Territorial Studies for Biodiversity -
Pollinators
2022-2025
Developed during the studies at
the University of Luxembourg (2022)
and ETH Zürich (2024)
Globally, the biodiversity index has registered an average decline of 69% since 1970 (WWF 2022), and the current rate of species extinction is tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the past 10 million years (IPBES 2019). This territorial project explores how spatial and territorial planning can support biodiversity in the face of accelerating habitat fragmentation and ecological decline. Developed through case studies in Luxembourg and Zürich - two European territories marked by disrupted habitats and engaged in ongoing territorial transitions -the research project examines how urbanization and agricultural intensification have contributed to biodiversity loss, particularly by severing ecological connections. In response, it imagines ways in which the planning discipline could re-establish habitat continuity by designing spaces of negotiation between humans and non-human life forms while considering the non-humnans as inhabitatns of the territory.
The focus on pollinating insects—essential actors in ecosystem health—the project envisions mutualized landscapes that sustain both human and non-human communities.
UV Pollinator Vision Experiment
Flowers were photographed under both normal and ultraviolet (UV) light to reveal visual patterns that are invisible to us but highly perceptible to insects. Most pollinators, such as bees, have vision adapted to a broader light spectrum, enabling them to detect UV signals that often serve as guides toward nectar. These visual cues are part of a system of mutual relationships and co-evolved strategies between species—each evolving in ways that ensure the continuity of the other. The aim is to shift perspective and begin imagining how non-human life forms perceive territory, taking into account factors such as their specific foraging distances and sensory capacities.
Forage Distances of Different Pollinators: from the Maximum Radius to the most Comfortable
Garden From a Pollinator’s View
Biodiversity Zone Proposal