The only one of its kind in Europe, the Waldlabor Zurich is a living lab focused on forests, forest management and society. As a sponsoring institution, ETH Zurich supports projects by members of the ETH community in the forest laboratory. More information will be provided at the upcoming online information session.
The Waldlabor Zurich is an experiential education and research site for teaching, research and the general public. It is intended to vividly explain and bring to life past, present and future issues relating to the forest and forest management. Complex aspects of forests and their management, such as the long periods of the forest development cycle, are also illustrated.
The Waldlabor covers around 150 hectares of urban woodland on the Hönggerberg hill and was designed for a time horizon of 100 years. Given these spatial and temporal aspects, as well as its immediate vicinity to ETH’s Hönggerberg Campus, the forest is ideally suited to being a living lab with long-term observation areas and projects for teaching, research and public relations. The general public can access information and research findings on a wide range of forest topics using the Waldlabor app (currently still in development) as well as through tours and events.
Be part of the Waldlabor
Would you like to learn more about the Waldlabor, or perhaps even spearhead a project? There are several ways to get involved:
- Waldlabor Day, 17 September: Learn about the Waldlabor on site on Saturday, 17 September from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Get a closer look at current projects, forest maintenance and wood use on the Hönggerberg hill. external pageMore about the Waldlabor Day.
- Info session, 19 September, 12 noon to 1 p.m. (online): In this internal ETH online event, the ETH coordination office for the Waldlabor will present some sample projects by ETH members. In addition, the possibilities for spearheading ETH projects in the Waldlabor Zurich will be explained. Join in, get involved! external pageClick here to go to the Zoom meeting.
- Website and app: The external pageWaldlabor website and the external pageWaldlabor app will tell you everything you need to know about the living forest lab.
ETH’s commitment to the Waldlabor
In November 2018, the ETH Executive Board decided to involve the university as a sponsoring institution, with Prof. Harald Bugmann as the authorised representative, and assured considerable financial support for ETH’s involvement in the Waldlabor.
To mark the anniversary of the Association of Forest Owners of the Canton of Zurich (WaldZürich), the Waldlabor Zurich Association was founded in 2019 on the Hönggerberg hill by six sponsoring institutions: WaldZürich, the City of Zurich, the Canton of Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, ETH Zurich and the Forestry Staff Association of the Canton of Zurich.
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