Urban Development in Germany

Future Creative Quarter Munich, “Jutier- and Tonnenhalle”, Photo: Markus Lanz

Creative Quarters – Cities Discover New Development

Metropolises are coming up against competitive pressure in these times of advancing globalisation. Above all, those cities perceived as being creative have the advantage here.More ...
Kitchen Guerilla, University of Neighbourhoods (UnD), photo: Markus Reuter

The Magic Word Is Participation – How Administrative Departments and Citizens Are Working Together

The Stuttgart 21 dispute has made it quite clear that a new culture of planning is needed – and in many cases is already being put to the test.More ...
Vision Spree 2011, Photo: Franziska Scheidegger, [M] LURI

Heading for new Shores – Towns and Cities discover their Rivers

When towns and cities decide to redevelop their rivers as recreation areas it is a move that is met with great enthusiasm among residents. Some examples from Berlin, Munich and the Ruhr Area.More ...
Schloßgarten Stuttgart, Immobilienprojekt Stuttgart 21, © Yvonne P. Doderer

A “Right to the City”?! – The use of Public Spaces

Who owns the city? “It is lying on the street, hanging in trees and is hidden under cobblestones”. Initiatives are fighting for participation in shaping urban spaces.More ...
Stuttgart Main Station: main entrance | Copyright: Deutsche Bahn AG

Taking a Stand – Stuttgart 21 Is Symptomatic of a New Wave of Civic Engagement

The controversial Stuttgart 21 project has long been about more than simply the plans to convert Paul Bonatz’s railway terminus.More ...
ZNA Kolja Kunstreich project, Wuppertal, Wülfrather Straße, Copyright: ORG.BERATUNG Schulten & Weyland

Vacant Buildings as an Opportunity – Temporary Usage Offers New Urban Development Perspectives

Temporary usage of buildings plays an important role in reactivating vacant inner-city properties.More ...
Nominated in the Built category: Lesezeichen Salbke, Magdeburg/Deutschland, 2009, Copyright: Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung Berlin/photo: Thomas Völkel

Urban Intervention Award Berlin 2010 – “Understanding a Different City”

Berlin’s new Europe-wide Urban Intervention Award is conferred for urban sites with an exemplary character.More ...
Copyright: www.colourbox.com

“We need cities that are people-friendly, not traffic-friendly”

Goethe.de spoke to mobility expert Ingo Kollosche of the Technical University in Berlin about modern and sustainable transport planning.More ...
Ralf Fücks, Board Member of the Heinrich Böll foundation, Copyright: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung/Photo: Ludwig Rauch

“Our Cities are the Pioneers of Ecological Change” – An Interview with Ralf Fücks

Goethe.de interviewed the chairman of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Ralf Fücks, on the greatest challenges facing the development of our cities.More ...
Entry Café Rigoletto, Copyright: Wohnbaugenossenschaft wagnis eG

Lively City Centre – Munich’s Ackermannbogen District

Living in a leafy green area, yet in a central location, affordable housing for young and old and a tightly-knit neighbourhood network: Ackermannbogen in Munich is a newly created city district that is pleasant to live in.More ...
Shanghai, Copyright: www.pixelio.de/Photo: Bettine Stolze

Sustainable Urban Development: Research for Tomorrow’s Megacities

A Federal Ministry of Education and Research funding programme is supporting scientists in seeking solutions for the energy and climate-efficient design of megacities.More ...
© City of Leinefelde-Worbis

“The Miracle of Leinefelde”

The small town of Leinefelde-Worbis in Thuringia with its 15,000 inhabitants is living proof of just how successful urban redevelopment projects can be.More ...
Pixel and claims. Dessau Roßlau: After urban development according to a master plan had failed, new ideas had to be found to set the process in motion. According to the principle “Wo Gebäude fallen, entsteht Landschaft“ (i.e., Landscapes Arise Where Buildings Fall) the new landscape is formed pixel by pixel, poster: Heike Brückner, Kerstin Faber, Doreen Ritzau; 2004; Copyright: Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

Urban Redevelopment: Shrinking – Knowing How

The International Building Exhibition on Urban Redevelopment in Saxony-Anhalt 2010 is developing new future strategies for cities with declining populations.More ...
Georg-Schumann-Straße 240, Leipzig-Möckern,
Copyright: HausHalten e. V.

The Light’s back on in the Guardhouse: A Leipzig Association saves old Buildings from Dereliction

In Leipzig there are more than 40,000 vacant flats, and many of the city’s unrehabilitated 19th-century buildings are falling into ruins.More ...
Apartment block on the “Siemensstadt” estate at Jungfernheideweg, Berlin,
Copyright: picture-alliance/ ZB

A Viable Option - The Global Culture Of The Apartment Block

The modern apartment block is the most widespread architectural form of all time. Just how big a success story is it though?More ...
Plan 4 for the urban reconstruction area in Fulda’s Southern part of the city centre,
Copyright: City of Fulda

Building Democracy: How does Democracy Reach Architecture?

Architecture and democracy cultivate a difficult relationship. After all, since time immemorial, absolute rulers and dictators have been interested in demonstrating their power to the outside world by building impressive buildings.More ...
Erika-Mann-Grundschule, 
Copyright: Baupiloten/Foto: Jan Bitter, www.janbitter.de

The Baupiloten Project: using Ecopop to Banish Tristesse

The project, headed by architect Susanne Hofmann, aims to unite academic teaching with architectural practice.More ...
`Spreeufer für alle!´: (Keep The Spree Open For Everybody!) - Residents protesting about the plans made public under the name Mediaspree. Copyright: picture-alliance/ ZB

The “Blue Capital” Of Urban Development – Rivers As The Arteries Of City Life

Many cities are once again focusing on their rivers and now see their waterways as the “blue capital” of urban development.More ...
High-Rise Bunker in Hamburg; Photo: Martin Kunze/IBA

Bunker and Eco Power Station – New Uses for Buildings from Sinister Times

Bunkers are war buildings. Sometimes they become exciting locations for future-oriented new uses.More ...
The METreePOLIS project,Architects: HWKN HOLLWICHKUSHNER, New York, USA Cop: HOLLWICHKUSHNER LLC, Project Team: Matthias Hollwich, Marc Kushner, Robert May, Hwaseop Lee, TJ O’Keefe, Ben Muller, Jonathan Kowalkoski, Patricia Sahm

Radical Pragmatists - The architects Matthias Böttger and Friedrich von Borries from raumtaktik in Berlin

They are young. They want to make the world a better place. And where did they start their quest – at the Architecture Biennale 2008 in Venice.More ...

The birth of a capital

Traces of German speaking architects in Ankara

Dossier: Urban Space

Urban planning, development and urban research as well as a look at various artistic approaches to urban landscape

Dossier: Faith and Building

Churches, synagogues, mosques – sacral architecture in Germany

The Promised City

Modern metropolises’ vistas and promises of happiness: a project on the pursuit of happiness in the cities of Warsaw, Berlin and Mumbai

Residual – Artistic interventions in the city

Artists from Mexico and Germany build awareness for the waste problem and its environmental and societal consequences.

Twitter: @GI_Journal

News from Germany’s culture and society