Towards a qualitative densification of urban brownfields

Dedicated to local news in French-speaking Switzerland, “Couleurs locales” takes viewers every evening to meet the people and places that shape the region. The RTS program highlights local initiatives and the issues influencing the development of the Romandy territory.

The episode focused on the densification of urban brownfields, an essential lever for supporting the transition toward sustainability while enhancing urban quality of life. These underused spaces, awaiting new purposes, offer a credible solution—both quantitatively and qualitatively—to today’s challenges: meeting the demand for housing, preserving agricultural land and natural areas, and addressing the impacts of climate change.

However, the regeneration of urban brownfields remains a complex process, often hindered by numerous obstacles such as negative perceptions, legal constraints, high costs, and uncertainties related to soil contamination.

In this context, the qualitative densification of brownfields has become a key issue in the transformation of urban territories and a major area of research within LAST.

Filmed on the Sébeillon railway brownfield site in Lausanne and in the Jardin du Paradis neighbourhood in Biel/Bienne, Sophie Lufkin’s interview concretely illustrates several key aspects of brownfield redevelopment projects, including heritage conservation, sustainable mobility, programmatic diversity, the quality of public spaces, proximity to nature, biodiversity enhancement, and the adaptation of cities to climate change.