Transversal Territory : A Transdisciplinary and Participatory Approach in Urban Research

Transversal Territory is a laboratory of urban, environmental, and artistic experimentation at the renowned Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, Switzerland. It undertakes transdisciplinary and participatory research on the relationship between us, our bodies, and our built and natural environments. Its unique approach is to explore experiences of — and reflections on — urban space through performative bodywork and on-site artistic installations. This process aims at transcending the conventional paradigms of perception and the understanding of urban space, and at creating a new imagination of it — an augmented reality.

Transversal Territory’s innovative research is conducted in annual workshops, in which students and local residents collaborate, and subsequent public presentations of the results. This volume features 20 performances and installations realised in 2022 in Mendrisio’s Rime-Brech neighbourhood, a typical suburban area with its mix of industrial structures, social housing, shopping malls, fast food outlets, parking lots, wastelands, and highways. It is conceived as a map of Mendrisio that spreads across the pages to recontextualise the genius loci in book format.