Core project: Urban Systems studio

Summary

Interdisciplinary urban design studio addressing site and territory through multiple urban systems. Combines architectural, infrastructural, and social approaches to develop critical, experimental, and context-responsive urban interventions.

Content

Keywords

Urban and territorial metabolism; socio-ecological transition; planetary boundaries; LCA of cities; carbon accounting; resource accounting; entropy of cities; renewable energy systems; biodiversity; socio-spatial justice ; climate adaptation; mobility systems; multi-scalar design; systems thinking; governance; territorial strategy; data visualization; Sankey diagrams; prospective urbanism

Learning Prerequisites

Recommended courses

Introductory courses in urban systems, environmental sciences, sustainability, or territorial planning

Important concepts to start the course

• Basic systems thinking

• Basic socio-economic understanding

• Fundamentals of energy and carbon reasoning

• Quantitative reasoning and orders of magnitude

• Basic cartographic and spatial representation skills

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

• Analyze a territory as a socio-ecological system integrating infrastructures, land, built form, uses and governance.
• Quantify major urban and territorial flows (energy, materials, carbon, climate vulnerabilities, mobility, land use) using appropriate metrics.
• Assess / Evaluate place quantitatively through multiple medium (interview, picture, drawing, etc.)
• Interpret territorial development in relation to planetary boundaries and climate constraints.
• Develop multi-scalar transition strategies combining spatial, technical and socio-economic dimensions.
• Integrate LCA, carbon and resource accounting into spatial design propositions.
• Model mobility systems and their interaction with land use, urban tissues and metabolic performance.
• Design incremental and long-term territorial projects grounded in real political and economic contexts.
• Visualize complex territorial systems through maps, Sankey diagrams and data-driven representations.
• Critique the coherence between quantitative assessment, governance mechanisms and spatial design.
• Argue and defend a systemic territorial vision before academic and professional audiences.

Transversal skills

• Communicate effectively with professionals from other disciplines.
• Use a work methodology appropriate to the task.
• Take account of the social and human dimensions of the engineering profession.
• Collect data.
• Make an oral presentation.
• Demonstrate a capacity for creativity.

Teaching methods

• Theoretical lectures on systemic urban transition
• Methodological workshops (LCA, carbon accounting, metabolic diagrams, mobility modelling)
• Studio-based project work in interdisciplinary teams
• Site visits and meetings with institutional actors (e.g., territorial offices, transport agencies, NGOs)
• Interim reviews and final jury with external experts
• Critical seminars and collective debates

The course builds on prior teaching experiences such as "2050, sous le soleil exactement" (EPFL, 2015-2016) and the DPEA Architecture Post-Carbone (ENSA Paris-Est, 2013-2018), extending them within the MUS framework.

Expected student activities

• Attendance to lectures and workshops
• Data collection and processing
• Urban and architectural theory and history of planification
• Quantitative modelling (carbon, energy, mobility, resource flows)
• Development of multi-scalar spatial scenarios
• Production of maps, diagrams, Sankey visualizations and project representations
• Physical and/or digital models
• Oral presentations and participation in reviews
• Engagement with academic and professional literature

Assessment methods

• 60% Group project (quality of systemic analysis, integration of metrics and spatial design, coherence of strategy, representation)
• 20% Individual contribution within the group (quantitative rigor, specific deliverables, engagement)
• 20% Oral presentations and reviews (clarity, argumentation, critical positioning)

Resources

Moodle Link

• https://go.epfl.ch/URB-420