During the daytime it is filled with people who carry out research, teach and learn. At nighttime the buildings are dark, the open spaces deserted, the cafeterias empty. Expediency and optimum functionality are the dominating characteristics of ETH Hönggerberg today. This impression is not alleviated by the green spaces, the duck pond or the chairs set out in front of HIL and the cafe. How would it be if people did not simply come here to teach, research and learn, but also stayed to meet, encounter, tarry, wander around, shop and live: living in Hönggerberg – a vision? "If we want to play in the first division, we also have to make the physical surroundings for teaching and research attractive", as Gerhard Schmitt, Vice-president ETH, recently told members of the personnel commission. Science City needs to fit this profile and, even more, to serve as an "open window" between science and society at large. In his description of Science City as a vision, ETH President Olaf Kübler says, "Science City is a city district where science and society meet on a daily basis and where research, teaching, culture and people's everyday lives come in to contact and associate in a new way."

Living and working in one and the same place. This is how visionaries see the future for Campus Hönggerberg. large

A district with a population of 10,000

On the one hand, Science City is a construction and university development project for ETH Hönggerberg and as such part of ETH Zurich's overall strategic concept for the infrastructure. The goal of the project is to improve conditions for teaching and research and to enhance the urban status of the location Hönggerberg. In addition to the buildings for teaching and research and a high-tech infrastructure, the plans also foresee students housing, a guest house, restaurants, shops and leisure activity centres. Existing creches and sports facilities are to be upgraded. The landmark for this planned 21st century ETH is a "Learning and Congress Centre" with room for congresses, events, exhibitions, a big auditorium and a library. Science City is a university and garden city in one, connected to the entire world, where approximately 10,000 people work and live. Gerhard Schmitt says with confidence, "If all goes according to plan the foundation stone for Science City will be laid in 2005 and the campus Hönggerberg will be truly alive in 2015."

The model of "Science City". large

A location that shines forth

ETH President Olaf Kübler and Vice-president Gerhard Schmitt further develop these thoughts and ideas. In their imaginings Science City is far more than just an attractive university campus. It is the vision of an entire district of Zurich that symbolises the encounter between science and the public. Already today, people from the neighbouring districts are drawn to ETH Hönggerberg. In the vision Science City is a place that Zurich's population likes to visit because of its special atmosphere, comparable to Zurich's new culture district "Zurich West".

The physical attraction of Science City is to become reality with attractive offers of popular events where science can be experienced, as well as concerts, exhibitions, sporting events, restaurants and open green areas. The attraction of Science City lies also in the myriad of possibilities for the encounter of people from the worlds of science and non-science. That the current "Babylonian abbreviation jungle" – HPP, HSP, HIL, HCI – is to be replaced by real names is just a detail.

Focusing on people

"Science City" is the working title of both the vision and the construction plans of the project. People are set firmly at the centre point of the project – people from ETH, who research, teach, learn and provide services in Science City, people living in the neighbouring districts and visitors from the centre of Zurich and the surrounding region who want to meet with science. A few preconditions of Science City are already given. For example the master plan, which was drafted by ETH Professor of Architecture Andrea Deplazes, includes the binding framework for the construction and development project. The construction of Science City is to be realised within the existing perimeter. Nevertheless, the actual appearance of Science City and what else is needed to make Hönggerberg into a meeting point for science and society, are questions that still require thoughts and suggestions from a lot of creative minds.

ETH members helping to shape

The construction and development of the Science City project offer a great opportunity to everyone. People who work or study at ETH, as well as interested parties from without, now have the unique chance to take part in developing the vision of "a city district for thinking culture" and to make it into something concrete for the anniversary in 2005. The project that would subsequently be realised step by step in the following years. Such a process, however, presupposes that discussions on the subject of Science City start up. A forum has been set up under www.sciencecity.ethz.ch to start the ball rolling. Ideas, impulses, suggestions or critical comments can be deposited there. The participation of ETH staff and students and other interested parties is also to be guaranteed by a participation model with representation in the project organisation.