Dornbirn is the most populous municipality in the Austrian state
of Vorarlberg and also the seat of the Dornbirn District Commission.
The city is an economic center in the north of the westernmost state
of Austria and a regional transport hub. With its 49,872 inhabitants
(as of January 1, 2020) Dornbirn is the tenth largest city in
Austria and the largest without its own statute.
The
importance of the city only developed relatively late at the end of
the 19th century with the flourishing of the textile industry, which
quickly made Dornbirn the largest municipality between the Alpine
Rhine and Arlberg. Since the decline of the local textile industry
in the last quarter of the 20th century, trade, commerce, tourism
and some medium-sized industrial companies have dominated the city's
economy, which is still a dominant economic center of Vorarlberg and
by far the largest place of work in the state. In addition, with the
Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences established here in the
1990s, Dornbirn is the most important university location in the
state and a center for science and education.
Geographical location
Dornbirn is located at an
altitude of 437 meters in the Rhine Valley at the foot of the
Bregenz Forest Mountains and thus on the western edge of the Eastern
Alps. Geographically, Dornbirn belongs to the Vorderer Bregenz
Forest, which is part of the Austrian Pre-Alps. By far the most
important river is the Dornbirner Ach, which divides the local area
into two halves and thus also forms the border of some city
districts.
geology
Most of the Dornbirn settlement area
lies directly on the sediment fan of the Dornbirner Ach. Due to its
location in the Rhine Valley, the community is geologically located
in the so-called Lake Constance basin, which was partly tectonically
created, but was also formed by the erosion of the Rhine glacier,
which receded after the last ice age. The Lake Constance basin forms
the subsoil on which the sediments washed up by the Dornbirn Ach
could be deposited and thus determine what is now Dornbirn's
subsoil. In the east of the municipality rise the first mountains of
the Eastern Alps, which here for the most part still consist of
brittle diluvial masses.
Altitude
The general altitude of
the city of Dornbirn is 437 m above sea level. A. stated. This
corresponds to the position of the stone city coat of arms, which is
embedded in the middle of the market square. The geographically
lowest point of Dornbirn is the river bed of the Dornbirner Ach a
few meters before the confluence of the Vorarlberg Rhine Valley
Inland Canal in the extreme north of the municipality at 399 m above
sea level. A. The highest point is the summit of the Sünserspitze at
2061 m above sea level. A.
City structure
Dornbirn did not
grow together from formerly independent villages, but was always a
single municipality, the settlement areas of which, however, were
very scattered and with today's districts 1 to 4 consisted of four
unconnected parts. At that time these “quarters” were still called
Niederdorf, Hatlerdorf, Oberdorf and Stiglingen. It was not until
1902 that these four districts were officially declared city
districts with their current names (Niederdorf became the Markt
district, Stiglingen became Haselstauden). Today there is an urban
area that has grown together, which expanded particularly to the
west of the railway line in the second half of the 20th century. In
these areas, the Rohrbach and Schoren districts were partially
created, which only became separate city districts in 1994.
Districts
The city's population is mainly concentrated in the
core area in the extreme northwest of the municipality. However,
especially on the mountain slopes in the east of the city, there are
still numerous smaller places known as mountain parcels. These
include Watzenegg and Kehlegg, which have high land prices,
especially because of their hillside location and the view of the
Rhine Valley. In addition, Winsau, Heilgereuthe and numerous other
collections of houses in the eastern mountain area also belong to
the city of Dornbirn. The most outstanding parcel of Dornbirn is the
Walser village of Ebnit, which was formerly an independent
municipality and became part of the city in 1932 due to financial
problems. The Ebnit is also the southernmost and easternmost
year-round inhabited area of Dornbirn and thus forms the center of
the south-eastern municipality area, which is characterized by
mountains and forests.
Neighboring communities
Due to the
size of the municipality of Dornbirn, the city has numerous borders
with other municipalities. Of the 15 neighboring communities in
Dornbirn, nine belong to the political district of Bregenz
(Lauterach, Wolfurt, Schwarzach, Bildstein, Alberschwende,
Schwarzenberg, Reuthe, Mellau and Damüls) and four to the Feldkirch
district (Laterns, Zwischenwasser, Viktorsberg and Fraxern). In
addition, the two other municipalities of the Dornbirn district
(Hohenems and Lustenau) border the municipal area of the city,
which is the only municipality in the district that does not have a
state border as a municipal boundary. (The municipalities are given
clockwise, starting in the north.)
