Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

The town of Baden wins the Wakker Heritage Prize

Baden
Baden was praised for investing in improving its public spaces. Keystone / Gaetan Bally

The northern Swiss town of Baden has been awarded the annual Wakker Prize by the Swiss Heritage Society for improving the quality of life of its residents. 

The town of around 20,000 inhabitants was lauded for freeing its old town of traffic and investing in improving its public spaces.  

“Thanks to the willingness of the authorities and the citizens of Baden, pedestrian-friendly streets and squares free of traffic now make the town centre a pleasant place to live,” said the Swiss Heritage Society on Tuesday.  

“The town’s historic parks and gardens are carefully maintained according to the principles of heritage preservation and new public spaces have been created in the development areas.” 

The Swiss Heritage SocietyExternal link also lauded the town’s “visionary policy”, the “continuous planning” and the “willingness of the citizens to vote for budgets to make the town centre more attractive”. The town’s commitment to invest in zones outside the town centre that are not necessarily profitable came in for special praise.  

The official presentation of the prize, worth CHF20,000 ($20,600), will take place on June 27 at a public ceremony. Every year, Swiss Heritage awards the Wakker Prize to a municipality or, exceptionally, to a cultural organisation,External linkas was the case in 2018

More

More

A walk through an award-winning town

This content was published on Located across the river from its sister city in Germany, also named Rheinfelden, the Swiss town in canton Aargau was also praised for having had regular contact with its German counterpart regarding planning issues. According to the Swiss Heritage Society, Rheinfelden decided a decade ago against building isolated developments, choosing instead to include more aspects…

Read more: A walk through an award-winning town

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Beer sales dampened by bad weather

More

Beer sales in Switzerland watered down by bad weather

This content was published on The past brewing year fell through in Switzerland, partly due to the bad weather. Beer sales shrank again. For the first time, per capita consumption fell below the 50 liter mark.

Read more: Beer sales in Switzerland watered down by bad weather

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR