Hamburg should remain a green city, despite population growth and ambitious residential construction goals. In the “Contract for Hamburg’s Urban Green”, the Hamburg Senate, together with authorities, districts and public companies, committed itself to comprehensive protection of its green spaces. “This is to ensure that the city does not grow at the expense of greenery,” said Environment Senator Jens Kerstan from the Greens.
The first guarantee of existence in Germany, which is unique in Germany, came from the Naturschutzbund Deutschland (Nabu) with its popular initiative “Hamburgs Grün received”. Within a few months, the conservationists had collected more than 23,000 signatures.
Obviously, Nabu has hit a nerve with many Hamburgers, who are protesting louder and louder against their green being turned into concrete gold. After reaching a compromise with the red-green majority of the town hall, the popular initiative withdrew its demands in 2019. The citizenry decided on a 20-point catalog for the conservation of greenery.
10,000 new apartments are to be built every year
According to the contract that has now been concluded, according to the environmental authority, it will be ensured that in future at least ten percent of the state’s area will be under nature protection and that the proportion of protected landscape areas and the biotope network will remain at 18.9 percent and 23.2 percent of the state’s area, respectively.
Environment Senator Jens Kerstan spoke of a respectable promise: “If you roughly summarize, then we are going towards 40 percent of the land area, where the Senate guarantees that it will not be built on, but will remain green”. So far, this has not happened in any other major city in Germany. In addition, the protection of the green network with its twelve landscape axes, two green rings, green connections that are important throughout the city and public green and recreational facilities will be implemented.
To many it seems like squaring the circle. Because the Senate wants, better must, stick to its ambitious housing construction program with 10,000 new apartments per year. Because the city is growing. Ironically, the new edition of the “Bündnis für das Wohnen” (Alliance for Housing), which sets out the housing construction goals, and the “Contract for Hamburg’s Urban Green” were decided at the same Senate meeting on June 22nd.
So how should residential construction and green protection be implemented together, and that in a city-state like Hamburg?
“There is enough potential for residential construction,” says Hamburg’s Nabu chairman Malte Siegert. The city just has to lift them. There are large reserves, for example, along the main roads. According to specialist planners, these main traffic axes have potential for more than 120,000 new apartments. And in the area of the Port of Hamburg, whose growth prospects are finite, large areas are likely to become available for residential construction in the future, said Siegert.
According to the environmental authority, existing building rights are not affected by the contract. Should areas in the green network nevertheless be built on, Hamburg would have to compensate for the green loss elsewhere by purchasing land. Eight million euros are available for this every year.
“Although some results fall short of what we decided with the citizenship, we are overall satisfied with the contract. This is a real opportunity for a lasting strengthening of nature and species protection in urban areas,” says Malte Siegert. The administrative staff has now been increased significantly to 60 positions, and the financial resources for practical nature conservation have increased tenfold to five million euros per year.
The left-wing environmental expert in the Hamburg citizenship, Stephan Jersch, sees this more critically and called the contract a victory for the subjunctive and the exceptions. “The Senate is neither committed to stopping further seals, nor is it able to define which exceptions it will allow for seals.” It is to be feared that the Senate’s hunger for land will now let off steam outside the second Green Ring.
The head of the Hamburg tenants’ association, Siegmund Chychla, fears increasing housing bottlenecks: “The price is high, now it will depend on what the reality looks like, for example whether a clever redensification succeeds”. Every new building will now be even more difficult to implement than before. Even everyone who already has an apartment should be aware that their rent will be unaffordable in the foreseeable future without building a new apartment.
The housing industry expresses itself similarly: “Affordable housing and climate protection must be two equal goals of politics”, says Andreas Breitner, Director of the Association of North German Housing Companies. However, they reject agreements that are unilaterally at the expense of the construction of affordable housing and urban development. “If urgently needed new construction is hindered, this ultimately leads to higher rents. This also means that the city cannot avoid growing in the neighboring peripheries.” City growth cannot be achieved through densification alone.
The Hamburg model could be a good blueprint for other large cities, says Malte Siegert. There “where either the popular initiative is used through popular legislation or where progressive cities themselves see the importance of urban greenery for the climate, biodiversity and quality of life. People notice this primarily because of overheating, which will lead to significantly more health problems in the future . “