How do you plan a new district? Erding is very concerned about this question. In the years to come, or rather decades, a quarter for living and working will be built on the site of the former air base. Which trends, which developments should be observed in the mammoth project? Constanze Ackermann and Björge Köhler from the Hamburg planning office Urbanista spoke about this on Wednesday in the Museum Erding. Her research object: “The city of tomorrow” – technically, economically and socially innovative, also planned with the help of artificial intelligence. Let’s go to Smart City Erding.
As far as future developments are concerned, the human horizon is of course “limited to some extent”, Björge Köhler clarified at the beginning. Especially when it comes to long periods of time, like here the development of the air base area, you have to “think in options instead of truths”. On behalf of the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR), Köhler and Constanze Ackermann created 150 trends on various future topics under the heading “City of the day after tomorrow”.
Artificial intelligence, demographic change, climate change or energy transition – urban development is influenced by a variety of trends. There is the area of mobility. A lot is changing here. The two speakers used examples to explain how cities deal with this in a sustainable manner. Key word: cycling. For example, one photo showed a bridge reserved for cyclists in downtown Copenhagen. Or the topic of climate protection and adaptation to climate change. According to Köhler, a flood retention basin does not always have to be a depression in the landscape. In Rotterdam, a water basin in the city is flooded two to three times a year. Otherwise, the pool serves as a basketball court. Or as Köhler put it: “Multifunctionality and technical necessities linked with new uses.”
Reuse existing buildings: public open spaces on a multi-storey car park.
(Photo: Rasmus Hjortshøj / Coast Studio, Jaja Architects/oh)
Right of way for cyclists: A bicycle bridge in Copenhagen.
(Photo: Rasmus Hjortshøj / Coast Studio, Office: Dissing+Weitling Architects)
According to the two speakers, a major topic is breathing new life into existing buildings. The E-Werk in Luckenwalde, for example, generates electricity, while exhibitions are held in the old turbine room. Elsewhere, an old school building is used as a cinema in the evenings, and during the day it is open to clubs or groups. A multi-storey car park can also be given new life if, for example, the roof is used as a public leisure area. After all, this is not new in Erding. The new school gymnasium at the Anne-Frank-Gymnasium will have a hard court on the roof.
Artificial intelligence can help create the district
Nobody can avoid digitization, emphasized Ackermann and Köhler. Artificial intelligence will help to create smart, i.e. innovative, districts. In view of the old stock of trees on the air base, sensors could be installed in the ground, which would then inform the city gardeners when a tree urgently needs water. In general, it can be said that urban systems are being digitized and algorithmized. “Urban spaces, buildings, infrastructure, vehicles and objects are digitally connected.”
The visions of the future were a bit too much for some listeners. City Councilor Burkhard Köppen spoke up. He cannot currently imagine a Smart City Erding, he fears “monitoring pressure”. A listener referred to the power consumption of digitization. While another visitor waved it off: With the current sluggish expansion of high-speed Internet around Erding and the non-existent online options at the city administration, there is still a long way to go before a Smart City. One listener said that accelerating construction projects is the big challenge.
And again and again: the Erdinger ring closure
At the beginning, Karla Schilde from the department for urban planning and building regulations in Munich referred to the planned International Building Exhibition (IBA) of the state capital Munich, to which the city of Erding wants to make a contribution with the air base project. She now emphasized that new alliances could be forged within the IBA, for example for the construction of the future Erdinger S-Bahn ring closure.
The evening at Museum Erding was the fifth public event in the series of lectures on the redesign of the air base. According to Michael Backes from Urban Development in Erdinger Rathaus, this date had the most registrations to date. Christian Famira-Parcsetich, Head of Urban Development, emphasized that this is a “development process” in which the citizens can and should participate, for example through this event. “Continue to get involved,” Backes said goodbye to the audience.
The upcoming and therefore last lecture as part of the air base sightseeing tour on March 1 deals with a topic that should be of interest to numerous people in Erding not only the day after tomorrow, but should already be of urgent interest: “Build easily and cheaply – but how?”