Zurich Atlas
An Archaeology of Urban Codes and Forms
Published on 19. February 2026
Book
Hardback
236 pages
978-3-03761-362-7 (ISBN)
Description
The Zurich Atlas is aimed at a broad audience interested in the dynamics of urban development and reveals the network of relationships between Zurich's urban form and its urban codes. Based on collaborative research projects conducted at the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio and ETH Zurich, it demonstrates - through various historical case studies from 1900 to the present - how the regulatory, legal, and normative frameworks influence the city physical and social conditions and vice versa. It also shows that these urban codes not only confirm the status quo and settle current conflicts, but also articulate visions for the city.
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Persons
Prof. dr. ir. Tom Avermaete is Professor at ETH Zuerich, where he is Chair for the History and Theory of Urban Design. Avermaete has a special research interest in the post-war public realm and the architecture of the city in Western and non-Western contexts. He is the author of Another Modern: The Post-War Architecture and Urbanism of Candilis-Josic-Woods (2005) and Casablanca, Chandigarh: A Report on Modernization (2014, with Maristella Casciato). Avermaete has also edited numerous books, including Shopping Towns Europe 1945-75: Commercial Collectivity and the Architecture of the Shopping Centre (2017, with Janina Gosseye), and is a member of the editorial team of OASE Architectural Journal and the advisory board of the Architectural Theory Review. Giulia Scotto is an architect and urban researcher based at the Landscape and Urban Studies Institute (ISUP) of the Universita della Svizzera Italiana. Giulia received her PhD in urban studies at the University of Basel in 2022 with a dissertation on the infrastructural expansion of ENI, the Italian national hydrocarbon agency, in post-independence sub-Saharan Africa. Giulia is currently coordinating the SNSF project "Codes and Conventions for Future Zurich: A Propositional Planning Approach to Qualitative Densification" and is a visiting postdoc at the Chair of the History and Theory of Urban Design at ETH Zurich.