“Point of Shame” Olten Southwest

Spider webs hang from many mailboxes. Name tags are missing, others made tenants out of tape and felt-tip pens. Free newspapers are pouring from the nest.

On this sunny November day, Olten Südwest is reminiscent of a socialist workers’ settlement far from the old East, whose heyday was decades ago: five-story apartment blocks jammed together, desolate courtyards, closed shutters.

Controversial architecture, empty apartments, disconnected from the city – these are the natural consequences of the construction boom in Mittelland, Switzerland, halfway between Basel, Bern and Zurich. Here, the behavior of a city that has let it fall into the hands of a naive Zurich investor and has been unsuccessfully trying to fix it for years becomes visible.

For most Olten residents, the district is referred to as “the highlight of the city”. It takes some time to finally find someone who actually lives here. A woman in a tracksuit takes household waste to the disposal point at the back of the settlement. His name is Frederike Husmann, he is thirty years old and, in his own words, “really loves it here”. He misses the balcony. “My friends say it looks like Südwest’s GDR prefab building,” Husmann says. She stays here—mainly thanks to a good daycare center her son goes to.

His poor connection to the city by public transport gets him in trouble. No buses stop here after 20:00 Monday to Saturday. Nobody drives on Sundays. “It’s pretty scary to return to the cabin in the evening. It’s dark and deserted – I’m a little afraid of it,” says Husmann. A tenant who throws a garbage bag into the opening of the lowered waste pit behind him agrees loudly. Many residents know this feeling.

Mayor Thomas Marbet, 55, reclines in his black leather chair on the ninth floor of the city hall. He looks relieved but still looks tired. While talking, Marbet looks out the window to the southwest area. Looks like someone threw a lot of Lego bricks near town. “I have a comfortable connection with the area,” Marbet replies when asked how she likes the neighborhood. “But of course I can see it doesn’t go very well with the population.”

Olten is not Zurich. It’s true of course, and a phrase often used when talking about the biggest development area in the Oltner small towns. About 5,000 people would live in the area between the railway lines, the main road and industrial buildings. Before the turn of the millennium there was a gravel quarry here, after which the bourgeois-dominated city government reconstructed it as a building site. In 2009, Zurich construction pioneer Leopold Bachmann (1931-2021) bought the site. He was seen as the “nation’s cheap farmer” and was known for the block settlements he quickly built. At the same time, the city drew up a design plan for the area, authorizing Bachmann to build cheaply here as well. The first 420 apartments were built seven years ago and are built in a way that is no longer built today: lots of plastic, no balconies, oil heating. Almost a third of the units are empty today.

Not an Oltnerin with no idea

Almost everyone in Olten has an opinion about the Southwest region. Mayor Marbet dismisses the criticism: “I keep asking myself if we would have had all the discussions if it had been a local investor rather than a Zurich resident.” Social democrat and in city council since 2021. Before that, he was a member of the city council responsible for the Construction Directorate for eight years. Marbet was a member of the city council when Bachmann bought the southwestern district. Was the city government so naive when dealing with the Zurich investor? “During the planning, they probably weren’t aware enough that this was a site and not a simple construction zone,” says Marbet. “The area should not continue to be covered with only one type of buildings.”

An apartment door opens on the fifth floor in one of the eight blocks. Behind him stands a slender, tall retiree, cordially inviting you to enter. Paul Edel (76) likes to talk about the neighborhood he lives in. He can’t stand it long, his left leg hurts. He sits at the small table in the middle of the large circle.

I really love this place. He has been living in Olten Südwest since 2015. However, he also sees that savings are made during construction. For example, in the kitchen, which looks over seven years old with its oversized hood and non-convection oven. “It looks a little cheap,” Edel says. Oil heating is even worse: it indicates a room temperature of at least 23 degrees. Hired a heating engineer all year who couldn’t fix the problem.

Despite his physical ailments, Edel bikes into town to go shopping. If it were in the hands of the government, it could go directly to the nearest Migros branch from the underpass of the nearby Hammer regional train station. Bird flight 350 meters. Promises made so far have not been kept. Despite plans that have been in place for over a decade.

To get to the city as quickly as possible today, he would have to cross the busy cantonal road that diverts traffic around Olten and runs past the area. This is followed by a narrow tunnel under the railway line. This route alone would be more than twice as long to get to the city centre. Noble but very risky. He usually drives in the opposite direction on a small bike path above the wasteland, then turns right and bikes into the city parallel to the neighborhood’s construction line. So it’s more than a kilometer it takes on its own. Edel’s patience is slowly running out: “When I moved in in 2015, I thought the underpass would be up soon. Now, more and more often, I’m thinking of going to the other side of the tracks.”

It takes a long time to recover the area…

The mayor knows the problem. “Of course we would also prefer a direct connection to the city centre,” says Marbet. “Right now everybody has to go through the tunnel – there’s hardly any room, especially for non-motorized traffic.” Since last year, one of the few buildings from the old cement factory still standing has been used as a temporary school building. Many school-aged children also have to pass under the railway line to get there. “I hope nothing happens,” Marbet explains of her concern. However, the situation has not changed to this day. “We’ve been working on this for six years,” explains Marbet. “It’s a long process.”

Meanwhile, Leopold Bachmann’s son Sigmund also assumed the role of landowner in this process. He took over from his father when he had to resign due to a brain hemorrhage. During the phone call, he is not satisfied with the way the neighborhood is built. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have worked with the municipality on an improvement,” Bachmann says. Two years ago, he had a balcony built in one of the buildings as a pilot project. But new residents did not come to the area: “People simply moved within the neighborhood.”

Adjusting the misguided design plan should finally fix the gaps in the area in case of further construction. Oil heaters should no longer be built. New buildings should look less monotonous. Balcony is mandatory. Public institutions such as kindergartens can also be moved to the area. And the financing of the city link, which would cost around CHF 20 million, was finally to be secured. A happy ending for lost quarters?

… and now it’s becoming a court case

No way. Last year, a resident of the area took his complaint to the cantonal administrative court. Surprisingly, this justified him. The new site planning is therefore on hold for now. Another twist in the history of the settlement, which was already filled with ridiculous events. Investor Bachmann was frustrated by the decision: “It’s a complete fiasco that one person can do anything good here.”

The rescue threatens to fail with grisly consequences: The city may lose three million francs in federal funds, is forced to renegotiate with Bachmann, and finds itself in a race against time for the pedestrian underpass. Because from 2026 SBB will rebuild the regional train station in Hammer. If the underpass is not implemented at the same time, the costs will explode. “If you only want to build after that, it’s done,” says Marbet. It is doubtful whether the project will pass the referendum. Construction could be delayed for decades. The municipality now wants to appeal the decision in federal court. The Olten Südwest case is constantly opening new chapters. It remains a reminder for other small towns not to be careless with their own development.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the storm, the tenants are enjoying the peace and quiet. Lots of empty flats are not a problem for Paul Edel: “That’s why it’s so quiet here. “I like that.” Tenant Gabriella Eng unlocks her bike in the entrance area of ​​her apartment. She sees the current situation positively. “I think it’s great to have this much space here,” she says. She walks with her dog every day in the barren Südwest. It would be a shame if construction continues.” Then he gets on his bike and goes down the neighborhood street, through the tunnel, into the city.