Europan 7
Jan 2003 - Apr 2004
Sub-urban challenge
Figures Europan 7
Participation
3750 registrations
2010 entries (54%)
119 prizes
57 winners and 62 runners-up
plus 67 honorable mentions
on 67 sites
Countries and sites
EUROPAN 7 - 17 participating countries
Europan Belgique/België/Belgien
Europan Deutschland
Europan Eesti
Europan Ellás
Europan España
Europan France
Europan Hrvatska
Europan Italia
Europan Latvija
Europan Nederland
Europan Norge
Europan Österreich
Europan Portugal
Europan Slovenija
Europan Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera/Svira
Europan Suomi - Finland
Europan Sverige
EUROPAN 7 - 2 associated countries proposing a site
Česká Republika
Magyarország
Cities of EUROPAN 7 - 68 urban situations
Belgique/België/Belgien: Ottignies, Tubize
Deutschland: Augsburg, Deggendorf, Halle, Neu-Ulm, Senftenberg
Eesti: Pärnu, Tallinn
Ellás: Illion, Néa Ionia Magnesia, Neapoli, Pilea
España: Barcelona, Burgos, Guadalajara, La Unión, Las Palmas, Luarca, Santiago de Compostela, Santoña, Vitoria-Gasteiz
France: Drancy, Eckbolsheim-Wolfsheim (CUS), Grigny, Nanterre, Reims, Valence, Villeurbanne
Hrvatska: Rijeka, Split
Italia: Bagheria, Gorizia, Monza, Pescara, Pordenone
Latvia: Riga 2, Riga 1, Ventspils
Magyarország: Budapest
Nederland: Amsterdam, Den Haag, Hengelo, Rotterdam
Norge: Oslo, Stavanger, Tromsø
Österreich: Graz, Innsbruck, Krems, Salzburg, Wien
Portugal: Évora, Montijo, Oeiras, Vila do Conde
Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera/Svizra: Fribourg, Lausanne – Renens - Prilly
Slovenija: Izola, Maribor
Suomi/Finland: Espoo, Pori, Tampere
Sverige: Göteborg, Helsinborg, Kristianstad
Theme
SUBURBAN CHALLENGE
Urban Intensity and Housing Diversity
All towns are faced with the phenomenon of urban sprawl, splitting, and fragmentation. The increasing use of the car, the development of out-of-town shopping centres, the increase in the number of leisure complexes, and the extension of business/industrial parks, seem to be leading inexorably to a "dispersed town" urban model. There is, visibly, a new will to act in these contemporary areas, in order to reorganise them by reviving the traditional planning ethos of European towns, and by associating this with the challenges of urban sustainability.
The means to fulfil this need for the progressive transformation of the contemporary town are provided by the existence of land development opportunities and the appearance of a desire for spatial innovation that has been generated by the evolution of lifestyles. Individual autonomy is increasing, as is the diversity of social interactions within the same family, professional mobility, and the speed of communications; all of which lead to a more spread out town. On the other hand, there is a strong demand for a neighbourhood social life that needs to be rebuilt on new foundations. Architects responsible for transforming the dispersed town must ask themselves how they can give it a new set of values. François Ascher highlighted this issue as follows: they must "help individuals both to increase their privacy, and yet to be able to meet easily, to have access to housing whose functions are rich and diversified… Designers must be able to respond simultaneously to an increased demand for both stability and mobility: this notion can be expressed in terms of an anchorage rather than in terms of putting down roots. An anchor provides stability until you raise it to move on elsewhere."
EUROPAN 7 proposes to tackle this issue at the point of the interface between the urban planning level and the architectural level.
How can the dispersed town be transformed to a sustainable town with its foundations in the new social and cultural demands that are currently emerging? How can the creation of new residential districts, with innovative typologies and complex programme briefs, be fashioned into a strategic urban tool?