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Urban Design Phenomenon: Documenting the Brilliant, Quirky Cat Ladders of Switzerland

Cats are by far the most common household pet in Switzerland, so much so that their presence has given rise to a unique urban design phenomenon: the cat ladder. Devoted owners have built a series of outdoor climbing aids to help their feline friends come and go as they please.

Some are charming in their ad-hoc nature (a slender ladder leaning on a mailbox for support or treads applied to a building’s rain duct) while others are complex zig-zag structures permanently affixed to the side of a building. It’s not all DIY either. Now you can find some more elaborate models—like an ornate wood spiral staircase—for purchase online.

Using the city of Bern as a case study, Brigitte Schuster documented these eclectic cat ladders in a forthcoming photo book, simply titled Swiss Cat Ladders. Combining her photographs with a series of diagrams and essays exploring the structures from a sociological and architectural point of view, Schuster captures the popular trend and raises questions about the human-feline relationship. As she writes in the introduction, these ladders “indicate a willingness to house the cats properly and respect the animals’ needs.”