TEDxZurich-Margrit Hugentobler-on how to turn urban sprawl into an «aggloasis»

Margrit Hugentobler, a sociologist, is director of the ETH Centre for Research on Architecture, Society & the Built Environment (ETH Wohnforum -- ETH CASE), an interdisciplinary research group at the Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich. Her research addresses the interface between social and demographic changes, the concomitant diversification of our ways of living and the implications for housing and sustainable urban development.
S5-City - the metaphor that became the project title ¬- proposes a new perspective on scattered suburban space as an interconnected landscape of spatial, political, economic and social relations. I would like to present this concept and the many facets that characterize the life of "agglomerites" in their own perception and assessment of their life world. Of importance and interest are also the structural political and economic determinants that currently limit the potential of translating the vision of an "AgglOasis" into reality. What would it take to contain urban sprawl and its many negative effects in order to develop agglomerations into places with a high quality of life for its inhabitants by preserving exactly those resources that make them attractive?
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