Airport und GlattRethinking Ecological Compensation: The Production of Nature Around Zurich AirportJan Zimmermann and Marco Steinacher

Even if not directly visible, the noisy aircraft can be heard constantly in the Canton of Zurich. From morning to evening, planes land and take off every minute. As an intensively used infrastructure, the airport has an impact on the landscape which extends the regional boundaries.

In the middle of the 20th century, the government decided to prefer the plain of the Glatt Valley to a Bernese agricultural area for the location of the new Swiss airport. Thus, a huge infrastructure project was placed in the territory and valuable natural habitat was lost. With simultaneously growing settlements, unbuilt land was put under pressure.

Land is a valuable resource that has been a cause for discourse, disagreement, and dispute since the introduction of property ownership. Due to the scarcity of land, the pressure on unclaimed areas is constantly increasing. Nowadays, such regions are hardly available anymore. Regulations and processes that are supposed to control the sustainable development of territory only lead to a fragmentation of compensation measures.

While extensions of the airport are reached by compensation, within the airport boundaries a different principle comes into play. Hybridisation of different landscapes offers a potential as an alternative to compensation.

A biodiverse landscape around the airport is introduced to stop the displacement of unbuilt land. The design proposal is based on restrictions and potentials of the territory and follows an integrative approach of hybridisation. Implemented in a local process of ecological balance, the belt provides an extension of the already existing habitat inside the airport boundaries.