OMNIBUS principal Charlotte Malterre Barthes will be lecturing on “Allotment Gardens of Zurich: Change or Perish,” part of OMNIBUS’ urban research, at Milica Topalovic’s Chair ‘Architecture of Territory’ next Tuesday 25.04, at 10.00, ETH, ONA, E30. The talk is public.

The research on the ‘Schrebergarten’ of Zurich is a project initiated in 2008 by Noboru Kawagishi in the frame of the theory seminar ‘Urban mutations on the Edge’- part of the Master of Urban Design.

The first part is focusing on the concept of allotment gardens in Zurich, facts and rough analysis- extracting basic tendencies on the phenomenon. Based on that preliminary work, the second part of the research, initiated by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, is a case-study on the Juchhof allotment gardens, the biggest in Zurich. Through historical maps, current maps and series of garden-owners interviews, trends have been extracted.

The research has been published in TRANS (17/2010) under the original title: ‘Family gardens of Zurich: Change or perish. The joker of participation.’ and proposes a strategy of change while keeping the special quality and urban importance of the gardens.

Further research directions are leading towards strategies of change with design intentions, landscape solutions, public transport evolutions, and involvement of the city authorities. In order to achieve a tangible result, which the research proves to be necessary, other actors (academics, students and social players, along with authorities and investors) have to take part in the project.