The starting point for our project was the prognosis that the population of the suburban region in the valley along the Limmat river to the west of Zürich will double in the next 20 years. The existing housing and infrastructure will not be able to handle this dramatic increase, and the few remaining areas of landscape were declared as worthy of preservation. The solution, therefore, has to be condensing the existing (sub-)urban structures, and reusing industrial wastelands.

If we consider the city a heterogenous network of different public and private spaces, then every new development has to incorporate these complementing forms of landscape and architecture. The goal of Netscape Urbanism is to generate a healthy mixture of landscape and  the built environment, connecting different areas of the suburb to create a more urban situation.

We define the shape and orientation of plots in our areas of operation based on the existing conditions. Multiple plots can be combined, and private development is encouraged in every area, but has to be compensated with public and semiprivate space. There is a height regulation for the areas not yet inhabited (golf course and gravel pit), and a formula regulating the minimum distance between buildings. At most 50% of all plots can be used for private development. At the same time, the owner/developer is obligated to create public or semiprivate space and publicly accessible natural landscape, each with an area totaling at a minimum one-third of the total private floor space. This ratio ensures that over time, as more plots are sold and land becomes scarce, the area gets condensed.

The private developments and their compensation should be intertwined whenever possible, and the created public space must be accessible even if it is organized vertically. As more plots get developed, this will create a continuing network of landscape and public space tying together private homes and businesses.