban environment. "There were a lot of discussions involved in selecting the specializations," says Kaufmann. "We chose these three because they address what are currently some of the most pressing issues."

We really need engineers who are generalists rather than specialists, capable of understanding entire systems from a holistic point of view.

A paradigm shift to support the low-carbon transition

Regarding transportation in particular, some of the biggest challenges stem from the rapid growth in commuter traffic and the effects that global warming is having on transportation infrastructure. The Swiss railway company (SBB) will fund a 20% professor-of-practice position for the new master's program over the next five years. "We need to use our infrastructure better and more efficiently if we want to make it more resilient," says Vincent Ducrot, SBB CEO and an EPFL graduate in electrical engineering. "Rail transportation is fundamental in Switzerland, and we really need engineers who are generalists rather than specialists, capable of understanding entire systems from a holistic point of view."

We've got to stop tearing down buildings and constructing new ones. Instead, the focus should be on making better use of existing structures, promoting a circular economy and respecting our natural surroundings.

Achieving the low-carbon transition will require a paradigm shift in urban planning: social, political and cultural issues must be taken into account in how cities are designed and run. "We've got to stop tearing down buildings and constructing new ones," says LASUR professor Luca Pattaroni, who is head of the specialization in sustainable transitions in urban systems. "Instead, the focus should be on making better use of existing structures, promoting a circular economy and respecting our natural surroundings. The prevailing approach of the past few decades - that is, increasing urban density by constructing new buildings - is damaging our environment. We need to embrace a new way of thinking about urban development. But there's a lot of resistance to this kind of change in certain political circles and in the construction industry."

Gleaning insight from data to improve sustainability

Graduates of the new master's program will be called on to spearhead the necessary paradigm shift, and big data can be a useful tool. Engineers can glean important insights from the reams of urban data that are now being collected. The specialization in health and well-being in the urban environment, for example, moves in this direction, as students will learn how to better assess urban-planning projects in order to mitigate the effects of global warming on residents' health and quality of life. "We have a lot of data on city residents that currently aren't being used," says Stéphane Joost, a senior scientist at EPFL's Laboratory for Biological Geochemistry and head of this specialization. "Urban planners can use these data to measure how effective different choices - such as promoting blue infrastructure like rivers, lakes and ponds, and setting up green spaces by planting trees and creating living walls - are in helping to eliminate heat islands and prevent soil sealing."

We have a lot of data on city residents that currently aren't being used. Urban planners can use these data to measure how effective different choices are.

By crunching through demographic and socioeconomic data, urban planners can additionally ensure that the measures they take benefit all segments of the population. "The distribution of residents across an urban area isn't random, and neighborhoods have never been perfectly integrated in terms of socioeconomic status," says Joost. "Studies have shown that people with a lower socioeconomic status are more exposed to health risks, especially from pollution. Just look at the Vallon and Bourdonnette neighborhoods in Lausanne, for example. And we can't put this problem down to individual choice, because many people simply can't afford to live in other areas."

The new master's program sits at the crossroads of ENAC's core disciplines: architecture, civil engineering and environmental engineering. "The very structure of our school enables us to introduce this pioneering program," says Marina Nicollier, the program coordinator. "And we intend to expand its scope beyond Switzerland by partnering with organizations in other countries. The idea is for our new program to have an international impact."