A good case study is Rome: here, zoning laws and parking requirements are rarely enforced and so, as soon as the land values rise, parking spaces turn into something more profitable.

Here are a few examples:

• a gym
• a supermarket
• another gym
• a car repair
• and a brico center

On the other side, in Switzerland zoning laws and parking requirements are strictly enforced:  anyway, garages are still able to be repurposed.

Here is an example in Lausanne: a parking garage turned into a supermarket.

(image: wikipedia)

Or maybe not. Why do we have to travel so much to find a place that makes us feel good? There is another solution, cheaper and nicer, that can change our town in a tropical island: the Urban Beach.

Close one of the main streets to cars, fill it with sand, put deck chairs all around, add a swimming pool and some bars serving cocktails and the job is done!

(image: flickr)

The most famous urban beach was for sure Paris, with its Paris-Plages, but now the idea is spreading all around: Vevey- Plage, Flon-Plage in Lausanne, Trop’yc in Crans-Montana…

Did you like this idea? rate it on cooltownplaces.com!

The history of this place could be the same as many other places around the world: a 19th century factory in the inner city suddenly moving to the suburbs in order to look for more space, an urban void opening up in the neighborhood, maybe some developer buying the whole area in order to make expensive lofts… But here the story takes a different path. The architectural firm INSITU, composed mainly of perople living in the area, develops a project willing to promote local, indipendent business and improve the cultural offer of the neighborhood. They submit their proposal to the factory’s administrators: a Limited Company, composed of the architects themself will buy the buildings, renew and rent them to the different businesses.

Most of the architects from INSITU have previously worked in Africa, and thus they apply here most of the principles developped in their African experiences:

• reuse of buildings in a way that minimizes the changes in the structure;
• use of massive materials (concreetes, bricks, wood), easy to repare and with a long lifespan;
• possibility, for a large and diverse population, to come and enjoy the area.

Today, Gundeldinger Feld includes a mixture of activities and business, including:

• two restaurants, Eo Ipso and Blinde Kuh
• a youth hostel
• a rock climbing training center
• a public library
• Pro Natura‘s headoffice
• INSITU headoffice
• a covered playground

The central alley. The restaurant Eo Ipso on the left, offices on the right.

Details of the central alley. Here, all the works have been a new pavement for the alley, some flower pots and some bike racks. Thanks to laws in Basel encouraging car-free projects, no parking space is provided within the area.

Flower pots are not fixed. Customers can move pots as they like, and give their own touch to the alley.

Blinde Kuh restaurant, and its Braille-labeled bottles. In this restaurant, all waiters are blind, and people eat in complete darkness. Definitely worth trying!

A hall waiting to be renewed.

Another hall, turned into a public library. Lots of the factory equipement (cranes) are still on place.

The Rock-climbing training hall. Here too cranes and other industrial equipement are visible.

What lessons could be learnt from this project? Here are mine:

• sustainable development won’t be made of futuristic materials (for example, we can compare Gundeldinger Feld with this project still in Basel) or over-determined, Le Corbusier-style projects, but of simple, reproducibile solutions. (more reading on this subject are on “emergent urbanism“)
• In order to be accepted from the main audience, sustainable development has to be fun: somebody will adopt it because of their environmental commitment, some others just because it’s fun or convenient. And all together, all these people will make the business live
• Small business need small rents, but not too small rents. Too expensive rents will make the area accessible only to the most luxurious brands, while too cheap rents will let small business survive without caring too much of their customers. And projects like this need business who take care of their customers!

Did you like this place? Vote for it on Cooltownplaces.com!

(image: wikipedia)

Under the term “urban renewal” we can find lots of different projects started by different entities (citizens, public authorities, developers) and with completely different visions. Some project will bring derelict industrial areas back to the city (as in Malley), some others will throw away most of the ancients inhabitants and look for completely new customers (as in the Flon), other projects will make little changes in order to improve the inhabitants’ lives without changing home values too much (as in the traffic calming measures along Avenue de France)…

Our speakers will review some examples of urban renewal,both in Switzerland and abroad, and propose a way to evaluate this kind of projects.

Monday 28 septembre 2009 – 20h00
Pôle Sud, Av. J-J. Mercier 3 (Place de l’Europe), 1003 Lausanne >>PLAN

Speakers: Sandra Guinand, researcher at UNIL and Pablo Cruchon, social worker at FASL.

I just discovered that Mr. Gianni Alemanno, Major of Rome, is on Flickr.

Here we see his set about te opening of the new BRT in Rome.

Good to see that more and more politicians are entering the blogosphere!

Are you looking for your dream house? Is there something in (y)our city you’d like to be improved? Come and discuss at the Café Écoquartier: a meeting to talk about co-housing, eco-habitat and urbanism.

The Association Écoquartier waits for you on September 23, 2009, at 20.00 at the Café Restaurant de l’Ouest, Av.de Morges 119, Lausanne.

(image: Roma Metropolitane)

Almost all the line will run along a highway, with the exception of the first kilometer, along Via Ciamarra. In this first kilometer, some interesting interventions will be made.

(source photos: skyscrapercity)

Thanks to this intervention, a previously anonymous road turned into a sort of Spanish Rambla.

Will it become a new center for outdor activities, like similar projects in San Francisco or New York?

We’ll see. In the meantime you can give your opinion in the poll:

If this tendence goes on:

• Little by little, suburbs will become true villages with offices, shops, post offices, sall hospitals… (a similar project was shown at the conference),
• Density is not the only solution to urban sprawl, other solutions (much more “open source”) are available,
• The houses in Aigle, which I saw some days ago, can become something really interesting in a few years!