Up to 10,000 new jobs in Sisslerfeld
The largest work zone in the canton of Aargau is in the Sisslerfeld. 5,000 to 10,000 additional jobs are to be created on the approximately 200 hectares. At the same time, the landscape should be strengthened and accessibility ensured. In order for this to succeed, the surrounding communities work closely together.
The Sisslerfeld in Fricktal should develop into a place of the future. It is the largest contiguous and zoned industrial area in the canton of Aargau. With the further development of the Sisslerfeld, more companies should settle in the area and 5,000 to 10,000 additional highly qualified jobs should be created.
The four municipalities involved – Eiken, Münchwilen, Sisseln and Stein – the Fricktal Regio planning association and the canton of Aargau therefore decided at the end of 2018 to tackle the development of the 200-hectare work zone together and in a coordinated manner. Qualitative growth is in the foreground.
As early as 2019, people who live or work in Sisslerfeld, as well as companies and property owners, were asked about their needs. This resulted in guiding principles for further development.
From January to September 2020, four teams of specialist planners looked for solutions to implement the guiding principles. In this so-called test planning, the teams dealt with the question of how jobs in Sisslerfeld can grow while traffic can remain bearable and the beauty of the landscape with its local recreational value can be preserved. Experts from the fields of business, society, urban planning, mobility, open space and energy worked together on an interdisciplinary basis. They examined and compared different approaches and discussed their advantages and disadvantages.
Their solution approaches were intensively and critically discussed by a 16-strong assessment committee in three workshops. In order to give the younger generation enough weight, very young specialists were also represented on this body. The judging panel was chaired by Rainer Klostermann, an architect and urban planner from Zurich. In the test planning, it was important for him to "consider all the ideas and findings on how the Sisslerfeld can be designed as a future place of work, but also as a place to live and play". "On the other hand," Klostermann continues, "it is important to take local needs into account, indeed to protect them." The test planning not only explored how the Sisslerfeld could be developed. "It was just as important to discuss and reconcile different perspectives."
Following the test planning, the various concerns were brought together to form a coordinated overall picture. The judging panel approved this synthesis in early July 2021. It consists of eight directions and shows how Sisslerfeld could develop sustainably and what course can be set for this today.
In a next step, these directions will be discussed with the municipalities, the population and the landowners. The results of this dialogue are to be transferred in 2022 to plans that are binding on the authorities and then on the landowners.
