1:06 h, 07.07.2020; Digital Talk powered by RVI & Polarstern
A most welcome piece of news reached the city of Aachen this morning (17 March 2021): Federal Minister Horst Seehofer has announced this year's selection of the "National Projects of Urban Development" and announced that the development of the Büchel old town quarter will receive up to 5.5 million euros in funding. Aachen is thus one of four municipalities in NRW to have been awarded the contract. With the amount of funding, the city is in third place nationwide.
OBin Keupen: "We feel the spirit of optimism!"
"This is a great message for our city," says Mayor Sibylle Keupen in her first reaction. "We have long felt the spirit of optimism around the Büchel in Aachen. The demolition of the multi-storey car park is imminent, the planning workshop was a great success, many groundbreaking political decisions have been made, and more are on the horizon. Above all, many city makers are on board and want to be involved in a very concrete way. They want to participate, to shape, to plan, to build. The fact that this high level of commitment of all those involved here on site has now also triggered such a response at federal level encourages us to continue on the path of 'making a city at Büchel'."
City Planning Director Burgdorff: "Aachen can play in the Bundesliga!"
The municipal councillor for urban development, construction and mobility, Frauke Burgdorff, adds: "I am extremely pleased that Aachen, if it sticks together, can also play in the Bundesliga! Aachen's politicians have united behind the project and have given their backing to the state and federal governments. Thank you for that! But I would also like to express my sincere thanks to those who have done the substantive work here on site, to the municipal project manager Nils Jansen as well as to Christoph Guth and Antje Eickhoff, who have done an excellent job on the part of the municipal development company SEGA."
Making town at the Büchel
A special piece of the city at eye level is to be created at Büchel. It is being developed together with many committed people and institutions. With this approach, it has also precisely met the requirements of the call for proposals. The Federal Ministry's project overview states: "Knowledge, living, meadow" are the keywords under which a mixed-use, urban quarter is to be created in the heart of Aachen's old town in a cooperative and exemplary development process that is wanted and supported by the urban community.
The basis for the development is the exploratory procedure "Stadt machen am Büchel" (Making a city at Büchel), which the city of Aachen launched in spring 2020. City Planning Director Burgdorff sums up: "A multi-storey car park has been blocking the development of the old town for decades. We are tearing it down and building a new urban quarter. The urban community itself is developing the programme, urban design and investment strategy. This project offers a unique opportunity to find answers to the question of how a major wound in the old city can be healed with contemporary building-cultural responses."
The next steps
Following today's basic commitment by the federal government to fund the project, the detailed applications for funding will be drawn up in phase 2. In this ongoing process - and on the basis of upcoming landmark decisions of Aachen's municipal politics - it will now be worked out how the Büchel of the future will take shape with the funding millions.
National urban development projects
National urban development projects are nationally and internationally visible, larger-scale urban development projects with clear impulses for the respective municipality or city, the region and urban development policy in Germany as a whole. They are characterised by a special quality standard with regard to the urban development approach, the building culture aspects and the participation processes, contribute to the realisation of the federal government's building policy objectives and have innovation potential. National urban development projects are projects that generally solve tasks and problems of considerable financial dimension. The focus is on the major challenges currently facing cities and municipalities in Germany (e.g. preservation of existing buildings, conversions, sustainable neighbourhood development).
A total of 24 projects for forward-looking urban development are being funded by the federal government with a total of around 75 million euros. 98 cities and municipalities from all over Germany applied for the funding.
More info
Interesting facts about the Büchel can be found on the Internet at
www.buechel-aachen.de
From Aprill 2021 the Demolition work on the Büchel multi-storey car park. All the info on this has been presented as part of an online event. The stream is still available on the YouTube channel of the city of Aachen:
https://youtu.be/KQqFq6v_edA.
Within the framework of a cooperative planning workshop, three teams of experts developed three exciting designs for the Büchel, each with a focus on the major themes of "knowledge, living, meadow". The final presentation of the planning workshop, which took place digitally in January 2021, is also still available as a stream:
https://youtu.be/AWSb5Gx3gKA.
