City managers work to revive Switzerland’s small-town centres
Saturday 12th September 2026 on 18:01 in
Switzerland
Small Swiss cities are turning to city managers to attract visitors, prevent shop vacancies and maintain a diverse mix of businesses, Swiss broadcaster SRF reports.
In Liestal, the capital of Basel-Landschaft canton, city manager Marion Ernst acts as a liaison between property owners and businesses. The city has around 16,000 residents, and Ernst describes herself as the hub of its centre, known locally as the Stedtli.
Ernst recently helped a food truck operator find a shop premises. In another case, she connected a dog day-care business looking for space with the owner of a vacant property, helping to prevent the premises from remaining empty.
Ernst has held the position for 18 months. Liestal Mayor Daniel Spinnler says city management is crucial to maintaining an attractive mix of businesses. Property owners, he says, are primarily interested in renting out their premises quickly and may not consider the overall mix in the town centre.
“Suddenly, we have only hair salons and kebab shops. That is not attractive,” Spinnler says.
Liestal spends just under 500,000 Swiss francs a year on city management. The city covers one third of the cost, while Basel-Landschaft Tourism and a local association of small and medium-sized businesses share the remainder.
Rheinfelden in the canton of Aargau served as a model for Liestal. It became the first city in Switzerland to appoint a city manager in 2020, after a survey found that a deserted old town was one of residents’ main concerns.
Rheinfelden city manager Corinne Caracuta says she regularly receives enquiries from other cities interested in adopting the approach. Around 20 Swiss cities now have a city manager, according to political scientist Michael Strebel. They are often small or medium-sized regional centres located near larger cities such as Zurich or Basel, where they face strong competition from shopping centres and online retailers.
The success of city management is difficult to measure, Strebel says, because cities are influenced by many different factors. Liestal is trying to gather more reliable data with sensors that record people and vehicles in the centre. The city does not yet have conclusive figures, but Spinnler says the mood in the Stedtli has noticeably improved.