Why does Basel still have a love affair with its Asphalt?  A story of missed opportunities.

When I moved to Basel 15 years ago I was mesmerized by the precision and sexy smoothness of its asphalt surfaces.  Brilliant, efficient surface I thought.  I even made an Instagram post about it in 2014, extolling the beauty of “Swiss Asphalt”.  I marveled at the “fancy asphalt” with large aggregate that Herzog & de Meuron was using in its Rheinschanze courtyard and that Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten used in its Elisabethenanlage project. 

A lot has changed in the last 15 years.  The summers in Basel are increasingly hotter.  The heatwaves that once occurred only once in the summer for 4-5 days, happen a few times and stick around far longer.  Indeed Switzerland “ is warming at more than double the rate of the global mean”.[1]

Asphalt as a default surface material no longer makes sense in our new climate reality (and also within the context of Basel as Schwammstatt).  Trees are more and more important within an urban context – for biodiversity of course but also given our new climate reality, they are crucial for reducing heat related deaths.  The benefits of trees within an urban context are well-proven and indisputable.

Asphalt and trees do not make for a happy marriage.  Trees need impervious surfaces for water absorption.  Asphalt is not a permeable surface.

And yet, there is one new project after another in Basel where the main components are asphalt and a limited number of trees.   Where the vast expanses of Asphalt would lead one to believe that we have FCB matches happening all over the city and we need to accommodate vast throngs of people at the Biozentrum, at Wielandplatz, etc. etc.   

These new project lead me to question again and again, why did we do this when we could have done…so much more!?

And to what end do I create these provocations?  For three reasons:

1. So the greater public may envision what could have been and should have been.

2. So the greater public may begin to brainstorm and to demand ways in which these conditions could be altered.

• Why can’t we fill the fountain in front of the Biozentrum with trees and soil because ecologically and practically that would accomplish a lot more (shade for users, trees for birds)

• Why can’t we tear up the eye-sore circle of asphalt in front of the Kunstmuseum and plant a Magerwiese instead

• Why don’t we demand that the security bollards in front of the Synagogue be surrounded by trees and meadow rather than asphalt?

3. Lastly and most importantly so we can insist that in the planning of ALL projects going forward, trees come FIRST in the planning process.

• We don’t first ask ourselves, where do the pipes go? No!  We first ask ourselves, where do the trees go and how can the pipes be laid around them.

• In all Competition briefs the first requirement is how many trees should be planted per square meter, NOT how many car parking spaces should be appropriated per square meter.

• In the planning of all underground parkings we require 2m of soil depth above, no exceptions!

I create these “provocations” because it is time that all Baslers realize and demand that trees should come first; they have to come first. We as a city have the know-how, the money and the will to create better public spaces where trees are king, not asphalt.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/15/world/europe/switzerland-skiiing-alpine-villages-no-snow.html