2 PhD Positions in Landscape and Urban Studies

The Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich offers two positions as part of the Doctoral Programme in Landscape and Urban Studies, starting on 1 October 2021.

The Doctoral programme in Landscape and Urban Studies at the Department of Architecture’s Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies addresses contemporary issues of urban and environmental transformation. Research spans the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, territorial planning and social sciences. Focusing on the production of landscape, territory and human settlements through a range of different scales, from the local to the global, this may include studies in landscape and designed ecologies, design strategies, energy and food production, material stocks and flows, health and socio-economic development.

The doctoral programme seeks to promote a critical discourse, qualitatively and quantitatively addressing pressing environmental and social challenges, and aspires to cultivate independent, inventive, and proactive research that engages with processes of environmental change within their broader cultural, economic, political, social, historical and theoretical context.

The programme is structured as an ongoing collective research, no two semesters are alike and it is recommended that candidates participate in at least two consecutive semesters (starting in the autumn semester, and the following spring semester). Acknowledging that landscapes are integrating socio-economic, infrastructural and ecological aspects, the autumn semester addresses an analytical perspective, which emphasizes social sciences, territorial planning, infrastructure and technology, while the spring semester introduces a design-oriented perspective, emphasizing dialogical, participatory and ecological practices.