Urbanizing the Alps : Densification Strategies for Mountain Villages, Hardcover by Pia, Fiona, ISBN 3035617198, ISBN-13 9783035617191, Like New Used, Free shipping in the US

Noting that many high-altitude towns are reaching their viable size limit and creating urban sprawl, Pia, an architect in Switzerland, explores strategies that would safeguard the Alpine region and its landscape and densify mountain towns to extend their life cycle and protect other undeveloped areas. She analyzes different representative models of high-altitude towns and mobility systems, including Verbier and Zermatt in Switzerland, Avoriaz in France, Whistler Blackcomb in Canada, and Andermatt in Switzerland, to demonstrate the limitations of the dominant Alpine town model and the compact city. She uses spatial experimentation to figure out the viable maximum size of an urban Alpine unit and the critical size for effective densification. She focuses on the Verbier case study to illustrate the problems caused by urban sprawl driven by small-scale individual initiatives and uncoordinated projects and a new Alpine urbanization model that integrates urban densification with public transport infrastructure. Annotation ©2019 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR ()