Between urban quality, environmental protection and public policy
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Sustainable cities: from intention to practice
In recent years, sustainability has become a central theme in urban and architectural debate, in response to the growing environmental, social and economic challenges facing cities. However, this greater awareness is not always matched by consistent practice. There is often a significant gap between stated objectives and actual transformations in the territory, making it difficult to assess and compare the quality of interventions over time.
In Switzerland, there are several standards whose aim is to make sustainability operational by integrating it into construction and planning decision-making processes. Among these, the Swiss Sustainable Building Standard (SNBS) has established itself as a national benchmark, applicable both at the building and infrastructure level and, more recently, at the neighbourhood level.
The SNBS is a national standard that assesses sustainability by integrating environmental, social and economic dimensions throughout the entire life cycle of the project and in its relationship with the territorial and social context. Unlike other standards that focus primarily on energy or technical performance, the SNBS takes a broader, project-oriented approach. Its criteria are not only used to verify results retrospectively, but can also accompany the design process from the initial stages, helping to clarify objectives and make technical choices.
Although not legally binding, the standard is increasingly recognised at national level and is consistent with federal strategies for sustainable development and climate protection. The Confederation and the cantons support its adoption through incentive policies, programmes to promote building quality and synergies with other instruments.
In Ticino, the adoption of SNBS is still limited, but there are examples. The first certified building in the canton, in Stabio (see Archi XXX), has demonstrated that even in a context characterised by strong real estate pressure and fragmented settlement, it is possible to apply sustainability criteria in a structured manner. In a region where urban and environmental quality objectives are often left to the discretion of individual actors, the SNBS could provide a common language for designers, clients and administrations, making explicit and shareable objectives that today often remain implicit.
From building standards to the urban scale: SNBS-Quartiere
A standard evolution is represented by SNBS-Quartiere, which extends the assessment of sustainability from the scale of the individual building to that of the neighbourhood or development area, according to the principle that many issues central to urban sustainability – such as mobility, land use, quality of public spaces or social cohesion – cannot be effectively addressed at the building level alone. SNBS-Quartier proposes an integrated approach to urban design, considering the relationships between buildings, open spaces, infrastructure and functions. Compared to SNBS-Building, the focus shifts from individual construction details to the overall structure of the neighbourhood, assessing sustainability as the result of a coherent set of urban planning choices. The standard is particularly suitable for new developments, areas undergoing transformation and densification projects. It provides a framework for addressing issues such as functional and social mix, quality of public space, sustainable mobility, climate resilience and process governance in a coordinated manner. For public administrations and planners, SNBS-Neighbourhood can be a useful tool for comparing scenarios, defining objectives and monitoring the evolution of projects over time.
The role of SNBS in public policy
Within the framework of Swiss public policy, SNBS facilitates the implementation of existing regulations in design practice. Its contribution takes the form of operational criteria that translate general objectives – such as nature and landscape conservation, climate protection and efficient use of resources – into elements that can be assessed at the building and neighbourhood level.
Nature and landscape protection
With regard to nature and landscape, SNBS intervenes in particular in the site selection, design and organisation of open spaces, in line with the principles of the Federal Law on Nature and Landscape Protection and the Federal Law on Spatial Planning. The standard first requires a context analysis, which considers the ecological characteristics of the site, the presence of natural elements and the relationship with the surrounding landscape. This encourages interventions that are more attentive to land consumption and integration into the existing fabric, in line with the objectives of qualitative densification.
A second aspect concerns biodiversity and the quality of open spaces. The SNBS assesses the conservation of existing natural elements, soil permeability and the ecological quality of green spaces, rewarding solutions that contribute to improving the overall environmental value of the project. At the neighbourhood level, these aspects are viewed systematically, as part of a coherent urban design capable of enhancing the overall landscape quality.
Climate protection
Climate protection is one of the central pillars of Swiss environmental policy. With the goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as enshrined in federal legislation and the Long-Term Climate Strategy, the building and built environment sector plays a key role, as it is responsible for a significant share of total emissions.
In this context, the SNBS provides a framework for translating general climate objectives into criteria that can be applied to design. Unlike approaches limited to the operational phase alone, the standard considers emissions throughout the entire life cycle of a building, including the production of materials, construction, use and management. This makes it possible to explicitly address the issue of grey energy and to orient design choices towards solutions with a lower overall climate impact. In addition to assessing emissions, SNBS promotes buildings and settlements with low energy requirements and a high share of renewable energy, in line with the Federal Energy Act and decarbonisation policies in the construction sector. The focus is not on strict compliance with individual limit values, but on the overall quality of the solutions adopted and their consistency over time.
With its extension to the neighbourhood scale, SNBS further strengthens its contribution to climate protection. SNBS-Quartiere also considers settlement and organisational factors that have a significant impact on emissions, such as mobility, functional mix and spatial organisation. Reducing climate impact is therefore not addressed as the result of individual building performance, but as the outcome of an integrated urban project capable of influencing behaviour and collective efficiency. In this sense, SNBS is a useful tool for linking national climate strategies with concrete design choices, helping to make the objectives of the transition to a low-emission society operational, measurable and comparable.
Challenges and opportunities
Like any voluntary standard, SNBS has some critical issues. The complexity of the assessment system, the costs associated with the certification process and the need for specific skills can be an obstacle, particularly for small operators or in contexts where resources are limited. There is also a risk that the standard will be perceived as a procedural requirement rather than a tool to support the project. At the same time, the SNBS offers significant opportunities, especially if interpreted as a reference framework rather than a simple scoring system. For designers, it can become a support tool in the early stages, useful for structuring choices and making explicit objectives that are often treated implicitly. For public and private clients, it allows them to clarify quality expectations and compare different solutions on a shared basis.
From a public policy perspective, the SNBS – and in particular the SNBS-Quartiere – can help to strengthen the quality of urban planning and transformation processes, without replacing existing regulatory instruments. In contexts such as Ticino, characterised by highly fragmented settlements and growing pressure on the territory, the standard could promote greater consistency between environmental objectives, urban design and implementation.
The main challenge therefore lies not so much in the formal extension of the standard as in its conscious integration into design and planning processes. In this balance between tools, skills and governance, the SNBS can help steer urban development towards higher environmental and territorial quality, without sacrificing the flexibility needed to respond to the specificities of local contexts.
