City and country united for national celebrations on the Rütli
Published: Thursday, Aug 1st 2024, 12:10
Back to Live Feed
Several hundred people had arrived at the Rütli UR by midday on Thursday for this year's August 1st celebrations. They found shelter from the rain under the umbrellas stretched over the festival benches.
Overcoming the urban-rural divide is at the heart of the Swiss National Day celebrations. According to the Swiss Society for the Common Good (SGG), which organizes the event, there is much more that unites rural and urban regions of Switzerland than divides them. Ultimately, everyone faces similar challenges.
The Swiss Association of Towns and Cities (SSV) and the Swiss Association for Mountain Regions (SAB) were invited to the Rütli. In a small open-air exhibition, they presented projects on posters that have been realized in recent decades to upgrade cities and regions.
Thanks to regional policy, a hub was built in Fiesch VS, for example, which makes it easy to change from one mode of transport to another, a swimming area in Saillon VS and a multifunctional field hockey arena in Ambri TI.
Connecting markets
According to the exhibition, successful projects that contributed to the "urban renaissance" included the upgrading of squares and the conversion of railroad and industrial sites into residential and working areas. One poster was dedicated to the revived market in Bellinzona. Markets forge "emotional ties" between the city and the countryside, it said.
A panel discussion is also on the agenda. Zurich Mayor and SSV Vice President Corinne Mauch (SP) and National Councillor Christine Bulliard-Marbach (center/FR), President of the SAB, will take part.
A member of the Federal Council will not be attending this year's ceremony. SGG President Anders Stokholm himself will give the keynote address. Stokholm is Mayor of Frauenfeld and also President of the SSV.
Stokholm has only been at the helm of SGG for a few weeks. He took over from Nicola Forster.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic