Densification in cities – How can Zurich create space for an additional 70,000 people? – Culture
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It’s getting tight in the big cities – that much is clear. The space is already tight. The ETH housing forum shows how densification can and cannot succeed.
We have to pull together: there is no other way in a city like Zurich, which is constantly growing. By 2040, 70,000 additional people are expected in Zurich – and they have to live somewhere. Thats gonna be close.
A city inhabited only by an elite rich people is an uninteresting city.
What to do? For Jennifer Duyne Barenstein, social scientist and head of the ETH Housing Forum, one thing is certain: “We will not achieve substantial densification by simply renovating existing buildings or simply adding a few more floors.” And cementing over the last green areas is not a solution either.
More people in the same space
So older properties are demolished and replaced with new ones. The new buildings should offer apartments for more people on the same area. So at least the theory, the practice is more complicated.
The ETH-Wohnforum examined four projects of such “replacement new buildings” and also looked at the social consequences. So questions like: Were the previous tenants regularly informed? Were they involved in the process? Are people entitled to an apartment in the new building? And how are rents developing in new buildings?
Denial can be traumatic
According to the ETH study, older buildings are mainly inhabited by older people. A move is always worse for those affected, even if demolition and new construction are legitimate. But: “There are big differences in the way tenants are treated,” says Duyne Barenstein.
What is striking is the finding that the actual primary goal of densification is often not achieved at all and that ultimately there are no more apartments at all. Sometimes buildings are replaced to build larger, more expensive homes in order to generate more profit, Duyne Barenstein said
The result is the often-cited gentrification, a development familiar to many prosperous cities. When the economy is booming, people who earn well come. Inexpensive housing is being replaced by new apartments that are no longer visible to people on lower incomes.
No silver bullet for diversity
There is no magic solution for the urban planning of the future. However, Jennifer Duyne Barenstein is sure that the cities take an active role in the planning & to preserve their diversity. Otherwise socially weaker groups will eventually be pushed out of the metropolis. That is antisocial, says the researcher, but also boring: “A city that is only inhabited by an elite rich people is also an uninteresting city.”
In order to prevent this, Zurich is in a good position in an international comparison: around a third of the apartments in the city are already non-profit apartments.