Raumkonzept Schweiz (Swiss Spatial Concept)
Core idea
A jointly agreed orientation framework for Swiss territorial development.
Why it matters
A leading model of multi-level cooperative spatial governance.
Description
The Raumkonzept Schweiz was adopted in 2012 by the Confederation, cantons, cities and communes acting together, the three governmental tiers that share responsibility for spatial planning in Switzerland. A non-binding orientation and action framework, it sets common goals and strategies rather than prescribing land use. It organises the country into functional metropolitan areas and action spaces (Handlungsräume) that cross cantonal boundaries, and promotes a polycentric settlement structure, development concentrated at well-connected locations, the safeguarding of open landscapes and the coordination of settlement with transport. Periodic review every five years sustains the tripartite dialogue underpinning it.
Significance
The Swiss Spatial Concept is widely cited as a model of cooperative, multi-level spatial governance in a strongly federal and direct-democratic state, securing voluntary alignment across tiers of government that cannot easily be directed from the centre. Its functional, cross-boundary action spaces reframed Swiss planning around polycentric metropolitan realities rather than inherited administrative borders, and the framework continues to guide federal spatial-development policy.
What shaped it
- The compact city (1973-1990s)
- The master plan (early 20th c.)
- Sustainable development (Brundtland) (1987)
Plans it influenced
Sources
- https://www.are.admin.ch/are/en/home/spatial-development-and-spatial-planning/strategy-and-plann
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_planning_in_Switzerland
- https://www.bruggerconsulting.ch/en/portfolio/5-jahre-raumkonzept-schweiz