Oberengstringen is a municipality in the district of Dietikon in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

of Zürich in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, located in the Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal'').

History

Oberengstringen is first mentioned in 870 as ''Enstelingon''. In 1306 it was mentioned as ''Obren Enstringen''.

Geography

Oberengstringen has an area of . Of this area, 23.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 26.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 47.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (2.8%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). housing and buildings made up 39% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (8.9%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 2.8% of the area. 46% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction. The village is located on the right bank of the

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, after 35 km reaching the river Aare. The confluenc ...

on the road between Zürich through Höngg to Baden. From the 1950s to the 1970s it quickly grew into a suburb of Zürich.

Werdinsel and Limmatauen

''Limmatauen Werdhölzli'' is a protected forest and river area, partially situated in the municipality of Oberengstringen and between the Limmat weir at the Höngg power plant. Set under protection in 1945, the long section of the Limmat and the Werdinsel were renatured, what enhanced the biodiversity, and thus the quality of the river landscape. In cooperation with the

Canton of Zurich Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

and the municipalities of Oberengstringen and Zürich, that section of the river was renewed. The access to the Limmat and the hiking path towards the

Fahr Abbey Fahr Convent, (german: Kloster Fahr) is a Benedictine convent located in the Swiss municipality of Unterengstringen in the canton of Zürich. Located in different cantons, Einsiedeln Abbey and Fahr Convent form a double monastery, overseen by the ...

was improved and the area was widened for pedestrians and cyclists. Orientation boards inform on the endemic flora and fauna, so the riparian zone may be crossed over a long wooden bridge those material consists of the urban forest. After nearly a year of construction, the project was officially presented to the public on 20 September 2013. The costs of 9.4 million Swiss Francs are provided by the city and cantonal governments, and some companies in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund Switzerland, which claims the ''place as very important to our rivers and streams, so that they can create their very structure''.

Demographics

Oberengstringen has a population (as of ) of . , 24.8% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. the gender distribution of the population was 50% male and 50% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 5.6%. Most of the population () speaks German (81.8%), with Italian being second most common ( 4.7%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 1.7%). In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 36.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the

SPS SPS may refer to: Law and government * Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the WTO * NATO Science for Peace and Security * Single Payment Scheme, an EU agricultural subsidy * The Standard Procurement System, fo ...

(19.5%), the FDP (15.3%) and the CVP (11.1%). The age distribution of the population () is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 19.6% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 63% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 17.4%. In Oberengstringen about 75.2% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...

''). There are 2882 households in Oberengstringen. Oberengstringen has an unemployment rate of 3.01%. , there were 10 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 4 businesses involved in this sector. 274 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 46 businesses in this sector. 977 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 196 businesses in this sector.Swiss Federal Statistical Office
accessed 05-Aug-2009 66.7% of the working population were employed full-time, and 33.3% were employed part-time.
accessed 4 August 2009 there were 2291

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and 1923

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

in Oberengstringen. In the , religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the 2000 census, 36.7% were some type of Protestant, with 35.1% belonging to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...

and 1.6% belonging to other Protestant churches. 37% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 0% were Muslim, 8.8% belonged to another religion (not listed), 3.7% did not give a religion, and 12.8% were atheist or agnostic. The historical population is given in the following table:

References

External links

Oberengstringen Online
Official website {{Authority control Municipalities of the canton of Zürich