Ostermundigen Special (Swiss Press Local 2023, by Marina Bolzli / Joël Widmer / Jürg Steiner & Team) - Swiss Press Award
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Marina Bolzli / Joël Widmer / Jürg Steiner & Team
The Bernese suburb of Ostermundigen is becoming more urban: An office complex and Switzerland's tallest residential building were recently built near the train station. At the same time, the agglomeration municipality is in negotiations to merge with Bern. In a multi-part series, the editorial team, which is based locally, is reporting on this dynamic. Outside of the hotel in the hip "BäreTower," the urban flair is still barely noticeable, the journalists conclude – but also point to a progressive revision of the town planning, which aims to transform a currently busy street into a meeting place. They attend the music society's concert to find out whether a merger would be detrimental to Ostermundigen's identity. And they travel along the municipal border to determine how closely the various political communities have grown together. Ostermundigen, they say, is a "local laboratory testing its own formula for the transformation from village to city."
Interview with Marina Bolzli / Joël Widmer / Jürg Steiner & Team
