WDR documentary (2020) about the Waldquelle eco-settlement
Published
Our home. Our West. Broadcast from 7.2.2020
43:39 Min Available until 07.02.2021
WDR. By Melanie Didier
From minute 25 to 29:50 the ecological settlement Waldquelle in Bielefeld is shown. Ute Möller, one of the founders, leads a tour through the ecological settlement and reports on the experiences and developments in the now almost 25-year-old settlement with lots of wood, greenery and solar cells on the roof.
With the Innovation Award, the economic administrations of the two states of Berlin and Brandenburg annually honor innovative and outstanding work from the region. With the involvement of business enterprises and other institutions as private partners, the prize was and is also a prize of the economy for the economy. Since it was first awarded in 1984 (since 1992 jointly with Brandenburg), there have been more than 160 prize winners and over 4,000 applications. In 2020, the number of applications rose to 221, once again an increase over the previous year, despite more difficult conditions due to the Corona situation - a clear sign of the great innovative potential of the two states.
Lumenion GmbH: In order to generate sustainable renewable energy, the company developed the Lumenion storage system. It stores electricity as heat at 650°C. The stored thermal energy can then be used in a time-delayed and cost-effective manner as process heat for industry or as district heating.
33 architectural firms from Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, among others, have presented the design for WerkBundStadt Berlin. Around 1,100 new apartments are to be built in 38 buildings on 2.8 hectares of land. A critique of the project in the deutsche bauzeitung (db) reminds readers of the historical heritage in which the project stands: "It is laudable that the Deutscher Werkbund is speaking out with a contribution. After all, it is precisely the Werkbund housing estates from Stuttgart to Breslau, Prague, Vienna and Zurich that stand for the experimental living worlds of modernism. It was about housing for the subsistence level, small apartments, variable floor plans, new building materials and prefabrication, and last but not least about the coexistence of generations and society." The WerkBundStadt is quite clearly a break in content from the previous less dense WerkBundSiedlungen and for this reason alone an important statement, particularly with regard to the mix of uses and building density. Nevertheless, the designs are not very innovative in terms of sustainability. Unfortunately, the designers make it too easy for themselves by treating the issue solely with the concept of natural ventilation and a high building density. In this way, the WerkBundStadt falls far behind the standards developed in recent decades for sustainable housing. If this building exhibition is to have any charisma, if it is to communicate groundbreaking transferable concepts, then many of the themes of sustainable urban development and housing are missing. If the WerkBundStadt remains as it is at present, the building exhibition would probably become an interesting collection of contemporary architectural sculptures on an urbanistic scale, but it would lack central themes of the 21st century!
In the past decades, resolutions towards sustainable development have been repeatedly made the subject of discussion and politically adopted, also by the worldwide architecture and urban planning associations. In 2003, it was the "New Athens Charter. Vision for the Cities of the 21st Century." by the European council of town planners. And in 2007 the "Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities".
In terms of world politics, the most recent three agreements should be mentioned:
2015 the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in New York and the adoption of the SDGs 2030
2016 Paris Climate Conference
and also in 2016 the world settlement conference Habitat III in Quito (New urban agenda).
These agreements clearly state that the sustainable conversion/design of existing and new settlements and neighbourhoods will play a central role in achieving the agreed policy objectives.
The number of CarSharing customers in Germany rose to 2.46 million over the course of last year. Above-average percentage growth was recorded by station-based CarSharing services. Station-based CarSharing also remains the backbone of the expansion in terms of area and is now available at 740 locations in Germany.
At the beginning of 2019, 2.46 million customers in Germany are registered with a car-sharing service, 350,000 more than in the previous year. Station-based car sharing providers are experiencing above-average growth with an increase of 21.5 percent. In free-floating CarSharing, customer growth is slowing somewhat and amounts to 14.9 percent. Overall, CarSharing in Germany continues to be on a clear growth path.
Graphic: bcs
Gunnar Nehrke, Managing Director of Bundesverband CarSharing e.V., comments:
"The positive development in the German CarSharing market over the past years shows: More and more people want to deal responsibly with the resource car and practically shape the traffic turnaround."
The association is particularly pleased with the strong growth in the area of station-based CarSharing services, as several scientific studies had shown in 2018 that this variant has a particularly high traffic-relieving effect. Association Managing Director Nehrke explains:
"In station-based CarSharing, 70 to 80 percent of customers no longer own a car. Cities and municipalities should specifically promote this variant by setting up CarSharing stations in public areas.
In connection with CarSharing funding, the association criticises the Federal Ministry of Transport: "Even one and a half years after the Carsharing Act (CsgG) came into force, cities and municipalities cannot practically apply this law in all points because the Ministry does not present the ordinances that are the basis for it.
Christian Hochfeld, Director of Agora Verkehrswende, explains the current development of CarSharing:
"It is important that CarSharing becomes visible and available in public spaces. However, CarSharing should not be seen as an individual measure, but as an integral part of a municipal mobility strategy. After all, the right traffic policy framework conditions - such as comprehensive parking space management and the expansion of environmental zones - can further strengthen the positive effects of CarSharing services."
Strong growth also on the supply side
20,200 CarSharing vehicles will be available in Germany at the beginning of 2019, 2,250 more than in the previous year. Station-based providers account for more than half of the supply with 11,200 vehicles, while 9,000 vehicles will be used in free-floating CarSharing.
In the "free-floating" market segment, 890 vehicles belong to combined station-based/free-floating offerings. This new form of offering is used by some formerly purely station-based providers in order to be able to offer the advantages of both CarSharing variants from a single source. New combined systems were launched in 2018 in Leipzig and Karlsruhe, for example.
Station-based CarSharing remains the backbone of CarSharing expansion
Graphic: bcs
Station-based CarSharing is currently available at 740 locations in Germany. This is 63 locations more than in the previous year. Pure free-floating services are currently available in seven metropolitan areas and a few surrounding communities of these major cities.
E-share stagnates at a high level, more e-vehicles in the fleets of station-based providers
Graphic: bcs
The number of electric vehicles in the German CarSharing fleet remained almost unchanged in 2018. However, there are shifts in the number of electric vehicles in the individual fleet segments: The number of electric vehicles in the free-floating fleets of car manufacturers remained largely unchanged at 1,025 vehicles. The medium-sized CarSharing providers in the station-based sector were able to increase the number of electric vehicles from 321 to 498.
On the other hand, the operators of pure e-car sharing projects recorded declines. Here, the number of vehicles fell from 431 to 304. This is mainly due to the fact that the period of public funding or the leasing contracts for a high number of vehicles expired in 2018. As the vehicles had not reached the threshold for economic viability, they were removed from the fleet. Gunnar Nehrke explains:
"The electric share in CarSharing is 50 times higher than in the national car fleet. This shows: The providers want to switch to emission-free drives. But the framework conditions are not yet right: the vehicles are still too expensive. And there is still no funding concept for the installation of charging infrastructure at car sharing stations."
As a result of the Corona crisis, the state will implement emergency aid and far-reaching stimulus measures of historic proportions. While the focus is on health and short-term support for workers and businesses, the mistakes of past economic crises must not be repeated. The planned aid for an economic reboot can set the course for the necessary transformation. A number of examples illustrate how short-term economic support can be reconciled with long-term social priorities.
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