Climate-adaptive settlement development

Climate change has led to special challenges in the area of settlement development in Swiss cities and agglomerations. We help cantons, cities, municipalities, and private developers to devise and implement effective strategies for dealing with the effects of climate change. Our solutions include, for instance, effective ways of adapting to or mitigating the effects of increasing summer temperatures and drought, or heavy precipitation and flooding.

For Swiss cities and agglomerations, increasing heat stress is the main challenge associated with climate change. The formation of urban heat islands in the summertime introduces new health hazards and a diminished sense of well-being. This is reflected in falling work productivity rates and an increased demand for air conditioning.

However, this negative impact on health and productivity can be mitigated with the help of climate-adaptive planning and building. We show our clients, for instance, what they can do to reduce the effects of urban heat islands, with the possibility of reducing local temperatures by several degrees.

Strategies for climate-adaptive settlement development

  • Working on behalf of our clients, we analyze local climates at the level of cities, municipalities, and individual sites (spatial distribution of heat stress, mitigating greenways and undeveloped space, cold-air currents).
  • We ascertain the need for action at specific sites and locations.
  • We draft spatial strategies and measures.
  • We advise our clients in matters of adaptive building approaches and spatial design, and oversee planning processes and project development.