“Urban Transformation of Sarajevo” Project: Cooperation between ETH Zurich, University of Sarajevo and the Institute for Development Planning of KS

The implementation of the project “Urban Transformation of Sarajevo” is the reason for the meeting held today, which was attended by Prof. Dr. Rifat Škrijelj, University of Sarajevo Rector, Prof. Hubert Klumpner, project manager in front of ETH Zurich (online), Dr. Michael Walczak, Deputy Project Manager Prof. Klumpner, and Prof. Dr. Adnan Pašić, main project coordinator on behalf of UNSA and professor at the Faculty of Architecture of UNSA.

The meeting was also an opportunity to prepare for the signing of the Agreement on the implementation of the “Sarajevo Urban Transformation Project” (UTPS) between ETH Zurich, the University of Sarajevo and the Sarajevo Canton Development Planning Institute, which is planned for the second half of October this year. The signing of the agreement was approved by the Governing Board of the University of Sarajevo. The nominal duration of the project is tied to a period of four years.

The project “Urban Transformation of Sarajevo” aims to modernize the system of integrated urban planning in Sarajevo Canton, through work programs and access to urban planning based on climate resilience, transparency, inclusiveness and real data, in a way that contributes to economic development and quality of life.

The project “Urban Transformation of Sarajevo” is based on three main components:

• Institutionalization that includes building and developing the academic capacity of the University of Sarajevo through the activities of teachers and students from the Faculty of ETH Zurich DArch and the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Sarajevo as well as international experts which will be implemented through: academic courses, summer schools and workshops, international project studies conference and symposium,
• Urban planning practices
• Urban transformation - It will be realized through planning, programming, design and realization of urban prototypes and small-scale urban interventions.

Dr. Michael Walczak, a postdoctoral fellow at ETH Zurich, a lecturer at the UNSA Faculty of Architecture, and deputy project manager on behalf of ETH Zurich, speaking about the project, emphasizing that it is about connecting architecture, urbanism and urban planning through software development and coding. Presenting the project, he commented on its history and the activities that preceded the project and led to its definition: in 2016, Bosnia and Herzegovina appeared for the first time at the Venice Architecture Biennale, in 2017 a Declaration on connecting two cities was signed - Sarajevo and Zurich. supports this project, in 2019 the first workshops were held with students in Sarajevo, and the arrival of the researcher ETH Zurich in Sarajevo with the mobile laboratory “Mobil Studio” was organized, and the first design studio was made.

It was emphasized that it is about strengthening the capacity of inter-university cooperation and international strengthening of the University of Sarajevo, whereby the University of Sarajevo through the Faculty of Architecture is involved as a support to the Institute for Development Planning in the activities of analysis and planning of spatial and urban design within Sarajevo Canton. Also, this is a unique opportunity for the Faculty of Architecture UNSA to cooperate with ETH Zurich on a specific project, as well as opening opportunities for cooperation for other organizational units of the University of Sarajevo due to the multidisciplinarity of the project.

The main partners in the project are ETH Zurich, University of Sarajevo, Institute for Development Planning of Sarajevo Canton, with the support of SwissAI, and under the auspices of the Development Agency of the Government of the Swiss Confederation - SECO.