Uhm... maybe I am missing the point, but 1% is not exactly what I would call a revolution. 6400 people a year? Sounds like a growth the canton should be able to deal with...

I can't think of a better example why you should avoid using automatic online translations. This makes so little sense that most of the people commenting don't seem to have actually read it! The original article is not the NY Times one, which is about a different subject: it's from the Tribune de Geneve, about shifts in the population, published Friday.

yeah, but where are they going to live ? Geneva is missing houses/flats to welcome them.

If I don't use online translation, I'm going to stop posting articles I find interesting about Geneva or other Stuff that could interest some members.
My english is not good enough and I don't want to spend time translating myself articles, I'm not that passionate.

Where are they going to live ? Increasingly in Vaud, more precisely in places like Coppet and Nyon etc, plus inside France up to Thonon.

Such developments are quite normal. I mean, Basel increasingly has Outer Suburbs in Germany and France, Konstanz and Kreuzlingen in quite many ways are growing together. In case of Zurich, ZH-suburbia goes into the Cantons of Aargau, Zug, Schwyz and St. Gallen and is arriving at the German border. And in the Ticino, Chiasso and Como are growing gradually together.

So what ?

So what? I really do not think many of us, Swiss or ex-pats - want to live in an area where all the vineyards, orchards, fields and trees are pulled up, where any green space is turned to concrete and all the lovely villages have the old houses demolished and replaced by high rise blocks of flats. Geneva and the Riviera are completely hemmed in between the Lake and the Jura. It is still a beautiful area, but not for long at this rate. I am glad I am over the Jura - where there is no such 'pressure'.

Ellen, despite the dreadful translation, the article is quite clear. But perhaps you could offer a better version?

Yes indeed, the overpopulation of the Geneva area is eating up the area, but simply look at the Lake of Zurich, where Zurich Suburbia on the left side has reached Wädenswil a while ago and is gradually reaching out to Richterswil and Pfäffikon/SZ and on the right has long ago reached Küsnacht and is reaching out to Meilen/Stäfa/Rapperswil . Even in the 60ies there were "open" spaces between Zurich and Richterswil, which however have disappeared long ago. At present, the area between Richterswil in the Southwest and Dietikon in the West and Bülach/Kloten/Bassersdorf in the North, Uster in the East and Stäfa in the South-East is growing together.

It simply is what my Godfather called the Speckgürtel/ Bacon-Belt / Centuron-du-Lard cities are building up. He already in 1989 (our last meeting) jokingly asked me whether I already had realized that Zurich in the coming years was to become the third "border-city" of Switzerland ? I in fact had not, but HIS arguments were knife-sharp and to the point. He of course knew that he was not to see these developments but told me that I would see them !

Concerning any potential disappearance of green space, fortunately the Geneva government remains pretty strict about that. Farmland and heritage homes that are now parks are still protected. To compensate they either build "up" (more flats) or build "in" (changing the rules of the amount of terrain required for houses, squeezing in more family units per m2). It is still not enough to satisfy demand, hence the spillover into Vaud, Ain, and Haute-Savoie.

Well, as it is, people who live in Nyon and other small adjoint communities and work in Geneva and vice versa already have cantonal agreements, ie taxes, etc. So, despite the VD and GE being different cantons, the future lies in more interconnected life, anyways.

Let us know so we can throw an event!

Auch! I think it is a lovely translation, considering it is done by a non native speaker. Thanks for stating the source, you could also fix it up. Now, I think we are thrilled when we get filled in from local press, great job, Bertrand!

What will be will be. I am not a clairvoyant, but the future may contain changes in many ways

That's exactly why I do it. I would love, if I was living in a foreign country and not speaking the local language, that somebody try to translate the interesting articles about the town or the area where I live.

About translation, I usually try to read it after the online translation engine made it, but it's still a long work for me. My favorite engine for the moment is Reverso, as it gives you some choice of words in its translation.

Maybe they're being too strict about it... Geneva does have plenty of room to grow in its own canton, one just needs to check google maps to realize about it

google maps

if only the canton invested more heavily on infrastructures that would allow for new developments in farmyards as close as 4 or 5km from the city centre...

build the bridge, tax the drivers from vaud and france to use it, close of the two quais, and charge more for parking.that should do it

That's the debate. Where does one put the priority: housing or green space? Clearly it has been the latter for the past several decades. City farms around Grand-Saconnex, Onex, and Meyrin still exist, the vineyards from Satigny to Dardagny has not been touched, woods and forests have not been cut. This makes Geneva to be an attractive place to live (albeit expensive!).

I'm not sure anyone would like to see the canton become one big sprawl. So new arrivals will either have to choose from high-density housing or a home further away in Vaud or France.