Download as PDF [10.6 MB]

03 Issue # 11/11 : PublIc Issues
the tree-lined
road to euroPe.
socio-economic
imPlications
of Zurich's main
station euroPaallee
Project
Richard Wolff
Introduction
Europaallee is Zurich's largest inner city development.
It is located right next to the main station and serves as
an extension of the central business district of Bahnhofstrasse.
Currently under construction, Europaallee will be
a mixed-use development, with offices, apartments, shops,
and the teacher training college. Because of the project's
unique scale and location, it is of utmost importance for
Zurich's urban development. Never before in Zurich has
there been a comparable project for inner city development 1 .
And never since the latter half of the 19th century, when
the city was dramatically transformed by industrialisation
and railways (Bärtschi 1983), has Zurich seen such a
thorough intervention in its city centre.
This article focuses on the multiple contradictions
of large-scale urban development projects. It analyses the
various stakeholder interests, their socio-economic envi-
ronment, and the final outcome of the project. To better
understand the prerequisites of the current process, it is
necessary to briefly go back 40 years and to explain the
preliminary phases of today's scheme.
Origins of the plan and cross-national references
The first ideas for developing Zurich's main station date
back to the 1960s. Zurich was in the middle of an economic
boom and was lacking office space in the city centre
(Hitz et. al. 1995). At the same time, SBB (Swiss Federal
Railways) 2 were intending to renew and enlarge their station.
In return for selling the air rights above the tracks,
SBB expected private investors to finance a new station and
to generate extra rental income.
Zurich's idea was not unique. In many cities, railway
companies and city planners, often in conjunction with pri-
vate developers, had developed similar ideas. In Europe,
well-known examples of similar projects are Gare de Mont-
parnasse in Paris or Liverpool Street Station (Broadgate)
in London, Euralille in Lille, and Euro Ville in Basel
(Bertolini 1998 and Peters Deike 2009).
Corner stones of HB Südwest and Eurogate
Between 1969 and 2002, plans to build across Zurich's main
station tracks came in ever-changing guises (fig. 1). First
labelled HB Südwest (Main Station Southwest), then Eurogate 3 ,
the project's appearance and contents varied time and
again. The core uses in all
versions were the extension
of the station and a new com-
muter station, a pedestrian
passage, offices and shopping
facilities. Other uses
that, over time, were pro-
posed, added, enhanced, en-
larged, reduced, or cancelled
included housing, hotels,
and schools. All the projects
would have cost between 1
and 1.5 billion Swiss francs
offering a total floor space
of between 250'000 and
400'000 m 2 .
Some versions included high-
rise buildings, a hotel, and
large auditoriums; others
featured town squares, a car
park, or up to 310 flats in-
corporated on the deck across
the railway tracks. Only in
the very first project would
the historic station building
have been demolished; but
then, in 1972, it was listed
as an historic monument and
therefore protected under a
conservation order.
Each of the project's phases
was managed by a different
alliance of developers. Only
SBB was always a member. At
first, in 1969, it was an
alliance of purely public and
semi-public agencies, con-
sisting of the Swiss Federal
Railways, the Canton of
Zurich, the City of Zurich,
and the Federal Post Office.
After 1978, various publicprivate
partnerships in-
cluding Switzerland's largest
banks, insurers, 4 contrac-
tors, 5 and other large corpo-
rations reinitiated the
project.
The City of Zurich – crucial
as a planning authority – was
not always part of the con-
sortia. City government
changed its stance several
times. Until about 1973 an
overt supporter, the city was
first stopped by a referen-
dum and then, after a po-
litical shift, its attitude
became critical of growth.
For many years, Ursula Koch,
Head of the City Building
Department, and supported by
an important share of the
population, was responsible
for slowing down the planning
process. Only after the
neoliberal shift of 1994
did the City of Zurich again
1
Only transport in-
frastructure
schemes like the
motorway-Y and the
underground rail-
way are larger in
size (Schweingruber
1986, Lin-
denmeyer 1986,
Senter for Applied
Urbanism 1986,
Kammerer 1986).
2
In this text,
I use the German
acronyms of natio-
nal institutions,
thus Swiss Federal
Railways for SBB
i.e., Schweizeri-
sche Bundesbahnen.
3
Eurogate was ob-
viousliy an allu-
sion to Zurich's
gate towards Eu-
rope and not
to the Watergate
fiasco.
4
HB City Immobilien
AG was established
in 1981, and con-
sisted of the then
four largest Swiss
banks Swiss Bank
Corporation, Union
Bank of Switzerland,
Credit
Suisse, Cantonal
Bank of Zurich,
two of Switzerland's
largest in-
surers (Zurich and
Pax), and various
large electrotechnical
and con-
struction compa-
nies (POCH 1987).
5
Karl Steiner Immo-
bilien AG, Göhner
Merkur AG, and
Bührle Immobilien
AG.