The SVP wants to limit the population in Switzerland to 10 million people. A researcher at ETH has developed a concept for more residents.
SVP is likely to submit another immigration proposal in the spring. It was intended to prevent more than ten million people from being allowed to live in Switzerland. This limit should not be exceeded till 2050. To this end, Switzerland should set up some sort of immigration brake.
Marcel Detling will soon take over as the new head of the SVP. The situation in Switzerland is already dangerous, he says, naming a few key words: housing shortages, overcrowded trains and traffic jams.
Doubt it will increase to ten lakhs
A population of ten million is expected to be reached in Switzerland by 2040. This has been calculated by the Central Bureau of Statistics. However, the Avenir Suisse think tank doubts whether this scenario is actually true.
If so, Switzerland would be grateful if it had ten million people due to immigration, says economist Lucas Rühli. It will be a symbol of Switzerland's economic attractiveness.
The population is decreasing
Ruhli firmly believes that ten million can only be reached with an annual population growth of more than one percent. But so far this has rarely happened. He does not expect population growth to exceed one percent in the coming years.
On the contrary, says Avenir Suisse's spatial planning expert. Switzerland's population is shrinking rather than growing. Like all Western countries, the population is declining.
Purana:
After 2011, a completely new urban quarter was created in the municipality of Affikon for 7,000 residents and the same number of jobs in Zurich's Gladpark. (Construction Work 2013).
Keystone / Steffen Schmidt
The reason is that the working population is less. Among others, people in the baby boomer age groups are retiring. This has an impact on the prosperity of Switzerland. To maintain it, continuous and significant immigration is required.
For Lukas Rühli it is clear: without immigration there would be more space on trains and streets, but much less prosperity.
Allow even 16 million
If Switzerland eventually has ten million or more people, architect and spatial planning analyst Sybil Waldi has developed a concept. It's called the “10-minute neighborhood,” and it goes like this: More people need to live in central locations. It should simultaneously reduce traffic problems and curb urban sprawl.
15,000 people will live and work within a radius of 500 meters. Everything will be within ten minutes. Tall buildings are not necessary, just a few floors are enough, says ETH researcher Wälty.
30,000 people lived and worked within 500 meters of Geneva. With the “10-minute neighborhood” concept, Switzerland could accommodate 16 million residents in the distant future. Wälty says it is not in a narrow position, but in a high-quality and existing residential area.
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