Europe’s largest new construction project is entering its second round. Anyone who thought that the apartment blocks and high-rise buildings currently growing into the sky on the western edge of Munich already formed the majority of Freiham’s development with its future up to 30,000 residents is overlooking the fact that there is still a second implementation phase. Between the old Aubing and the A99, where there are now brownfields and gravel heaps, 6,200 more apartments are to be added to the 4,400 apartments in the first part that will be built by 2028. But there is resistance in the district.
Sebastian Kriesel (CSU) doesn’t mince his words. “We have a discrepancy when it comes to the question of whether it was right to start planning now,” said the head of the Aubinger district committee at its most recent meeting. Representatives of the city administration came that evening to present the draft framework plan for the second implementation phase to local politicians – i.e. the part that is currently still meadow. And now we have to listen to the fact that the newly emerging district on the border with Germering is supposed to be inclusive, but the five to six thousand people who now live there actually have “construction sites everywhere.” That there is an “immense amount of catching up to do” in the social structure because many people need care, but there is a lack of it. And that citizen representatives see “pre-programmed conflicts” in traffic because the mobility concepts for the area are so different.
This is not the first time that the district committee has called for the U5 to be completed at the same time as the rest of Freiham’s development – although there is currently no funding basis for this. Just as he considers the “timely” implementation of the Freiham landscape park “in full” as the basis for harmonious coexistence. After all, the numerous people who will one day live there should be able to “breathe deeply”.
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(Photo: SZ-Grafik: Mainka/Google Earth)
As early as 2017, local politicians vehemently criticized the fundamental and key data decision for the second implementation phase – because of the dense development and the expected increase in traffic. At the end of 2019, they rejected the decision to set up a district in order to send a clear signal to the city council: From their point of view, a district that will have as many residents as Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Landsberg am Lech can only be worth living in if the infrastructure is adequate Requirements are also met and completed on time.
But what exactly should this second part of Freiham look like? “We want to continue building the city, block edge structure and green areas will be continued,” says Sandra Müller from the planning department. Freiham should “not become a right and left of Aubinger Allee, but a larger whole.” The plan is to build on the 56 hectares of the second section from the south from 2028 with four to eight-story houses as a “moving silhouette” for the 16,000 people who will one day live there. There will also be twelve daycare centers, two five-class elementary schools, a five-class middle school, a high school or a vocational school as well as a second neighborhood meeting place for the district. Social facilities such as a family center, a parenting advice center and, in the landscape park, a children’s and youth club as well as an adventure playground including a festival structure are also planned.
The first part of the Freiham settlement has long been under construction. What will become the landscape park (back in the picture) is currently still a wasteland.
(Photo: Jonas Nefzger/State Capital Munich on behalf of MGS)
“We have a relatively high density,” confirms Müller – but there is a lot of greenery and few cars. Freiham is designed as a “Model City 2030”, with a reversal of the previously usual prioritization: car traffic should be reduced and walking and cycling should be encouraged. The mobility concept for the district includes 22 concrete measures, one of the most important of which, in addition to reducing the parking space key, is the 14 district garages in the second implementation phase. These above-ground parking garages, some of which function automatically, are intended to replace the previously common underground parking garages.
A special feature: the “fishing triangles”
The advantage: The building plots are only 40 percent sealed – and many large trees can grow in the inner courtyards. Another special feature, in addition to the squares spread across the district, are small corners in the street space. Such triangular squares are common in Schwabing and Neuhausen, which is why city planners call them “Fischerdreiecke” – referring to Helmut-Fischer-Platz in western Schwabing.
According to Freiham coordinator Maria Graf, the building department wants to create the southern part of the Freiham landscape park adjacent to the residential area in 2027, and the area should be usable a year later. And extending the U5 to Freiham, says Robert Adam from the mobility department, is “undisputedly important and also political will”. The traffic planners therefore assume “that when Freiham is completed, the subway will also be running and the second main route will be completed”.
The administration representatives argue that a lot of things in Freiham need to grow first; Schwabing and Haidhausen, for example, have only gradually gained structure. “Freiham,” city planning officer Elisabeth Merk once said, “is a generational achievement.” Which is why not everything can happen immediately.
From Sebastian Kriesel’s point of view, Freiham is not comparable to Schwabing or Haidhausen. “We still have to make a lot of adjustments,” he says. The city council has the final say anyway.