Claudia R. Binder nominated to head chair for urban ecology

25. Tapping into the potential of cities to promote high quality of life with a low ecological footprint is more crucial than ever in an increasingly urbanized world. As director of EPFL's Swiss Mobiliar Chair for Urban Ecology, Claudia R. Binder will integrate expertise from across EPFL and develop new tools in the burgeoning field of urban ecology and sustainable living. Cities are home to more than half of the world's population, making them an ineluctable gateway to promote human wellbeing and environmental sustainability. Last year, with the support of Swiss Mobiliar, EPFL created a new academic chair in the emerging field of urban ecology and sustainable living. This week, Claudia Binder was nominated to direct the new chair, which will be hosted at EPFL's main campus in Lausanne. The chair will draw on broad interdisciplinary expertise already present on campus, and develop new research avenues at the crossroads between architecture and design, civil engineering, social and environmental sciences.