In a bid to expand green space in the city, officials in Zurich have announced that a brand new park will be built on the banks of the lake. Sukkulenten-Park (Succulent Park) will cover over 20.000 square metres and create a green corridor of nature between Enge and Mythenquai.
The local council wrote in a statement that as part of its master plan for the area, it would be creating a brand new park on the western bank of the lake. The 20.000 square-metre park will run behind the buildings occupied by the lake police and the various rowing clubs based on Mythenquai between Enge Harbour and the Mythenquai lido.
To create the park, the junction between Mythenquai and Alfred Escher-Strasse will be moved north, and the 250 parking spaces behind the rowing clubs will be torn up to make way for a sea of green. Once completed, the park will create a “green corridor” between the centre of town all the way to the Mythenquai swimming pool.
Inside the park itself, many buildings that house the city’s succulent collection will be demolished and rebuilt - hence the name Succulent Park. The new museum will keep the large plant house and rock garden already in place, but will also add new exhibits for visitors to enjoy.
The new plans are a compromise based on the "Mythenpark" popular initiative that Swiss citizens in the city rejected in March 2024. As part of those plans, the park would have been extended much further, and the main Mythenquai road between Alfred Escher-Strasse and General Guisan-Quai would be removed. Officials called for this plan to be rejected, arguing that closing the road would lead to major traffic issues for drivers in the city.
With 65,20 percent of voters rejecting the plan at the vote on March 3, the new park design will create the “green connection” that the referendum demanded while keeping the road intact. The first work on the park will begin by modifying the roads around the site, though a completion date is yet to be disclosed.