The City of Zurich is divided into twelve districts (known as Kreise in German), numbered 1 to 12, each one of which containing, depending on the definition, anywhere between 1 to 4 quarters (or Quartiere in German). There are a total of 22 ceremonial quarters (6 of which being coterminous with their districts, namely the Altstadt, Wiedikon, Aussersihl, the Industriequartier, Riesbach, and Schwamendingen), 34 statistical quarters, and over 200 statistical areas. Zurich is also divided into 25 postal areas, which are typically aligned with district and quarter boundaries.
Two large expansions of the city limits occurred in 1893 and in 1934 when the City of Zurich merged with many surrounding municipalities with which it had started to overlap. Most of the district and quarter boundaries are fairly similar to the original boundaries of the previously-existing municipalities. Four currently-independent surrounding municipalities (Kilchberg, Oberengstringen, Schlieren, and Zollikon) had been seen as incorporation candidates, though the 1929 initiative which proposed to integrate them (alongside others) failed to gain the approval of the cantonal electorate, and they were subsequently not included in the 1934 incorporations.
Politically, the significance of the city districts has diminished, particularly as some districts have been merged together to form electoral districts. School districts are not fully aligned with city districts, and neither are notary districts or Roman Catholic church parishes (though Reformed parishes more closely follow district boundaries).
District Location District coat of arms Quarter coat of arms Linked neue Zunft Statistical quarters BFS-Code Incorporation Areain km² Population2005 Non-Swiss Citizens District 1Altstadt Rathaus Hochschulen Lindenhof City 261011 261012 261013 261014 Pre-1893 Pre-1893 Pre-1893 Pre-1893 0.38 0.56 0.23 0.64 3,081 695 950 846 23.9% 27.5% 20.3% 28.3% District 2 Wollishofen Leimbach Enge 261021 261023 261024 1893 1893 1893 5.75 2.92 2.40 15,592 4,867 8,375 22.9% 23.0% 26.0% District 3Wiedikon Alt-Wiedikon Friesenberg Sihlfeld 261031 261033 261034 1893 1893 1893 1.85 5.15 1.64 14,971 10,360 20,554 32.3% 22.9% 36.5% District 4Aussersihl Werd Langstrasse Hard 261041 261042 261044 1893 1893 1893 0.31 1.13 1.46 3,878 10,368 12,715 33.2% 41.5% 46.2% District 5Industriequartier Gewerbeschule Escher Wyss 261051 261052 1893 1893 0.73 1.27 9,690 2,727 39.3% 26.1% District 6 Unterstrass Oberstrass 261061 261062 1893 1893 2.46 2.64 19,921 9,494 23.6% 24.7% District 7 Fluntern Hottingen Hirslanden Witikon 261071 261072 261073 261074 1893 1893 1893 1934 2.84 5.05 2.20 4.93 7,325 10,100 6,859 9,864 23.7% 23.6% 19.4% 17.3% District 8Riesbach Seefeld Mühlebach Weinegg 261081 261082 261083 1893 1893 1893 2.45 0.63 1.72 4,923 5,577 4,843 28.7% 24.6% 25.3% District 9 Albisrieden Altstetten 261091 261092 1934 1934 4.60 7.47 17,226 28,278 25.6% 37.0% District 10 Höngg Wipkingen 261101 261102 1934 1893 6.98 2.11 20,773 15,446 19.6% 31.1% District 11 Affoltern Oerlikon Seebach 261111 261115 261119 1934 1934 1934 6.04 2.67 4.72 18,733 19,585 19,879 30.6% 33.7% 36.0% District 12Schwamendingen Saatlen Schwamendingen Mitte Hirzenbach 261121 261122 261123 1934 1934 1934 1.13 2.23 2.62 6,727 10,322 11,265 31.6% 40.6% 37.5% City of Zurich 91.88 366'809 30.2%
See also City of Zurich Zurich District (cantonal) Municipalities of the canton of Zurich
References