The Chair of Planning Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS) invites applications for a 4-year PhD position within the SNF-funded National Research Programme NRP82 (Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) project "NewUrbES - Co-creating new urban living space for biodiversity and ecosystem services" . In the frame of this interdisciplinary research project, we aim to co-create novel urban ecosystems as urban living spaces for human and non-human species, supporting high biodiversity and ecosystem services, by leveraging digital technologies. Join us in creating the future we imagine!
Project backgroundUrbanization presents both challenges and opportunities for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision. In this project, we propose a paradigm shift in urban design and planning towards transforming cities into ecosystems, wherein buildings act as living organisms seamlessly integrated with their surrounding environments. Building envelopes, including facades and roofs, play a pivotal role in creating continuous habitats for both humans and non-human species, fostering biodiversity and ecosystem services within urban landscapes. However, developing such new urban living spaces will not only require to expand our ecological and technical knowledge to develop new materials and buildings supporting high biodiversity and ecosystem services but calls for radical changes in urban design and planning. Ultimately, this necessitates city inhabitants to embrace that natural processes co-shape their cities and the exterior and interior environments of their living space.
In this highly inter- and transdisciplinary project bringing together architecture and design (Prof. Maria Conen with Flurina Gradin, ETHZ), urban ecology (Prof. Dr. Christoph Küffer, HSR), material sciences (Prof. Dr. Guillaume Habert, ETHZ), landscape planning and urban science (Prof. Dr. Adrienne Gêt-Regamey) and supported by our practice partner, the foundation Natur&Wirtschaft, we will push the boundary in co-developing liveable cities for humans and non-human species. Anchored in three real-world laboratories in Switzerland, NewUrbES will not only obtain empirical evidence of the potential of new building envelopes to reduce global biodiversity footprint and restore resp. foster biodiversity and ecosystem services. Central to our approach is the utilization of a design-science loop, where insights gained from real-world and virtual experiments inform iterative design processes. Through this iterative approach, we aim to activate learning about new urban living spaces, facilitating their responsible implementation within existing urban fabric. Furthermore, NewUrbES endeavors to co-produce adaptive governance mechanisms using serious games, enabling stakeholders to navigate the complexities of urban transformation towards sustainability. Through this co-creation approach, NewUrbES endeavors to catalyze a transformative shift towards sustainable urban development, wherein cities actively contribute to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services provision.
Job descriptionYour research will involve two main components.
On the one hand, you will improve current ecosystem services model to be applied to the building context and to novel and designed ecosystems based on partly artificial nature-based materials. These ecosystem services models will be integrated into a design-science loop (Urech et al., 2020; Salliou et al., 2024 ) supported by a 3D point cloud-based tool, which you will co-develop with the help of a software engineer. In close collaboration with the architects in the frame of several Design Research Studios, you will apply the tool to co-create new urban living spaces.
On the other hand, you will develop a serious game in close collaboration with our practice partner to support the negotiation process between stakeholders regarding the urban transformation and co-define action plans.
The PhD will not only interact with the interdisciplinary project team, but also with stakeholders from the building materials industry, the association for circular materials, federal administration and nature conservation representatives, and members of the Swiss Engineering Association (SIA).
Urech, P. R., Dissegna, M. A., Girot, C., & Grêt-Regamey, A. (2020). Point cloud modeling as a bridge between landscape design and planning. Landscape and Urban Planning , 203 , 103903.
Salliou, N., Arborino, T., Nassauer, J. I., Salmeron, D., Urech, P. R. W., Vollmer, D., & Grêt-Regamey, A. (2023). Science-design loop for the design of resilient urban landscapes. Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling , 5 , 18543.
ProfileWe are seeking a highly motivated candidate with:
- Strong interest in urban and landscape planning
- Master's degree in environmental science or environmental engineering, landscape or urban science, geography, or a related field
- Solid analytical and data skills, with experience in computer modelling, including Python and GIS.
- Excellent communication skills in English; proficiency in French and/or German is desirable due to stakeholder engagement
- Motivation to work in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary settings and engage with practice-based partners.
Beyond excellence in research, we look for a person acting with integrity, who is authentic and empathic.
We offerDescribe here what particularly distinguishes the work in your department/group e.g.: - Working in an exciting project carried out in a multicultural, interdisciplinary and vibrant research group equipped with excellent computational and lab facilities.
- A dynamic and supportive research environment at ETH Zurich, one of the world's leading universities in science and technology.
- Close collaboration with a national consortium of academic and practice partners.
- Involvement in groundbreaking research shaping policy and implementation in Switzerland and beyond.
- Salary rate 2 in line with ETH Zurich standards and above SNF standards.
- Flexible working hours, home office, large independance.
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