Dübendorf

Dübelstein castle, the so-called Waldmannsburg (1489)

Aerial view from 500 m by Walter Mittelholzer (1923)

Dübendorf is first mentioned in 946 as Tuobilindorf.[3] On the northeastern side of the Adlisberg the ruins of the Dübelstein castle are situated; from 1487 to 1489 the home of Hans Waldmann, former mayor of the city of Zürich.

Glatt river in Dübendorf

Dübendorf has an area of 13.6 km² (5.3 sq mi). Of this area, 37.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 19.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 41.9% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).[4] In 1996 housing and buildings made up 29.6% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (12.3%).[5] Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 1% of the area.

The city is situated roughly 10 km (6.2 mi) north east of Zürich. It is bisected by the Glatt river which runs from the Greifensee (Lake Greifen) which lies directly to the southeast. Dübendorf is located in the Glatt Valley (German: Glattal). Dübendorf is located on the northern side of the Adlisberg, as well, on a terrace on the northern side of the city of Zürich the hamlets Gockhausen and Geeren.

Stadthaus, city administration and town hall

Dübendorf has a population (as of 31 December 2019) of 29,303.[6] As of 2007, 28.2% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. As of 2008 the gender distribution of the population was 49.2% male and 50.8% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 10.5%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (81.8%), with Italian being second most common ( 4.5%) and Serbo-Croatian being third ( 2.1%).

In the 2007 election the most popular party was the SVP which received 39.1% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the CSP (17.5%), the SPS (16.1%) and the FDP (10.4%).

The age distribution of the population (as of 2000) is children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 19.1% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) make up 67.6% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.3%. In Dübendorf about 73.6% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).[4] There are 10,786 households in Dübendorf.[5]

As of 2008 there were 7,733 Catholics and 7,553 Protestants in Dübendorf. In the 2000 census, religion was broken down into several smaller categories. From the census, 39.2% were some type of Protestant, with 37.1% belonging to the Swiss Reformed Church and 2.1% belonging to other Protestant churches. 33.6% of the population were Catholic. Of the rest of the population, 6% were Muslim, 9.4% belonged to another religion (not listed), 4.6% did not give a religion, and 12.4% were atheist or agnostic.[5]

The historical population is given in the following table:[3]

For more up-to-date population figures: http://www.duebendorf.ch/de/portrait/portraitfacts/factsbevoelkerung/

Helsana administration building in Stettbach quarter

Dübendorf is the home of two research institutions that are part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology domain (ETH-Bereich):

Empa

Empa is a materials science and technology research institution with 5 programs: Nanotechnology, Adaptive Materials Systems, The Healthy Human, Materials for Energy Technology and Technosphere - Atmosphere.

Eawag

Eawag is the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. There are a variety of topics researched at Eawag: Applied Aquatic Ecology, Chemical Pollutants, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Toxicology, Fish Ecology and Evolution, Limnology, Surface Waters, Systems Analysis/Integrated Assessment and Modeling, Urban Water Management, Water and Agriculture, Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries (SANDEC), and Water Resources and Drinking Water.

Givaudan, producer of flavors and fragrances, has a part of its R&D department located in Dübendorf. Hewlett Packard's main Switzerland office is in Dübendorf.[7]

Dübendorf has an unemployment rate of 3.09%. As of 2005, there were 196 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 31 businesses involved in this sector. 2410 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 234 businesses in this sector. 11663 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 897 businesses in this sector.[4] As of 2007 76.1% of the working population were employed full-time, and 23.9% were employed part-time.[5]

The Primarschulverwaltung Dübendorf serves primary school students.[8] The Sekundarschule Dübendorf-Schwerzenbach serves secondary level students.[9] The Kantonsschule Uster in Uster has gymnasium education and serves Dübendorf.[10]

The Lycée Français Marie Curie de Zürich (LFZ), a French international school, is located on four campuses in the municipality.[11]

Obere Mühle, the cultural centre of Dübendorf

The town of Dübendorf is quite small and easy to get around on foot. Crossing from one side of the city to the other can be done within a half hour of casual walking. Apart the city center and the river, an interesting place to visit is the museum of military aviation, displaying not just various military planes, but also various demonstration material (for instance, how helicopter control systems function) and two of the last original Junkers Ju 52 vintage aircraft in flying condition, which are used to provide sightseeing trips.

• 
  Bahnhofstrasse and inner city as seen from Dübendorf train station
• 
  Technical solutions of the Glatt floodgates
• 
  Swiss Air Force's P-51 Mustang in the Dübendorf museum of military aviation
• 
  Junkers Ju 52 of the JU-AIR airline

execution of Hans Waldmann, 1513

• Hans Waldmann (1435–1489) Mayor of Zurich, a military leader and Squire of Dubelstein
• Wilhelm Meyer-Lubke (1861–1936) a philologist of the Neogrammarian school of linguistics
• Oskar Bider (1891–1919 in Dübendorf) an aviation pioneer
• Ruedi Walter (1916–1990), comedian and actor [12][13]
• Peter von Matt (born 1937) a philologist and author, lives in Dübendorf
• Guerino Mazzola (born 1947) a mathematician, musicologist, jazz pianist and book writer.
• Michael Lammer (born 1982) a retired professional tennis player, lives in Dübendorf

• Solar Impulse

Media related to Dübendorf at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (in German)
• Dübelstein in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.