Glatttal

The Glattal near Wallisellen and Zurich-Nord, view from Rümlang

airport Zurich

View from Uster to the Glattal

The Glattal (official and regionally common spelling, according to the reformed spelling Glatttal ) is a region in the Swiss canton of Zurich . It lies between the Limmat Valley in the west and the Töss Valley in the east and forms a considerable part of the Zurich Unterland . It is formed by the Glatt river , which flows from the Greifensee and flows into the Rhine at Glattfelden .

The Glattal is densely populated and lies entirely in the immediate catchment area of the city of Zurich and is part of the Zurich metropolitan region . The Zurich airport has been in a former marshland of closing between 1948 Kloten and Oberglatt built.

geography

The Glattal comprises parts of the districts of Uster , Dielsdorf and Bülach as well as parts of the municipal area of the city of Zurich ( Zurich North ). The Glatt has a total catchment area of 416 km² or almost a quarter of the area of the Canton of Zurich. The Glattal is delimited to the east from the catchment area of the lower Töss by hills that are almost 600 m above sea level. M. reach (Büliberg near Bülach, 597 m ). To the west, the Glattal is delimited from the lower Lake Zurich and the city of Zurich by Adlisberg and Zurichberg ; near Regensdorf it is separated from the Furttal by moraines (location of the Pöschwies prison ) , the watershed to the Surbtal runs between Steinmaur and Schöfflisdorf , the one to the Fisibach (which flows separately into the Rhine at Kaiserstuhl ) between Neerach and Bachs .

Political communities

Political communities (and Zurich districts) that are wholly or partly in the catchment area of the Glatt:

Uster district

ZIP code and municipality name	Population (December 31, 2018)	Area in km²
8600 Dübendorf	28,678	13.61
8117 Fällanden	8672	6.41
8606 Greifensee	5358	2.30
8603 Schwerzenbach	5115	2.64
8604 Volketswil	18,669	14.00
8306 Wangen-Brüttisellen	7906	7.90

Zurich city

Urban district	Statistical quarters	Population (December 31, 2015)	Area in km²
District 11	Affoltern	25,874	6.04
	Oerlikon	21,966	2.67
	Seebach	24,991	4.71
District 12 Schwamendingen	Seeds	8508	1.13
	Schwamendingen middle	11'315	2.79
	Hirzenbach	11,930	2.05

Bülach district

ZIP code and municipality name	Population (December 31, 2018)	Area in km²
8184 Bachenbülach	4165	4.25
8303 Bassersdorf	11,687	9.02
8180 Bülach	20,447	16.09
8305 Dietlikon	7776	4.26
8192 Glattfelden	5200	12.35
8182 Hochfelden	1931	6.16
8181 Höri	2845	4.85
8302 Kloten	19,679	19.28
8309 Nürensdorf	5629	10.09
8152 Opfikon	20,361	5.61
8304 Wallisellen	16,324	6.50
8185 angle	4518	8.16

Dielsdorf district

ZIP code and municipality name	Population (December 31, 2018)	Area in km²
8157 Dielsdorf	6001	5.86
8173 Neerach	3178	6.01
8172 Niederglatt	4954	3.62
8155 Niederhasli	9264	11.24
8166 Niederweningen	3053	6.88
8154 Oberglatt	7108	8.29
8153 Rümlang	8172	12.39

history

Historically, there were hardly any settlements directly on the Glatt, as the natural course of the river was characterized by swamp and moorland along its entire length. Due to this fact, the Glatt rarely has the character of a village stream, but more often follows the boundaries between communities and historical settlement centers. An exception is Dübendorf , where already in the early Middle Ages settlements existed directly on the Glatt. On its lower reaches, the Glatt was already being used economically in the Middle Ages by taking advantage of the relatively steep gradient to operate water mills . In the 19th century, practically the entire length of the river was corrected in order to avoid flooding and to make the moors cultivable.

