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Beitrag / Article Open Access
Anna Growe*, Tim Freytag
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
Image and implementation of sustainable
urban development: Showcase projects and
other projects in Freiburg, Heidelberg and
Tübingen, Germany
*Corresponding author: Prof. Dr. Anna Growe,
Prof. Dr. Tim Freytag,
Abstract:
Keywords:
Image und Umsetzung nachhaltiger
Stadtentwicklung – Vorzeigeprojekte und
andere Vorhaben in Freiburg, Heidelberg und
Tübingen
2 Anna Growe, Tim Freytag
1 Introduction
[S]ustainable development of human settlements
combines economic development, social development
and environmental protection, with full respect for all
human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the
right to development (UN 1996: 1).
years and decades that have followed. This trend has
process and not a static condition.
aim of encouraging political actors in their commitment
Zusammenfassung:
Schlüsselwörter:
3
perspective that is intended to prepare and accompany
on the one hand, and a second perspective that seeks to
practice projects to improve structures and processes
within and resulting from planning processes to foster
of this paper. The aim of our paper is to understand
projects, and we reflect on the application of measures
The focus of our paper is placed on three cities in
However, the implementation of measures to invigorate
These three cities are university cities located in the
to economic development, population growth and
city.
Our paper is organised in the following way.
three German cities that form the focus of this paper.
development.
2 Two perspectives on
sustainable urban development
first, a perspective that is intended to prepare and
of this research perspective, the focus is placed on the
4 Anna Growe, Tim Freytag
perspective cover a wide range of normative political
of different and sometimes even contradictory forms
practices, and put forward the argument that anything
primarily serve to place investments and to make a
profit without taking seriously the social and ecological
created need not necessarily correspond to what
is actually implemented and realised in the area of
how
understanding of what
ecological, economic and social needs are considered
planning as comprehensive spatial planning at different
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3 Selected cities and
methodology
and present the methodology of the empirical analysis.
3.1 Selected cities
phase of growth that made it necessary to implement
politics. Cities that met all three criteria were identified in
Germany, in the southwestern part of the country.
developed on former military sites in German cities.
metropolitan regions gained increasing importance, and
was promoted and implemented in the course of
in prospering cities. The increasing importance of
strengthening of environmental politics and the Green
party in several cities in Germany during the past few
numerous municipal initiatives and documents, such as
and in many other cities, the guidelines and goals for
development plan.
that have already achieved a certain level of international
Characteristics Tübingen Freiburg Heidelberg
City area 111 k m
City founding
University founding
6 Anna Growe, Tim Freytag
Furthermore, we considered cities that are characterised
Finally, we decided that the selected cities should
located within the same state in order to limit potential
differences with regard to the overarching political
All three of the selected cities were founded in the
and they served as important markets and commercial
was typical for other cities and metropolises at the end
population over the past ten years. The three selected
cities show similar patterns in terms of their structure and
3.2 Empirical-methodological approach
Our analysis is organised in the following two steps.
development. Part of this step is a focus on showcase
projects, as these projects play a crucial role in shaping
the image of the selected cities. Secondly, we focus
projects in these cities and analyse the measures that
considered here.
The main aim of the first step of our analysis
is to identify the image of the cities with regard to
Figure 1:
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for references to one or more of the three pillars of
on this first step of the empirical analysis which focuses
on the images of the selected cities, a second step of
To analyse the implementation of measures to
who systematises indicators according to the following
support of the ecological pillar, social diversity and local
local value creation and employment for the economic
development projects has the aim of allowing a variety
Thus, our analysis focuses on the degree to which the
that would tell us if and how measures to support
relevant measures were only analysed in the case of
their planning phase. This allowed us to ground our
analysis on coordinated plans. Only the criterion of
projects, since the location of the projects was already
known prior to the completion of the planning phase. As
Figure 2:
Table 2:
land recycling
utility infrastructure
transportation system
8 Anna Growe, Tim Freytag
the temporal dimension of the projects, we distinguish
implementation phase. The planning procedure includes
projects were certainly discussed in the cities prior to the
initiation of the planning procedure, the starting point of
of the planning procedure are physically implemented
4 Guidelines for sustainable
urban development: Image
and showcase projects in the
selected cities
images, we can identify supporting showcase projects in
each of the selected cities.
