In 2024, “Between the Water and Us” is about water in the city. With this theme, Lausanne Jardins aims to change our perception of water in the city and transform our relationship with this resource by reintegrating it into our field of vision.
Water shapes our cities. Investing in this link between the city, its rivers, its soils, its vegetation and its lake, shows how, according to a “sponge city” approach, water can play a key role in the face of climate change, while improving the living environment, urban biodiversity and the well-being of residents. This approach also questions the link between the city, its urban rivers and its lake.
By transforming our relationship with this resource, Lausanne Jardins 2024 aims to highlight the many services it provides: drinking water, but also water as a means of transport, a place for recreation and refreshment, a biotope rich in biodiversity, a source of energy, etc. . Through an intelligent approach to water in the city, synergies between these functions can emerge.
For the first time, the 2024 event will take place along the shores of Lake Geneva. The route stretches for six kilometers between the two rivers that border the city, from the Vuachère in the east to the Chamberonne in the west.
The four discovery trails along the way raise a number of issues: ecosystems and ecological infrastructures; inclusive outdoor sports; the art of live performance accessible to the greatest number of people; and the right-of-way and cohabitation of different types of mobility in public space.
Over the last few centuries, as a result of both natural processes and human activity, the shoreline has gradually advanced into the lake, gaining in thickness. Although it constitutes a landscape and bioclimatic continuum, it has many faces, depending on how it is appropriated by its users.
Sixty years after Expo 64, this site also represents an opportunity to reflect on the future challenges of a major urban park.
