Bringing a new piece of the city to life
The transformation of the Klybeck site into a green, mixed-use, climate-friendly urban district is a project that will span generations. The complex development process requires time and close cooperation between the owners – Swiss Life and Rhystadt – and the canton of Basel-Stadt. Each stage poses new challenges to the planning partners, bringing these parties a step closer to their shared goal in dialogue with the public.
Planning phases and milestones
As the Klybeck site is an existing industrial area, it will not be redeveloped all at once but transformed in stages over a longer period of time. The planning process was therefore divided into six phases. These can be adjusted or steps can be combined, depending on how much progress is made.
Previous phases and results to date
In 2016, the canton of Basel-Stadt, Novartis, and BASF signed a planning agreement on developing the Klybeck site. Since the site was sold by the former landowners in 2019, the three planning partners – the canton of Basel-Stadt, Swiss Life, and Rhystadt – have been working together to drive the planning process, with the aim of submitting a development plan eligible for approval in order to start the transformation.
During this phase, the ‘Planungsvereinbarung’ (planning agreement) was signed and the feasibility study and a number of detailed studies were drawn up. This led to the publication of a ‘Synthesebericht’ (summary report) in 2018, which highlights the site’s considerable potential and comments on the findings.
In 2019, Novartis sold its stake in the site to Rhystadt, while BASF sold its share to Swiss Life. Both Rhystadt AG and Swiss Life became parties to the planning agreement when they purchased the plots of land from Novartis and BASF respectively.
The ‘Vision klybeckplus’ was formulated in the second phase, setting out the planning partners’ shared ideas and objectives and serving as an overarching guide and decision-making tool for drawing up the Städtebauliches Leitbild (urban planning model). Presented in 2022, the urban planning model provides the framework for planning policy and sets out, for example, the balance between residential and commercial development, as well as the location of green spaces, nurseries and cycle paths.
Current phase and status of planning
Development is currently in its third phase, during which planning measures 1 are being implemented.
The urban planning model will be further developed and reviewed as part of the ‘Richtprojekt’ (master plan) – the latest milestone, which was unveiled to the public on 26 November 2025. This will then lead to the development plan, which the Basel-Stadt cantonal government will submit to the cantonal parliament. In addition, the urban development contract will be finalised during this third phase. This contains legal agreements between the canton and the owners. At the same time, the canton of Basel-Stadt is working on the ‘Stadtteilrichtplan Klybeck-Kleinhüningen’ (Klybeck-Kleinhüningen district master plan) in order to coordinate all spatial planning measures and projects across the entire northern part of Basel.
Richtprojekt Quartierentwicklung klybeckplus Stadtteilrichtplan Klybeck-Kleinhüningen
Future stages and further objectives
When the industrial site in Basel’s Klybeck district is revitalised and a diverse, green, mixed-use urban neighbourhood emerges, it will mark a transformation that is unique in German-speaking Switzerland in terms of both its scale and character. From today’s perspective, most of the transformation should be complete by around 2050.
During this phase, further studies will be carried out, including quality assurance assessments for open spaces and buildings, known as variance procedures.
During this phase, second-stage decisions on the detailed development plans may be made for parts of the site.
During this phase, second-stage decisions on the detailed development plans may be made for parts of the site.