4.1 Tübingen
particular focus on inner development and revitalisation.
relevant measures is mainly directed at the conversion
seen as showcase projects, and have received wide
the integration of residential and commercial spaces
has a clear focus on the social dimension of
social dimension emerges very clearly in the showcase
4.2 Freiburg
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identifies and reconstructs the “development of a ‘green’
and reinforced in the following years, thus making a
to complement them with advancements in ecologically
and service facilities in terms of waste removal, energy
of participatory processes in the showcase projects.
development is primarily associated with civic
movement that prevented the construction of a nuclear
an important part of the collective memory and identity of
the activists and politicians who are currently engaged
4.3 Heidelberg
particularly strong dynamics during the past few years.
withdrawal of the American armed forces and the closure
projects.
formerly used as a goods station, including the adjacent
research, and commercial activities within an attractive
setting of green and open spaces. An architectural
its focus on scientific communities and the knowledge
largest passive house estate worldwide. Therefore, this
10 Anna Growe, Tim Freytag
city and its university. Here, the main idea is that the
5 Implementation of sustainable
urban development beyond the
showcase projects
projects in the three selected cities. As pointed out in the
previous section, each of these cities has a particular
through relevant showcase projects and corresponding
prominent showcase projects and related images. Since
development projects in the three cities, which have
5.1 Tübingen
developed on conversion areas the ecological dimension
use project was developed, in which the costs of area
housing units was neglected in favour of advancements in
5.2 Freiburg
prominent showcase projects were planned in the
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the motivation was rather to respond to an increasing
concept of Gutleutmatten, roughly half of the housing
rainwater infiltration areas.
Figure 3:
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5.3 Heidelberg
development projects were planned on industrial and
first plans for the larger military conversion areas in
Turm project. This project was developed on a former
industrial site with the aim of providing new space for
Figure 4:
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numerous infrastructure and service facilities, including
a kindergarten, supported living for elderly people and
people suffering from dementia, green spaces with
playgrounds, shopping amenities and restaurants.
Through the attraction of service companies a compact
housing was created on two of the nine construction
showcase project, which has shaped the image of
Figure 5:
14 Anna Growe, Tim Freytag
6 Overview: Sustainable urban
development projects in the
selected cities
Considering the three selected cities, our study shows
of these cities focuses on a different dimension of
positions itself first and foremost as ecologically
emphasis on enhancing the scientific community and
the knowledge economy. Compared with the showcase
French troops started to withdraw from these two cities.
troops occurred only a decade later. Thus, the historical
were different from those that were prevalent ten years
of the latter showcase projects reflect that the topics of
ecology and social justice were regarded as increasingly
priorities putting particular emphasis on the scientific
various aspects of ecology and the social dimension
development projects are planned and realised
are more developments taking place on greenfields
than in the other two selected cities, although the
is that the pressure on the housing market due to a
of the American troops, and the withdrawal of these
troops opened up development opportunities on
conversion areas and not on greenfields. All in all, our
changes resulting from technical and social innovations.
Figure 6:
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However, in each of the cities there are individual
accentuations that are supported and communicated
Thus, the production of images and the promotion
of the selected cities respond to the three pillars of
way these projects are presented in communication and
picked up as well.
This analysis of three selected cities shows that
various projects using different approaches that
with reference to the showcase projects in the respective
7 Outlook: Image and
implementation of sustainable
urban development in the
light of two different research
perspectives
individual showcase projects. The polarising effect of the
projects complete and round off the overall image of
cities. Compared with the showcase projects, the other
projects are less influential and they are communicated
in their everyday environment.
to academic scholars and practitioners. The main aim
documenting and evaluating showcase projects as
and newly developed standards with regard to specific
projects. Here, a main criticism refers to the lack of
development when realising a showcase project.
deconstruct the communication of showcase projects
it is important not just to focus on individual showcase
development projects within one city, in order to get
16 Anna Growe, Tim Freytag
related to showcase projects.
academics and practitioners not to focus too much on
images that are related to these projects and initiatives.
References
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