Urban Development Concept, City of Neuchâtel

10 km lakeshore, 10 km forest edge and in between the steep Jura mountain slope with a less than 1 km wide, 10 km long city. Neuchâtel is unique in urbanistic terms, for which we have developed a very site-specific urban development concept together with Team+.

The special feature: the focus of the urban development is on 6 city-wide, precisely located spatial elements that make up the spatial identity of the city. They are special and important, but also difficult and complex, for example the lakeshore, the diagonals or the centralities. With a focused densification and revalorisation, these qualitative spatial elements - as identity carriers of the city—are upgraded and strengthened in a specific way. The 7th spatial element is the rest of the city: this element is the largest in terms of area and is not affected by structural changes. This allows for much more greening of the many open spaces and gardens. It also simplifies - because of the limitation of the urban development changes to 6 spatial elements—the local planning revision and supports the acceptance of densification, because most people are not affected by it.