ETE: On SWISS Smart Growth...

Lauren Hilliard • Friday July 28, 2006

I find it very amusing that Americans consider the idea of having housing on top of retail a ‘new’ form of development. That’s all they have here! It’s quite funny seeing century-old buildings containing Starbucks and McDonald’s – with apartments on top nonetheless.

Saturday night I stayed in a 5-story loft apartment in the heart of Zurich…while similar in idea to the 800 J Lofts that I’ll be moving into when I return to Sacramento, it was built in the 1300’s! You can see it in the picture here — it’s the building just to the left of the (really loud!) church bell towers, right on the Lake of Zurich (with great walking paths!). I was staying in the corner loft on the left-hand-side of the building. Absolutely incredible place!

This article is part of the Exploring Transportation in Europe series.

Category: Smart Growth • Region: Switzerland

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