Berlin:
Model project of ecological urban renewal in Berlin-Kreuzberg
Berlin:
| |
| Country: | Germany |
| Type: | Projects, Policies, Concepts |
| Area: | District |
| Actors: | Local Gov., Regional Gov., National Gov., Private, Partnership |
| Funding: | Local Gov., Regional Gov., National Gov., Private |
| Topics: | Architecture and construction |
| Built environment | |
| Energy | |
| Housing | |
| Information and participation | |
| Urban rehabilitation | |
| Waste | |
| Objectives: | Improve access to information |
| Increase public awareness | |
| Increase use of clean technology | |
| Increase use of ecological building materials | |
| Increase use of renewable resources | |
| Reduce energy consumption | |
| Waste avoidance | |
| Waste recycling | |
| Instruments: | Demonstration and pilot project |
Since the early 1980s ecologically compatible urban renewal has also been a focal issue of urban development in Berlin. In 1987 the national Ministry of Building and the Berlin Department of Building jointed forces with the tenants and alternative building associations of the cautious district renewal movement which had actively implemented alternative projects in renovation buildings. In the Kreuzberg area Block 103 had been selected as a model for on experimental housing and ecological urban development. The project is presented as a good practice case for the following reasons:
In the mid-1970s the threatening depopulation of the inner city and the growing resistance against wholesale redevelopment led to a rethinking of town planning policies. In Berlin the new ideas were channelled into an institutionalised forum when the International Building Exhibition (Internationale Bauaustellung IBA) and the Bauaustellung Berlin GmbH came into being in 1979. It should design exemplary architecture under the topic inner city as a place to live. This exhibition should not only present technical skills but also incorporate the qualities of human living, ecological awareness and art. The standardised development and repair routines should not be the key principles of planning as careful urban renewal requires individually adapted formulas and solutions.
Nevertheless, even the individual projects had to have some common ground and, therefore, twelve basic principles of careful urban renewal in Berlin-Kreuzberg were fixed after an intensive discussion process with the people from the area. In 1982/83 these guidelines were approved by the Building Minister and the district parliament. The themes were mainly concerned with planning procedures: the participation of the local residents, the broad agreement between users and planning bodies, the speed of the renewal process, the maintenance of technical standards, the ecological dimension, public relations matters, the social dimension , an open decision making, the sources of funding. These topics especially applied to the Kreuzberg district.
Berlin-Kreuzberg is a densely populated district of former West Berlin. Especially the area along the Wall, the former border line to East Berlin, had been characterised by the existence of old building structure and poor housing standards. Before the fall of the Wall in 1989 the so-called SO36 (a part of the Kreuzberg district named after the old pre-war post code) had been threatened by demolition plans in order to build new expensive houses and a new motorway by-pass. However, in the second half of the 1970s this policy provoked a growing protest in the district as the number of people, looking for reasonable priced flats outnumbered the available empty apartments. By 1980, the situation escalated into a squatter movement which spread from the SO 36 (or Luisenstadt as it was also named in the 19th century) to the city as a whole. In that process empty tenement buildings were occupied, roofs and apartments repaired and made habitable again. Finally, the Berlin government was forced to stop the large-scale destruction of that part of Kreuzberg. The programme of careful urban renewal was put into practice. The projects should cater for the principles of constructional self-help, co-operative self-administration, living and working in the same area as well as the reconstruction of the existing buildings at affordable costs.
The planning approach is based on an integrated system of small supply networks within the block structure which comprises blocks as well as single buildings. The scheme is intended to represent an alternative model to the usual highly technical systems controlled from a distance. On-site supply, use and disposal is more suitable to stimulate the users engagement. The ecological redevelopment of a pilot project consisting of a block of old buildings originating from the second half of the 19th century, comprises both extensive heat insulation measures and an experimental local area energy supply concept integrating gas fuel boilers with small-scale combined heat and power stations and solar technology for part of the electricity production.
The overall co-ordination and research support on ecological projects was administered by the urban renewal company S.T.E.R.N. which has the responsibility for the whole area (Block 103 and Block 104). The single ecological produce was planned and implemented by STATTBAU. STATTBAU acted on behalf of local people and was found in 1983 as an alternative administrative body for reconstruction. The houses were refurbished at the initiative of the former squatters and local professionals. The project incorporated not only ecological aspects but the typical demands for self- determination and low rents as well. However, as the success and economic viability of innovative ecological measures depends to a large extent on the users themselves, and on their environmental awareness and behaviour, the project had been designed to take into account the wishes of the inhabitants.
