Switzerland: When Agglomeration and Amalgamation Compete

In Switzerland, the structure of local government responds in different ways to changes in urban-rural relations. The focus is on both amalgamations (merging local governments) and formal or informal cooperation between local governments (linking local governments). In and around the capital city of the Canton of Fribourg, two projects are currently competing with each other: The Agglomeration of Fribourg and the amalgamation of the Grand Fribourg. Based on the 1995 Law on Agglomeration and following years of increasing collaboration on areas of common interest, a group of ten municipalities around the capital-city of Fribourg agreed to formalize their collaboration by delegating some competencies to a new institution: the Agglomeration of Fribourg. With the aim of fostering sustainable development and increasing inter-municipal cooperation this institution promotes joint action in the following fields: regional planning, slow mobility, economic and tourism promotion, cultural projects and bilingualism. Interestingly, the Agglomeration of Fribourg is currently competing with the amalgamation project of the Grand Fribourg that aims at merging nine municipalities around the capital-city of the Canton. In Switzerland, the process of amalgamations is driven either by the municipalities themselves (bottom-up) or by the cantons (top-down). The Confederation has (in theory) no competence to interfere with local government structures, or to plan, implement or prevent amalgamations from taking place. But the fact that Fribourg could become one of the ten largest city in the country is seen by many an important incentive. In January 2020, the constitutive assembly of the Grand Fribourg validated the concept of the merger. An advisory vote has been scheduled for autumn 2021. This will serve as a basis for drafting the merger agreement, which should be put to the vote of the inhabitants of the municipalities concerned in 2022. The paper will compare the problems and merits of these two competing projects. This promises to deepen knowledge of constellations in which mechanisms of inter-municipal cooperation and amalgamations are considered at the same time as two options. The insights gained are certainly relevant for other contexts in Switzerland, but possibly even beyond.