The Glattal fell under the rule of the city of Zurich as early as the first half of the 15th century, but jurisdiction remained with regional rulers, most recently with a large majority under the rule of Kyburg , until the modern canton of Zurich was founded in the mediation constitution of 1803. Already in the early In the 18th century, an extensive home industry emerged in the Glattal . Johann Conrad Fäsi wrote in 1765:

"The inhabitants of the estate [Greifensee] have been working so hard in the factories in the city for the last 30 years that in some areas the construction of the fields has suffered quite a bit, regardless of the fact that the fields make up one of the most fertile parts of the Canton."

- Johann Conrad Fäsi : Exact and complete description of the state and the earth of the Swiss Confederation

The Glatt was already being used economically in the Middle Ages , using the relatively steep gradient in the lower reaches to operate water mills . Around 1800 about half of the population worked in cotton processing. During the early industrialization , textile factories were built on the Glattufer that operated their machines with turbines. Around 1900 the factories were electrified and electricity was produced with newly built hydroelectric plants.

With the onset of industrialization in the 19th century, industrialists especially in Uster campaigned for the construction of a railway line. The Glatthalbahn was opened in 1856 on the Wallisellen –Uster line and was merged with the St. Gallisch-Appenzell Railway and the Southeast Railway to form the United Swiss Railways (VSB) that same year . This secured the financing of the extension to Wetzikon (1858), Rüti ZH (1858) and Rapperswil SG (1859). The Glattal route was planned by the VSB as the main traffic axis for the connection of Zurich with Austria as well as with the Gotthard Railway (in planning since 1871). The VSB was nationalized in 1902 and the operation was taken over by the SBB ; the expansion of the railway line was abandoned in favor of the left bank of the Zürichseebahn . The double-track expansion of the Glatthalbahn was not started until 1980 (commissioning on the Wallisellen – Dübendorf line on July 31, 1983).

In the early 20th century, v. a. the middle Glattal is increasingly taking on the character of an agglomeration of the city of Zurich. Since the incorporation in 1934, parts of the Glattal have even been considered the actual urban area (" Zurich North "). From 1909, the Dübendorf-Wangen airfield developed into a mixed civil and military flight operation. The airfield was home to Swissair's predecessor Ad Astra Aero from 1919 and Swissair from 1932 . For military-strategic considerations, the federal government announced in 1939, as the sole owner of the airfield area, the Canton of Zurich precaution sharing. In April 1943, the Zurich government council commissioned a study to examine possible locations for the construction of a major cantonal airport. The report recommended the construction of a separate civil airfield in the moorland of the arsenal between Kloten and Oberglatt . The two chambers of the Federal Parliament passed the “Federal Decree on the Expansion of Civil Airfields” of June 22, 1945, which fixed the federal contributions for four continental airfields and confirmed the additional expansion of Zurich-Kloten to become an intercontinental airfield. After five years of operation as a temporary measure, Zurich-Kloten Airport was presented to the public in a three-day inauguration ceremony from August 29 to August 31, 1953.

The increasing urbanization of the region in the later 20th century is reflected in the opening in 1975 of the Glattzentrum in the Wallisellen area, one of the first large US-style shopping centers in Switzerland. The N1 motorway, which was only planned at the time, was important for the choice of the location . The construction of the “shopping town” began in 1971 and, in addition to the actual shopping center, included a spacious car park, the large petrol station common at the time and an office tower. In coordination with the local authority, the city of Zurich, the canton of Zurich and the federal government, which also began building the N1 Zurich – Winterthur in 1971, the road accesses were created, to which the client made significant contributions. For example, the central motorway lane (towards Zurich) within the Wallisellen motorway junction includes a direct exit to or an entrance to the shopping center.

Settlement development and construction projects

Today the Glattal is densely populated. The Glattal communities learned from the late 20th century as "airport communities" and strengthened since 1990 with the operation of the S-Bahn Zurich and thus resulting attractiveness to commuters a strong urban sprawl . A good example of this is the demographic development of the community of Bassersdorf : In 1950 the resident population was 2,143 people; it doubled within 20 years (1970: 5,590 inhabitants) and again in the following 40 years (2010: 11,052 inhabitants); Between 2001 and 2010, Bassersdorf experienced a population growth of 47% (cantonal average: 12.7%; national average: 8.0%).

