Visions for shaping the Switzerland of the future

Green spaces in urban areas, less traffic and a greater sense of community – this scenario is the focal point of the “Swisstopia” project with which the “Haute école du paysage, d’ingénierie et d’architecture” (hepia) in Geneva won the ideas competition “tomorrow? Switzerland”

Students from five universities of applied sciences were invited to present ideas about life in 2035 as part of this competition organised by the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC). The jury chaired by Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard reached its decision at the end of October.

What will Switzerland look like 20 years from now? For once this question was not put to professional forecasters but instead to five selected universities of applied sciences from all parts of the country. The students tackled the competition task of developing ideas for the Switzerland of the future and presenting them visually in very different ways.

After intensive discussions, the jury declared the “Haute école du paysage, d’ingénierie et d’architecture de Genève” (hepia), a department of the “Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse occidentale” (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland), the winner with its competition project “Swisstopia”. In the view of the jury, the hepia entry developed solutions outstandingly well in a key future area of urban development – the populated landscape. The authors displayed courage by accommodating the desire of some of the population to live in a productive landscape. Their entry also contained certain values. It attached greater importance to the community, while work was attributed a different status.

The entries for the competition, which was launched by Federal Councillor Leuthard in spring 2014, are of particular interest to DETEC given that, as an infrastructure department, it has major influence over the future organisation of Switzerland. The aim was for the entries to be incorporated into practical politics as far as possible.

DETEC General Secretariat

Participating universities

The following universities of applied sciences took part in the “tomorrow? Switzerland” competition

Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil (HSR), Fachhochschule Ostschweiz (FHO), Rapperswil-Jona St Gallen

Hochschule Luzern – Design & Kunst (HSLU), Fachhochschule Zentralschweiz, Lucerne

Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst (HGK), Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW), Basel

Haute école du paysage, d’ingénierie et d’architecture de Genève (hepia), Haute école spécialisée de Suisse occidentale (HES-SO), Geneva

Dipartimento ambiente costruzioni e design (DACD), Scuola universitaria professionale della Svizzera italiana (SUPSI), Manno TI

More information on the competition, the participants and their projects can be found at:
https://www.are.admin.ch/are/de/home.html