In 2016, Regional Planning Zurich and the Surrounding Area (RZU), together with the City of Zurich (Urban Development) and the Basel Fund, launched a new focus with the project "Thinking and developing Zurich as a residential region" and took up the current and much-discussed topic of housing, housing and housing policy in a new, regional context.

The topic of housing is central to the further development of the RZU area. In the "Zurich Residential Region", there will continue to be living space for the various income segments and lifestyles in the future – this contributes, among other things, to the attractiveness and functionality of the Zurich economic area. A (supra-)regional perspective and cooperation between municipalities, regions and cantons has significant added value: it enables a profitable exchange of knowledge and experience about existing challenges and potentials of housing development. In addition, it is possible to think together about how the attractiveness and functionality of the entire "Zurich residential region" can be ensured and how the "residential profiles" of the individual municipalities can be sharpened. These and other conclusions are summarized in the report "Thinking and developing Zurich as a residential region" (pdf, 20 MB).

The conclusions and recommendations in the report are based on the examination of four focus topics on housing development at the regional level, which have arisen in the context of a two-stage expert hearing: site development in existing buildings, future of single-family house areas, low-cost housing as well as segregation and mixing.