The eight municipalities of Rümlang , Kloten , Opfikon , Wallisellen , Dietlikon , Bassersdorf , Wangen-Brüttisellen and Dübendorf have been operating under the motto glow since 2002 . the Glattal a joint location promotion. The association glow. In cooperation with the regional planning association “Zürcher Planungsgruppe Glattal” (ZPG), the smoothal is driving construction activity forward with the aim of creating a coherent urban “Glattalstadt”. The good location factors (proximity to the airport and the city of Zurich, existing infrastructure) and the advantages of “dense construction” are emphasized, while the high level of aircraft noise is a negative location factor. In addition, with the acceptance of the cantonal cultural land initiative in 2012, long-term construction projects and the consolidation into a «Glattalstadt» were called into question.

Examples of larger construction projects in the Glattal are:

The urban residential district Neu-Oerlikon is being built in Zurich Oerlikon and Zurich Seebach, and a lot of new living space is also being created in Zurich Affoltern.

Between 2010 and 2014 a new quarter was created in Wallisellen, called “Richti” . The block edge development was built on 72,000 m ² and offers apartments for 1,200 as well as workplaces for over 3,000 people.

In Opfikon , the Glattpark has been a new quarter that has been created between 2001 and 2020, offering space for 7,000 residents and roughly the same number of jobs.

At Zurich Airport , “The Circle at Zurich Airport” is to be a service center with 5,000 new jobs and 200,000 m ^{2 of} usable space by 2017 .

Sports

According to experts, the middle Glattal, namely Kloten, Glattbrugg and Wallisellen, has the greatest density of pools in Europe. There are three indoor and outdoor pools at a distance of only 1.5 to 2 km.

traffic

The Glattal is well developed in terms of traffic. The Zurich Airport is located in Kloten, the station Zurich Oerlikon is one of the 15 busiest railway stations in Switzerland. The S5 line of the Zurich S-Bahn essentially follows the Glattal (between Dübendorf and Oerlikon with a detour via the city center via the Zürichberg tunnel ), but without stops in Dübendorf, Schwerzenbach and Nänikon-Greifensee, which are served by the S9 line. Lines S7, S12 and S16 (connections between Zurich and Winterthur ) run across the Glattal . In addition, the Glattal is crossed by the A1 , which roughly follows the course of the (straightened) Glatt between Brüttisellen and Opfikon. From Opfikon, the A51 (“Flughafenautobahn”) and the A50 (“Glattfelden bypass”) follow the Glattal, from Brüttisellen the A53 (“Oberlandautobahn”) leads to Uster.

The Verkehrsbetriebe Glattal (VBG) operate local public transport in the Glattal and Furttal regions on behalf of the Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV) as a so-called company responsible for the market (MVU) . As a pure MVU, the VBG have been exclusively responsible for the planning and implementation of the transport offer since 1993; all mileage is provided by transport officers who provide drivers and vehicles.

To improve the networking of the Glattal communities, the Glattalbahn was opened in 2010 (not to be confused with the historic Glatthalbahn ). It connects Zurich's urban districts 11 and 12 as well as the communities of Opfikon / Glattbrugg , Rümlang, Wallisellen, Dübendorf, Kloten and, in further steps, will also better connect Bassersdorf, Dietlikon, Wangen and the city center of Dübendorf to the public transport network of the city of Zurich. The infrastructure of the Glattalbahn belongs to the Glattal transport company (VBG), while the Zurich transport company (VBZ) handles the operation as part of their tram operation. Among other things, tram line 10 has been extended so that since December 2008 Zurich main station has been directly connected to Zurich Airport by tram . Since December 2010, tram line 12 has also been connecting Stettbach train station with Zurich Airport.

In 2015, the VBG transport network consisted of 48 bus routes that transported around 24 million passengers, and two railway lines with 7.5 million passengers.

In order to promote bicycle traffic , the first PubliBike stations went into operation in 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Glatttal - collection of images, videos and audio files

Glow.das Glattal website from eight municipalities in the Zurich airport region
Agglomeration landscapes. The Glattal ( memento of October 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (sub-project on “European cultural landscapes”). In: Website of the «city observer», Chris Wittwer.

