Master of Advanced Studies
Urban and
Territorial Design
ETH ZürichEPFL
STUDIO ETH Zürich
Spring 2024

AtlasUrban Agriculture & BiodiversityAntonia Gerogianni and Diana Zarnescu

Since 1970, the biodiversity index has registered an average global decline of 69% (WWF 2022), while the rate of species extinction from ten to a hundred times higher than it had averaged over the past 10 million years (IPBES 2019). In light of the 6th mass extinction, rooted in anthropogenic processes, territorial planning is a discipline that plays a crucial role in bending the curve for biodiversity. How can we shift the focus and see the territory through the lens of the non-human as well? This atlas delves into biodiversity both as a concept and a governance tool in Switzerland and Zurich, providing an overview of species and habitats specific to Canton Zurich.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the MAS teaching staff at the ETH Zürich for all their time, effort and assistance in creating this Atlas.

Photographs and images by authors unless otherwise indicated.

The project texts were developed within the course „Critical Writing“, SS 2024, by Dr. Nancy Couling and Alice Clarke. The chapters above have been edited for consistency and accuracy by the MAS editorial team: Nancy Couling, Alice Clarke and Erzë Dinarama.

Sources

  • Ainsworth, David. n.d. ‘Nations Adopt Four Goals, 23 Targets for 2030 In Landmark UN Biodiversity Agreement’.
  • Calvin, Katherine, Dipak Dasgupta, Gerhard Krinner, Aditi Mukherji, Peter W. Thorne, Christopher Trisos, José Romero, et al. 2023. ‘IPCC, 2023: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, H. Lee and J. Romero (Eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland.’ First. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). https://doi.org/10\.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647\.
  • Casanelles-Abella, Joan, Yohann Chauvier, Florian Zellweger, Petrissa Villiger, David Frey, Christian Ginzler, Marco Moretti, and Loïc Pellissier. 2021. ‘Applying Predictive Models to Study the Ecological Properties of Urban Ecosystems: A Case Study in Zürich, Switzerland’. Landscape and Urban Planning 214 (October):104137. https://doi.org/10\.1016/j.landurbplan.2021\.104137\.
  • DAVID JOHANNES FREY. 2019. ‘Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Urban Gardens’. DISS. ETH NO. 26300.
  • Editors of Encyclopaedia. 2024. ‘Ecosystem’. In Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/ecosystem.
  • Edward O. Wilson and Frances M.Peter, eds. 1988. Biodiversity. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press.
  • FOEN, 2017. Biodiversity in Switzerland: Status and Trends. Bern: Federal Office for the Environment.
  • Global 2000 Study (U.S.), Gerald O. Barney, and Jimmy Carter, eds. 1991. Global 2000: The Report to the President: Entering the Twenty-First Century. Rev. version. Cabin John, MD: Seven Locks Press.
  • Ian R. Swingland. 2000. ‘Biodiversity, Definition Of’. In Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, 377–91.
  • Ineichen, Stefan, Ruckstuhl, Max, and Hose, Stefan. 2022. Neue Stadtfauna 700 Tierarten Der Stadt Zürich. Haupt Verlag.
  • IPBES. 2019. ‘The Global Assessment Report on BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES’.
  • John Lander Harper and David L. Hawksworth. 1994. ‘Preface - Biodiversity: Measurement and Estimation. Preface’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Biological Sciences, 345 (1311).
  • Kinzig, Ann P., and J. Morgan Grove. 2001. ‘Urban-Suburban Ecology’. In Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, 733–45. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10\.1016/B0-12-226865-2/00278-9\.
  • Külling Nathan, Adde Antoine, Lambiel Audrey, Wicki Sergio, Guisan Antoine, Gret-Regamey Adrienne, Lehmann Anthony. ‘Nature’s contributions to people and biodiversity mapping in Switzerland: spatial patterns and environmental drivers.’Ecological Indicators no. 163 (2024)
  • The Federal Assembly of the Swiss Confederation. 2022. ‘Federal Act on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage (NCHA)’.
  • WWF. 2022. ‘LIVING PLANET REPORT 2022 - Building a Nature-Positive Society’. Gland, Switzerland.

The MAS UTD programme links the ETH Zürich Department of Architecture and EPF Lausanne School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering. It is part of the ETH Zürich D-ARCH Landscape and Urban Studies Institute (LUS) and the EPFL ENAC Habitat Research Center (HRC).

Contact: info-masutd@ethz.ch

ETH Zürich D-ARCH

Programme Director
Milica Topalović, Assoc. Professor
Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planinng

Programme Co-ordinator
Dr. Nancy Couling

EPFL ENAC

Programme Director
Paola Viganò, Professor
Habitat Research Center

Programme Co-ordinator
Dr. Tommaso Pietropolli