Source: PM of the city of Aachen from 17.03.2021
Keywords:
DE-News, Funding, New building area, News Blog NRW, Mix of uses, Participation, Quarters, City, Transition Town
The Federal Chamber of Architects (BAK) and the Federal Foundation for Building Culture, on behalf of the planning and building industry, today presented their proposal for an "Innovation Programme for Building Culture" to politicians in Berlin.
Anne Katrin Bohle, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Construction and Home Affairs, accepted the four-point plan. In it, the authors suggest measures to overcome the Corona crisis that will have a sustainable economic and social impact.
"The structured approach of politics to the Covid19 pandemic, has also shown the opportunities and necessities of infrastructural reconstruction," says Reiner Nagel, Chairman of the Board of the Bundesstiftung Baukultur. "The planning and construction industry can help to create sustainable added value for society in the economic recovery that now lies ahead, for example in the areas of mobility, digitalisation, housing or climate protection. The proposed measures offer the opportunity to create high benefits for sustainable services of general interest and employment in Germany and Europe."
"When developing an innovation programme, measures must be linked to concerns that were also being worked on at full speed before the crisis," emphasises BAK President Barbara Ettinger-Brinckmann. "Every investment offers opportunities for a better quality of life, and the question of added value for our society must be at the centre of our actions. A requirement for quality and sustainability should be attached to every subsidy. In doing so, the public builder must act as a role model and invest specifically in the value of our built environment, both in urban and rural areas."
The "Innovation Programme Building Culture" comprises four focal points:
1. additional resources for innovation and future projects
The Corona Crisis must be an innovation driver for current social challenges. This includes the transformation of cities, for example with a view to climate change, changed working models and new mobility and consumption habits. Consistent support for innovative approaches can move Germany forward in the competition between locations and put both public and private developers back in a position to set an example with their buildings.
2. implement climate protection in buildings
The construction sector can make the greatest contribution to climate protection of all economic sectors: it is one of the most resource-intensive industries, but at the same time offers great potential for savings. What is needed is a programme for sustainable business, climate protection and ongoing ecological change. Boosting existing KfW programmes to promote energy-efficient refurbishment and making holistic approaches to modernisation easier to implement by law can trigger construction activities and at the same time realise climate policy goals.
3. realise existing plans now
Projects that have been planned and prepared should now be implemented quickly. The time limit of the necessary economic stimulus funds leads to corresponding pressure to act. The construction industry can continue to take on tasks from a given employment situation and avoid job losses. Public-sector investments that promote long-term structural change and trigger private investment are particularly sensible at present.
4. create a solid basis for effective economic stimulus measures
Economic policy with the above-mentioned priorities can only be implemented if all actors are put in a position to actually implement the major challenges quickly and appropriately. The accelerated award and approval of existing and prepared projects would in itself have a positive economic effect. The temporary or permanent streamlining of structures and processes should be ensured.
You can find the detailed four-point plan here as a
Download
The innovation programme is supported by:
AHO - Committee of the Associations and Chambers of Engineers and Architects for the Fee Regulations e.V.
BDA - Association of German Architects
BDIA - Association of German Interior Architects e.V.
BDLA - Association of German Landscape Architects e.V.
BDVI- Association of publicly appointed surveyors e.V.
BFB - Bundesverband der Freien Berufe e.V. (Federal Association of Liberal Professions)
DAI - Association of German Architects' and Engineers' Associations
DASL -Deutsche Akademie für Städtebau und Landesplanung e.V. (German Academy for Urban and Regional Planning)
Die Stadtentwickler Bundesverband e.V.
DV - German Association for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning
HDB - German Construction Industry Federation
IfR - Information Circle for Spatial Planning e.V.
VBI - Association of Consulting Engineers e.V.
VDV - Association of German Surveying Engineers e.V.
VDMA Building Technology
VfA - Association of Freelance Architects of Germany e.V.
