This century will, for the first time, see over half the world’s population living in cities. Making these urban structures environmentally and economically sustainable and liveable is one of today’s great challenges. This is why ETH Zurich has founded a “Future Cities Laboratory” in Zurich and Singapore. In this project, it is collaborating closely with scientists from the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. An agreement was signed in Singapore on 19 March 2010 by Francis Yeoh, CEO of the National Research Foundation (NRF), Teo Min Kian, Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’ Office, Ralph Eichler, President of ETH Zurich, and Gerhard Schmitt, ETH Zurich Senior Vice President for International Institutional Affairs. The NRF is funding the project in Singapore.

The agreement forms an important link between the NRF and ETH Zurich as they build up their joint research activities. The plan is for the interdisciplinary research platform for sustainable urban development in Singapore to be staffed by September 2010. The first Director of the Singapore ETH Centre (SEC) will be Gerhard Schmitt, Professor of Information Architecture, who has been the driving force of the project from the start. Remo Burkhart, until now Senior Researcher at the Professorship of Information Architecture at ETH Zurich, will as COO draw on his previous experience in Singapore – where he has already spent almost a year – for the innovative project’s business processes. Franz Oswald, Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Urban Development, will be present in Singapore as Scientific Programme Director. Kees Christiaanse, Professor at the Institute for Urban Design at ETH Zurich, will direct the programme in Zurich.

Wide variety of activities

Even before the agreement was signed, collaboration had already been started in workshops with the partner universities in Singapore and the Ministry for National Development (MND). Just recently, the Singapore Government has decided to found a new design-centred university. This will yield numerous synergies. An initial Design Research Studio with Kees Christiaanse’s ETH Zurich students has already taken place in Singapore.

A “Simulation Platform” that will act as the basis for modelling is also under construction. In the future, it will create a telepresence system between ETH Zurich and the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore. It is modelled on the “Value Lab” at the ETH Zurich Science City campus on the Hönggerberg.

Added value for Switzerland

The Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore is not the only commitment by ETH Zurich to promote sustainable urban development worldwide. ETH Zurich helped to found an Institute for Urban Development at the University in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. ETH Zurich President Ralph Eichler is convinced that this commitment not only makes sense in view of developments in various parts of the world such as Asia and Africa, but that Switzerland, too, will reap its benefits: “In a few years, the knowledge gained internationally in this way will form part of our students’ basic education. It will enable us to make a considerable contribution to the global competitiveness of our Swiss companies in planning and building sustainable cities.”

The Future Cities Laboratory

The research focuses on three key scales: sustainable building technologies, the city as an urban system, and the relationship between urban and rural environments. The new strategy of the “Future Cities Laboratory” consists of combining these key points in an appropriate way and researching their interactions. The architects, planners and scientists see and design the city as a dynamic system in which people interact and in which resources such as energy, water, space, capital, materials or information are constantly in flux. The researchers working in the new laboratory intend to collaborate closely with the authorities responsible for city planning in Singapore and Zurich. There is also a plan for collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is to move with ETH Zurich in 2011 into the CREATE Campus being constructed for the purpose. The platform is open for additional partners at ETH Zurich.