Area balance
The entire
Dornbirn municipal area extends over an area of around 121 square
kilometers (12,093 hectares), the area is spread over three
cadastral communities
Dornbirn (9,930.41 ha)
Ebnit I (1,159.09
ha)
Ebnit II (1,003.50 ha)
Of this total area, around
4,815 hectares are forest areas and 5,723 hectares are meadows,
pastures and Alps. The municipal area of the city of Dornbirn
makes up about 70% of the area of the Dornbirn district (172.36
square kilometers). Dornbirn is the third largest municipality in
Vorarlberg after Gaschurn and St. Gallenkirch and makes up 4.65% of
the total area of the state.
Mountain landscape
Due to its location on the edge of the
Eastern Alps and the Bregenz Forest Mountains, the city of Dornbirn
can reach several mountain peaks over 1,500 resp. Mention an
altitude of 2,000 meters in their municipality. The most striking
are the 971 meter high Karren, which is accessed by a cable car and
is Dornbirn's local mountain, and the Staufen (1465 m above sea
level). The 1,830 meter high Mörzelspitze and the Hohe Freschen,
which is 2,004 meters high, are also popular with hikers. The
highest mountain in the municipality is the rather inconspicuous
Sünserspitze at 2062 m above sea level. A. Most of the mountain
peaks in the municipality are accessible by hiking trails. The
mountain landscape of Dornbirn is determined by the so-called First,
the mountain range to which the Mörzelspitze, Hohe Freschen and
Sünser Spitze belong and which can still be seen from
Friedrichshafen on a clear day.
Rivers and bodies of water
The waterways map of the municipality is dominated by the Dornbirner
Ach, the main river of Dornbirn. The Ach is one of the most
important drainage rivers in the front Bregenzerwald and also a
drain for numerous larger and smaller streams in the Dornbirn
mountain landscape. Most of the countless rivers and streams that
join the Dornbirner Ach as it runs from the southernmost to the
northernmost point of the municipality have no name. The Fallbach is
the only stream that does not flow directly into the Dornbirner Ach,
but first flows into the Rhine Valley inland canal. There are only a
few lakes in Dornbirn, two of the most famous are the Sünser See and
the Staufensee Reservoir. In its course, the Dornbirner Ach also
flows through the Alploch and Rappenloch gorges, two millennia-old
gorges that are nowadays developed and accessible for tourists.
Climate
The climate in Dornbirn is relatively mild by
Austrian standards, favored by its location in the Rhine Valley and
the foehn. The average temperature over the entire year is 10 ° C.
The warmest month is July with an average of 19.3 ° C, the
coldest is January with 0.4 ° C. Permafrost periods occur almost
annually, but extreme lows are rare. The average low temperature
over the course of the year is −13.0 ° C. Like the entire Alpine
Rhine Valley, Dornbirn lies on the border between USDA climate zone
7b and 8a and is one of the mildest regions in Austria in terms of
winter.
The last frost (measurement period 1993–2019) occurs
on average on April 14th, the first on November 6th. The frost-free
period is on average 205 days. Temperatures do not drop below
freezing between the beginning of May and mid-October.
An
average of 13 ice and 82 frost days are recorded. In contrast, there
are 52 summer days and 9 hot days.
The lowest recorded
temperature since measurements began in 1993 is −17.9 ° C, the
highest so far at 36.8 ° C.
Noteworthy is the extensive
annual precipitation for Central European conditions, which is a
long-term average a little over 1,500 mm and in parts of the
municipal area increases to well over 2,000 mm. This means that
closed, sometimes considerable, snow covers are registered in all
winters.
In winter, the sun shines on average between two and
four hours a day. This number increases to over seven hours by the
summer months of June to August. The average duration of sunshine is
just under 1,800 hours a year, which is relatively little for the
conditions in Austrian valleys.