VPB - Verband Privater Bauherren e.V. (Association of Private Building Owners)
ZBI - Central Federation of Engineering Associations e.V.
ZDB - Zentralverband des Deutschen Baugewerbes e.V. (Central Association of the German Construction Industry)
Source: PM from 26.05.2020 of the BAK
Keywords:
DE-News, Renewable, Climate protection, Mobility, Quarters, Resource efficiency, SDG 2030, Settlements, City, Transition Town, Environmental policy, Housing, Housing policy, Aesthetics / Architecture / Building Culture
Short info: "How will our cities develop? And who actually determines this - the city administration alone or also the citizens? In three European metropolises the reportage City of the Future - Future of the City looks for answers: In London we get to know the concept of the city as a profit-oriented enterprise that has to prove itself in global competition with other metropolises. In Hamburg, we follow the transformation of a problem neighbourhood as part of the IBA 2013, while the residents of a small, still original artists' quarter create their own living space. In Madrid, the problems of a constantly growing city are becoming concrete: an illegally built district has emerged just 20 kilometres from the city centre, which the residents manage independently. The area has become economically interesting for the city of Madrid in recent years. So the authorities have houses demolished - leaving families on the street. But there is resistance."
Running time: 45 min.
Year of production: 2013
Media type: DVD
Language version: de, en
Authors: Irja Martens, Katja Grundmann
Production company: fechnerMEDIA: GmbH
Producer: Carl-A. Fechner
Director: Irja Martens
Link
http://shop.fechnermedia.de/katalog/filme/stadt-der-zukunft-zukunft-der-stadt
Keywords:
DE-News, Movies, Movies > 45 Min, IBA, City
Whether it's financial incentives for moving to smaller flats, mandatory bicycle parking spaces or public tenders based on social and environmental criteria - there are a variety of ways to reduce the consumption of space, energy and materials in municipalities. This is shown in a study by the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy entitled "Kommunale Suffizienzpolitik. Strategic perspectives for cities, federal states and the federal government" commissioned by the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND). Using concrete examples, the study presents the instruments available to municipalities and federal and state governments to create incentives for resource-conserving living. Measures are recommended for the areas of housing, mobility and public tenders.
Christine Wenzl, BUND sustainability expert: "Every year, an area the size of Frankfurt is lost in Germany for new residential, commercial and transport buildings. For years, the number of cars, their performance and the distance travelled by car have been increasing. Cities are growing into the surrounding countryside, biodiversity is dwindling and the high energy demand is destroying climate protection efforts. The study proves: There is enormous potential to turn things around at the municipal level and significantly reduce resource consumption."
In terms of housing, municipalities could, for example, take advantage of the sometimes considerable vacancy of offices and support their conversion into flats. Promoting cooperative housing with shared living, working and communal spaces would also contribute to resource conservation, as examples in the study showed. In order to strengthen cycling as well as public transport, state governments could - as happened in Lower Saxony - among other things change the building code so that car parking spaces are no longer required in new buildings. Instead, the federal states could make parking spaces for bicycles mandatory.
Often, the competition among municipalities for purchasing power, inhabitants and commercial revenues stands in the way of resource-saving development. "Even in regions with stagnating or even shrinking populations, new commercial and residential areas and transport routes continue to be built. This is where the federal government can take countermeasures, for example by imposing a moratorium on land consumption," said study author Michael Kopatz of the Wuppertal Institute. A nationwide restriction on new construction would enable municipalities to turn to existing alternatives without having to fear competitive disadvantages.
More information
Study "Municipal Sufficiency Policy. Strategic perspectives for cities, federal states and the federal government". download (PDF, 1 MB)
Further information on the study as well as graphics for download can be found at www.bund.net/stadtlandglueck
Keywords:
Stakeholders, Soil & land consumption, DE-News, Communities, Media, New books and studies, News Blog Lower Saxony, Quarters, SDG 2030, Settlements, Social / Culture, Sufficiency, Environmental policy, Housing policy, Ecology
