Friday, 29 May 2026
from 11:00 – 12:30
Leads
Dr Michael Walczak, ETH Zurich, Architecture and Urban Design, Switzerland
Prof. em. Stephan Mäder, Mäder+Mächler Architekten ETH BSA SIA, Switzerland
Description
This workshop shall collect first, a curated set of scalable best practices, concrete case studies, and transferable methods / digital tools for daylight in urban areas, supporting communities in reimagining their environments through region-specific, daylight-focused urban design.
Secondly, this workshop shall give a guidance to define a framework for evaluating urban daylighting practices by translating SDG principles into measurable indicators. This will ensure that the selected cases not only advance daylight quality and access but also contribute to broader sustainability objectives such as health and well-being, climate action, inclusive urban development, inside/outside daylight, across scales (national, urban, local), across densities, artistic practices, and perception. The working group established under this proposal will define how these quantitative and qualitative indicators/list of criteria’s are to be balanced and made comparable.
The set of selection criteria shall recognize that different projects, regions, and disciplines may require different approaches. Not every project needs to meet all criteria; instead, options should allow for validation of quality, complexity, interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, users, project maturity (including initial concepts and AI-generated ideas), and comparison of challenges and opportunities. These criteria could also be linked to the DLA Award, connecting the platform to selected DLA Award recipients.
This workshop is covering the DLA Societal Topic of “Daylight versus Urban density” and the SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities (Reference: https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-03897-871-8).
The parallel session aims to prepare for a DLA project proposal building towards an interdisciplinary research hub/library and interactive 3D online platform.
Objectives
Discussions in the working group, in preparation for this proposal have identified many possible activities and outputs, far beyond the scope of this call, and so they have been prioritised. The outputs to be delivered within this proposed workshop include:
Gather a diverse portfolio of exemplary initiatives, case studies, and transferable methods—including digital tools—that demonstrate concrete, innovative, daylight-focused approaches to urban design in specific latitudes, highlighting both challenges and opportunities. This workshop will kick-off this initiative as well as foster exchange across disciplines, geographies, and scales, emphasizing replicability and adaptability to different urban contexts.
Each workshop entry will be documented in a standardized, comparable format to highlight scalability, transferability, challenges, and impact. As part of this proposal, the selection process will undergo one iteration, while the imagined platform will be designed to allow future expansion and adjustments.
A first draft report outlining the SDG-based selection criteria and measurable indicators for evaluating daylight-related urban initiatives. This will serve as a methodological reference for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.