Das vernetzte Städtesystem Schweiz

Abstract

This article aims to outline the strategy of the “Swiss urban network” in order to give the reader a background for this special issue of DISP: “A close look at the Swiss urban network”. The strategy of the Swiss urban network was accepted by the federal government to guide the spatial development of Switzerland in 1996. Since then, the Swiss urban network has been developed in response to the challenges of the global market and international competition between urban centers. As Switzerland is not considered to have a metropolitan region of European importance, the strategy of the Swiss urban network aims to build a network of all Swiss cities in order to become economically competitive with other major metropolitan regions in Europe. A short insight into current initiatives forming the Swiss urban network follows, in addition to a presentation of comparable European and German urban network trends.