Economic engine and quality of life

However, the Zurich airport region in the broader sense encompasses a much larger radius with more than two million inhabitants.

The Glattal is a region north of the city of Zurich. It encompasses the area between Greifensee and Glattfelden, through which the Glatt river - a tributary of the Rhine - flows. Most of the FRZ member municipalities belong to this booming economic region.

‍glow. the Glattal and Glattalbahn

Since the merger of the municipalities under glow. das Glattal in 2002, the Zurich airport region has experienced a major growth spurt. The joint approach made it possible to realize the Glattalbahn (VBG) within a few years. VBG Verkehrsbetriebe Glattal AG is responsible for local public transport in the Glattal, Furttal and Effretikon/Volketswil areas on behalf of the Zurich Transport Association (ZVV). Since the end of 2010, the Glattalbahn has connected the Zurich North area with the central Glattal.

It offers a direct and fast connection from Zurich main station to the airport. The Glattalbahn enabled almost CHF 14 billion in construction investments in the 400-meter catchment area by 2020 (ZPG estimates). A comparison of our member municipalities with surrounding municipalities shows that our member municipalities have developed better than the surrounding area.

Current plans

Switzerland's No. 1 boom region has been undergoing major changes for years. All regional structure plans for traffic and area planning are dealt with by the "ZPG - Zürcher Planungsgruppe Glattal". With the exception of the municipality of Oberglatt, which belongs to the Zürcher Unterland planning group, all our member municipalities fall within the ZPG planning area. You can find all current structure plans and partial revisions on their website.

Vision 2030

The most important excerpts from the "Vision 2030" and "Vision 2050" reports of the ZPG's regional spatial planning concept are interesting (download here):

• a further increase in population and jobs of 20% each is expected by 2030
• a redensification of buildings should conserve existing land reserves and secure local recreational areas for the future
• the additional traffic is to be absorbed primarily by public transport - the GlattalbahnPLUS plays an important role
• The merging of the settlement areas leads to the new name "Netzstadt Glattal"

For further discussion, please also read the position paper on the expected future development and challenges of the Glattal and Zürich-Nord by the non-partisan working group Zürich-Nord.