Densification: the future lies in metropolitan areas.
17.08.2026For years, high-density development has been regarded as the ideal solution to Switzerland’s housing shortage and urban sprawl. Yet in historic city centres, this concept comes up against significant architectural, legal and social constraints. Ariane Widmer Pham, Geneva’s cantonal planner, and a new study commissioned by the federal government – working independently of one another – demonstrate why Switzerland’s true development potential now lies in its conurbations – and why even good densification projects in cities often fail due to the legal system. Read the following article to find out what this means for the future of construction in the coming years – and why it is also relevant for buyers of exclusive residential property.
Why the historic city centres offer hardly any scope for further development
For Ariane Widmer Pham, who headed up conurbation planning in western Lausanne for 16 years and now serves as Geneva’s cantonal planner, the matter is clear: the historic city centres – those dense structures built before the 1930s to the 1950s – are among the most valuable areas in Switzerland in terms of architectural heritage and are therefore most worthy of protection. Anyone consulting the Federal Inventory of Sites Worth Preserving (ISOS) will quickly realise that, in these places that define our identity, hardly any further changes to the built environment can or should be made. The real, massive potential for transformation and densification therefore lies not in the historic centre, but in the areas surrounding it: in those sprawling conurbations that emerged after 1950 in the wake of motorisation – characterised by transport corridors, industrial estates, shopping centres and logistics facilities.
The system behind the objections: when good projects receive no protection
Just how real these limitations are is demonstrated by a new study by Christian Brütsch and Joëlle Zimmerli, commissioned by the Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE) and the Federal Office for Housing (BWO), published in the Swiss Real Estate Journal. Their key finding: objections and appeals are no longer a marginal phenomenon, but one of the biggest hurdles to the creation of new housing – not primarily because the projects are poor, but because the appeals system itself offers structural vulnerabilities.
The real problem runs deeper than the familiar complaint about a ‘flood of objections’ would suggest: high-quality infill development relies on balancing competing interests and planning compromises – yet it is precisely this flexibility that can be challenged in court. The concerns of neighbours, townscapes worthy of protection or environmental considerations enjoy clear legal protection; whereas the carefully balanced overall quality of a building project does not. This is particularly evident in the case of ISOS: a deviation from the ‘unimpaired preservation’ of a townscape worthy of protection is only possible in the case of national interests of equal or greater value – even where a balancing of interests would be appropriate, the law requires ‘the greatest possible preservation’.
In such cases, courts usually examine only whether the reasoning behind a decision is comprehensible, but not the overall urban planning outcome – which favours formal challenges over substantive assessments of quality.
The study therefore proposes three avenues for reform: to strengthen the public interest in housing provision through legislation; to establish clearer criteria for well-founded balancing of interests; and to confer independent legal protection on negotiated planning compromises. There is already a glimmer of hope: the Federal Supreme Court has recently ruled in favour of several municipalities on multiple occasions that used planning law – for example, in the case of the Zurich ‘business apartments’ – to assert a significant public interest in housing for the local population.
The conurbation as the true arena for transformation
Widmer Pham therefore sees conurbations as the ‘laboratory’ for the future of urban Switzerland – Geneva being a particularly instructive example: a city in a confined space with a dynamic economy and corresponding growth pressures. Instead of the radical replacement development that was previously the norm, she strongly advocates ‘building on existing stock’: adding storeys, extending, adding annexes or incorporating new volumes into buildings from the 1950s to the 1970s, rather than demolishing them. This not only preserves grey energy and historic building stock, but also prevents the local population from being displaced.
Her model is the Lausanne-West planning office (SDOL), supported by eight local authorities, which she herself headed for 16 years. Three elements were key to its success: a shared, collective vision among the participating municipalities; an unbroken dialogue, even in the face of political tensions; and a clear methodological distinction between supra-municipal and purely municipal interests, combined with a legitimate body that implements this supra-municipal vision step by step. The cooperation was triggered by pressing difficulties – financial hardship, stagnant growth and a cantonal planning moratorium due to air pollution – which forced the eight municipalities to pull themselves together. The result: a modernised railway station, a new S-Bahn station, a tram line and a dense bus network, financed in part by the national agglomeration fund.
Density as an opportunity rather than a spectre
A central element of Widmer Pham’s planning philosophy is the polycentric model: land uses are deliberately clustered in sub-centres around railway stations and S-Bahn stations, in line with the credo ‘land uses come to the people’. In her view, a certain level of density is not a threat, but simply a fact of urban life: shops and cafés on the ground floor can only be economically viable if enough people live in the immediate vicinity. In Geneva, where neighbourhoods average seven to nine storeys, it is precisely this density that ensures lively streets and viable local shops.
This highlights a cultural difference compared with German-speaking Switzerland: whilst buildings over 30 metres tall often trigger a defensive reaction in Zurich, people in Geneva and Lausanne are accustomed to large-scale developments – a consequence of the centuries-old confinement of the city-canton, where building upwards has been a tradition since Calvin’s time. In Geneva, this high density is often coupled with a deliberate mix of housing types: many new-build projects adhere to the ‘three-thirds rule’, comprising owner-occupied and rental flats, price-controlled flats and subsidised housing.
On the debate surrounding new zoning on greenfield sites, Widmer Pham is clear: the Spatial Planning Act, adopted in 2013 by 62 per cent of the electorate, was an unambiguous “Stop – enough of urban sprawl!”. The potential within existing building zones remains enormous – we are only just beginning to properly explore the possibilities of infill development.
What this means for buyers of exclusive residential property
This development has practical implications for the purchase of exclusive property. As long as high-quality urban densification projects in cities remain at a legal disadvantage and planning procedures drag on for years, the supply of centrally located, high-quality residential property in established areas will remain scarce – a factor that tends to further underpin the value of existing city-centre and lakeside properties. At the same time, it is worth taking a look at those suburban municipalities which – much like Lausanne-West once did – are actively working on their development with foresight and across municipal boundaries: good public transport links, a modernised railway station, and carefully planned neighbourhood development. In the medium term, such places may develop into new, sought-after addresses, including in the upmarket segment. For sellers, in turn, the ongoing shortage in prime locations resistant to densification underlines the value of a well-founded, up-to-date valuation of their own property.
These developments are often complex and difficult for buyers unfamiliar with the local market to anticipate. Expert advice therefore requires a deep understanding of local conditions, strong relationships with regional decision-makers, and many years of experience in the real estate markets of the respective cities and regions. Wüst und Wüst has been firmly established for many years in the key markets of Zurich, Zug, Lucerne, St. Moritz, Pfäffikon/SZ and Basel, with in-depth knowledge of regional market and location trends.