Living Peripheries

Multi-criteria comparison of diverse transformation strategies of peri-urban neighborhoods of single-family houses  in a perspective of sustainability.

Despite the multiple efforts put into urban densification, countless individual peri-urban houses are built each year in Switzerland as in the majority of European countries, which the majority of research, best practices and guidelines on sustainable urban development denounce. Is it possible to develop specific urban and architectural design strategies helping these peri-urban neighborhoods to progress from a burden status to that of resources for sustainability? In this context, how can multi-criteria approaches compare the various possible transformation strategies?

After having established an innovative typology of peri-urban neighborhoods, the research defines the most relevant conceivable strategies. These strategies are then tested on a series of sites in Switzerland and evaluated using a multi-criteria evaluation methodology, in order to be able to compare in a multidimensional manner their potentials and their limits at the environmental, socio-cultural, and economic level. This research reveals the possibility of a new paradigm. It, therefore, offers not only a proactive vision for the evolution of vast peri-urban areas but also a multi-criteria decision-support method specifically adapted to this type of sector.

Research Partners
Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST)

Research Team LAST
Prof. Emmanuel Rey, Dr. Sophie Lufkin, Dr. Frédéric Frank, Dr. Judith Drouilles

Funding
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

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Thesis

Main publications