9–2026

Water in the City

The most expensive puddle in Switzerland – this was the less than flattering description of the design of an area of water on Gustav-Gull-Platz in Zurich when this public space was opened in 2014. The open body of water on a sloping area of asphalt, edged with light grey granite, lies at the end of Europaallee when you are coming from the Main Train Station. In contrast to the extravagant office and apartment blocks built by big names from the world of architecture for big names of the technology scene, the square seems more like an understatement. It is hard and bare and not very permeable. In summer it heats up quickly, the rows of ginkgo trees will need a few more years before their leaves can form a shady canopy above the pedestrian zone.

Even though this public square illustrates the main problem that results from the urban design of public spaces in recent decades, many people in Zurich have grown fond of it. You can take off your shoes, roll up your trousers, wade barefoot through the water. You can even ride a bike through the puddle, going a little deeper on each round, and with the water that clings to the bike tyres you can paint a pattern on the asphalt. Water exerts a magical attraction on people.

Water cools, public swimming baths are the epitome of the summertime feeling in Swiss cities. When taking a refreshing jump into the Aare, the Limmat, the Rhine or the Cassarate it is easy to forget that in the 1960s Switzerland’s crystal-clear rivers were still cloudy and polluted. While a number of European cities are still having difficulties in achieving the dream of the “swimmable city,” the metropolis Paris shows how a project of this kind can be speedily implemented, if the political will is there (and the Olympic Games are looming ahead).

But it is not only on account of its cooling effect that water is the design theme of the moment. Due to climate change, dry periods are growing longer, weather extremes are becoming more dramatic. To provide water for flora and fauna but also to reduce the damage caused by flooding to a minimum, today the soil must function like a sponge. Whereas once enormous efforts were made to reclaim floodplains and drain rivers, today we struggle to keep soil moist and ground water levels stable. Instead of drainage we must again turn to a culture of irrigation. Delighting in the beauty of a puddle is, perhaps, a start.