We are going to look firstly at the connection between city and country, then the connection with housing. Because of something of a conflict in the demand expressed by today's city dwellers – to live in the city or to live in the country – most European cities have halfway areas, neither entirely urban, nor entirely countryside, but unfortunately often of mediocre spatial quality, which we have generated ourselves and have accepted almost without question, without coming up with many alternatives to this transitional space. As part of the process of reflecting on public space associated with the 9th session of Europan, we will try to examine this intermediate zone, its ambiguous character, and to find ways of developing new quality that raises the question of densification. City and country are fundamental polarities.

OLTEN SUDWEST (SWITZERLAND), process yellow berlin, büro z zürich, Maresa Schumacher (architect, teacher, Büro Z, Zurich, Switzerland):

Oliver Bormann from Berlin's Büro Process Yellow and I are working on the SüdWest project in a former gravel quarry to be converted to an urban district in the Swiss town of Olten, which, though relatively small in size, is the nucleus of a large conurbation. A former mainline railway junction, this site now suffers from the removal of the railways; currently only high-speed trains pass near the town, which therefore needs to reposition itself. It can exploit its role as a crossroads, half an hour by train from Switzerland's main stations, Basel, Bern, Zurich or Luzern. On the Swiss scale, Olten, with its 17,000 population, is seen as a medium-sized town. The River Aare runs through it to the south, and it has a nucleus of mediaeval districts in the town centre.The site is essentially a big open-air quarry in the southwestern outskirts of Olten. The old cement works have been demolished since, but gravel extraction is still going on. Preparations for the development of the site have already begun. The site's topography is very distinctive and strongly influenced the design of the project. The site is bounded on one side by the excavations and on the other by a service road which will be a significant factor in the opening up of the area. However, the railway line and river constitute a dual barrier to be crossed. The site is extremely shut-in, although situated near the town centre, and can be seen as a suburban space. Our operation affects both the urban structure and the integration of the landscape and the town.

Oliver Bormann (architect, urbanist, Process Yellow, Berlin, Germany):

In Switzerland, unlike China for example, there is no great land pressure and we can afford not to complete an urban project in a single step. This is the factor underlying our strategy. We are proposing pre-structuring measures to make sure that the districts develop on an attractive site. The title of our project is "locational non-hierarchy", because we are proposing a nonhierarchical structure – unlike many other concentrically structured towns – with no strictly "central" location, but rather a form of decentralised centrality, based around small urban squares. We have established a central axis, the "strip", a sort of structuring main street where certain functions are concentrated. We have opted for the classic chequerboard layout, with the central strip maintaining a certain tension. This approach to development is very simple and easy to realise, with three major points of connection with the town. The whole development is structured around a network of free spaces, parks and squares. The different locations are equal in spatial quality, avoiding the traditional urban layout of a central

Kaye Geipel:

The two projects offer two different responses to the shortage of public space in residential neighbourhoods. At Innsbruck, the response is a high degree of concentration and a central square surrounded by various density-creating elements. At Olten, it is dispersal that is seen as a criterion and guarantee of quality. In other words, both projects raise the question of density. In addition, at different stages of development, they effectively illustrate the effort required to achieve a sustainable mix of functions.

Roger Riewe (architect, Professor, Graz, Austria):

These days, it seems to be taken for granted that people who don't live "in town" are losing out. Two years ago, we passed the point where more than half the world's population lives in cities. Every country, every conurbation is trying to become a city again. In fact, Switzerland has been creative in presenting itself as a single urban space. Yet on the other hand – and this is the paradox you refer to – as soon as people are in the urban environment, they also want intimacy, private space and nature. Perhaps the quest for "spaces of urbanity" reflects an element of nostalgia,

Bernd Vlay (architect, Secretary of Europan Austria):

The first images produced by the architects and the model of the Innsbruck tower block generated genuine public discontent, and a real "public relations" campaign was required to push through the idea of a high-rise building. The notion of public space near the tower therefore had to be completely redefined, with urbanity being created by the superimposition of different functional layers – housing, communal space, the supermarket, cafes and also an underground car park – in order to create a positive image for a density-increasing project in a residential district. This was not just about reinventing a typology but employing a very precise process of transformation to start a dialogue with the existing surroundings, including the public spaces, in order to create a favourable urban environment. In the Innsbruck project, there is a clear separation between private and public space. The Olten project stresses a very subtle negotiation between nature and buildings, but also between intimacy and public space, which entails the notion of pockets of private greenery. In the light of this, it should be noted that the

Oliver Bormann:

Indeed, it might seem paradoxical. It is true that density is a very important criterion when thinking of public space, but it can be understood in different ways. I can also easily imagine empty public space. Is not the desert a public space? It may be true that density is defined by how much people use the space, there are also other ways of occupying a square, without necessarily crossing

Bernd Vlay:

Beyond the mix of functions, your project operates a graduated spatial shift between public and

Oliver Bormann:

We tried to establish a whole gradation in the use of public space, from traditional uses like the street, to the use of the ground floor. Then there are the internal areas, what are called public and private spaces, accessible to the public but endowed with a certain degree of privacy because of their slightly closed layout. Then, the system of fences and railings divide up the podiums into different uses, establishing private areas

Hugo Hinsley (architect, Professor, member of the Scientific Committee, UK):

There is a very strong contrast between the two operations in terms of the possibility of achieving critical mass. On one side, you have something that is done in a single step, which is the normal process, whereas at Olten they are trying to proceed stage by stage, leaving things open and simply providing a general framework. The question is whether the investors and the town feel that there is enough intensity to justify an