Individual evidence

↑ From the negotiations of the government council. Meeting on December 4, 2002. Communications department of the Government Council of the Canton of Zurich, December 5, 2002 (press release, archived on the website of the Swiss Orthographic Conference ).

↑ Only the area below the Greifensee, which itself has a catchment area of 169 km², is considered to be “Glattal”; hydrographically, the «Glattal» would have an area of 247 km².

↑ Statistical Yearbook of the City of Zurich 2016 , p. 34 (33.4 MB)

↑ Statistical Yearbook of the City of Zurich 2016 , p. 86 (33.4 MB)

^ Charles Knapp, Maurice Borel, Victor Attinger, Heinrich Brunner, Société neuchâteloise de geographie (editor): Geographical Lexicon of Switzerland . Volume 2: Emmenholz - Kraialppass . Verlag Gebrüder Attinger, Neuenburg 1904, pp. 343–346, keyword Glatt ( scan of the lexicon page ).

^ Johann Conrad Fäsi: Exact and complete description of the state and the earth of the Helvetian Confederation. Orell, Gessner und Compagnie, Zurich 1765, p. 404 ( limited preview in the Google book search).

^ The railway, financed with English capital, aimed to build a Lukmanier railway. It is not to be confused with today's Swiss Southeast Railway (SOB).

^ Anton Heer: Rorschach – St.Gallen – Winterthur: Between 170 years of railway history and the future. (PDF; 14.2 MB) Historical Association of the Canton of St. Gallen, 2005, accessed on February 1, 2014 .

↑ Population level and structure - indicators. Spatial distribution: cantons and communes ( Memento from December 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). In: Website of the Federal Statistical Office .

^ Founded as an association on June 12, 2002, previously (1990–2001) “Interest Group Future Glattal” (IG ZUG). Historical summary. In: website of glow. the Glattal.

↑ Public event by glow. The Glattal and the ZPG Zurich planning group Glattal: «glattal - a city in the making». In: Guidle. Bassersdorf 2014 (PDF; 100 kB);
Barbara Kieser: The Glattal wants to become a city ( memento from September 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). In: Website of the Zurich Metropolitan Area Association. August 2013: “Everyone is talking about the rapid growth of the city of Zurich. Right next to it, however, a city is growing much faster: the so-called Glattalstadt, also known as ‹glow.das Glattal›. It is made up of the eight communities of Rümlang, Kloten, Opfikon, Wallisellen, Dietlikon, Bassersdorf, Dübendorf and Wangen-Brüttisellen - and politically, of course, it is not a city. Nevertheless, she has just successfully applied to host the 2014 City Day. "

^ Rita Schlegel: Kulturlandinitiative surprisingly accepted. ( Memento from October 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: Zürcher Oberländer . June 17, 2012.
Martin Liebrich: More space for sports fields ( Memento from September 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). In: Zürcher Unterländer . October 26, 2012 (section question mark cultural land initiative ).

↑ The Circle at Zurich Airport .

^ Hillmar Höber: courting bathers in the Glatttal. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . November 14, 2014, accessed June 19, 2016 .

↑ VBG carried more than 31 million passengers in 2015. ( Memento from October 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) In: Website of the Glattal public transport company, March 16, 2016 (media release).

^ Stefan Hotz: Canton of Zurich: Publibike bike rental expands into Glatttal. In: nzz.ch . September 5, 2019, accessed September 18, 2019 .

[1] From the negotiations of the government council. Meeting on December 4, 2002. Communications department of the Government Council of the Canton of Zurich, December 5, 2002 (press release, archived on the website of the Swiss Orthographic Conference ).

[2] Only the area below the Greifensee, which itself has a catchment area of 169 km², is considered to be “Glattal”; hydrographically, the «Glattal» would have an area of 247 km².

[3] Statistical Yearbook of the City of Zurich 2016 , p. 34 (33.4 MB)

[4] Statistical Yearbook of the City of Zurich 2016 , p. 86 (33.4 MB)