In 1987 an agreement between STATTBAU and the Berlin Ministry for Building had been reached on an ecological pilot project for urban renewal which should be implemented within the framework of a joint federal programme by the national Ministry of Building and Berlin Land programme on experimental housing and urban development.
In total projects were implemented in 13 buildings with 110 apartments and 20 shops the ecological measures had been planned and implemented according the following themes:
In the energy sector the planning concentrated on four aims:
The main power plant is the gas-fired high efficiency boiler that is linked to two generators for power and heat production with 55 kW each. The Berlin power utility BEWAG feeds additional power into the main plant at peak hours. The photovoltaic technology contains 180 m2 of solar cells and generates an annual power of 14,000 kWh.
The water saving concept is mainly directed at the identification of as many saving potentials as possible. The water charges are calculated for individual apartments instead of for the whole building. A meter shows the consumption of cold water. Water saving equipment was installed in sanitation.
In one building grey water from four houses is collected, biologically treated, irradiated with ultraviolet light and purified via a vertical biological filter. The grey water from each household is used for flushing of the toilets.
After the buildings of Block 103 were taken over by a co-operative, the residents decided to set up a waste collection system. The system included separate collection for plastics, a bio-waste compost system, separate collection for special waste, and a collection site for all other waste (e.g. aluminium, old clothes etc.). The setting up of the collection system and the first phase of use was accompanied by a research project from the Technical University of Berlin.
Half of the courtyard area (840 m2), 4,800 m2 on the walls, and 1,232 m2 of the roof have been covered with plants. 574 m2 of the roof area have been set aside as green terraces with lawns and plants.
The outer walls were insulated with environmentally friendly material and protected with mineralised rendering and silicate-based paint. Ceilings adjacent to the attic are insulated with mineral wool or expanded clay pebbles. Where possible, the old wooden floorboards are preserved. Borax preparations are used to protect the timbers.
The urban renewal company S.T.E.R.N., Gesellschaft für behutsame Stadterneuerung Berlin mbH, was founded in 1986. The private limited liability company is concerned with the programmes of careful urban renewal in Berlin. Its contract with the Berlin government is extended on an annual basis. Currently, S.T.E.R.N. is engaged in the renewal of former East Berlin districts like Prenzlauer Berg. Its co-ordination, steering and maintenance activities includes block and social planning, infrastructural planning, advice and service for self-help projects, budget control for modernisation and renovation projects, and management of annual rebuilding programmes.
The total funds for the Block 103 projects amounted to 6,300,000 DM for investment in technical measures and planting, 2,450,000 DM for evaluation and research support, and 575,000 DM for the optimisation of installations.
Detailed figures have been published for three particular areas:
1. Rational energy use
2. Water saving measures
3. Green areas
Gelfort, Petra / Jaedicke, Wolfgang / Winkler, Bärbel / Wollmann, Hellmut 1993: Ökolgie in den Städten. Erfahrungen aus Neubau und Modernisierung, Basel
Senatsverwaltung für Bau- und Wohnungswesen, (Hg.) 1994: Der Block 103 in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Sanierungsgebiet Kottbusser Tor. Ein städtebauliches und stadtökologisches Modellvorhaben, Städtebau und Architektur Bericht 28, Berlin
EA.UE, (ed.) 1995: Energy: Urban ecology excursions in Berlin, Berlin
| Name | : | Reichmann |
| Firstname | : | Brigitte |
| Telefon | : | ++49 / 30 / 867 45 61 |
| Telefax | : | ++49 / 30 / 867 35 27 |
| Address | : | Senatsverwaltung f�r Bauen, |
| Wohnen und Verkehr | ||
| Ministry for Construction, | ||
| Housing and Transportation | ||
| W�rttembergische Stra�e 6 | ||
| D - 10702 Berlin | ||
| Name | : | Schuchardt |
| Firstname | : | Marion |
| Telefon | : | ++49 / 30 / 693 60 36 |
| Telefax | : | ++49 / 30 / 692 91 14 |
| Address | : | STATTBAU |
| Urbanstr. 116 | ||
| D - 10967 Berlin | ||
Berlin has a population of almost 3.5 million of which approximately 11% are foreign citizens. The wider conurbation has an additional population of nearly one million. The city covers 889 square kilometres; 38 km from north to south and 45 km from east to west. 24 per cent of the citys surface is water and navigable waterways are 197 km in length. In size it is almost as large as the densely populated Ruhr area in North Rhine Westfalia. Berlin is the largest city in Germany, and one of the sixteen regional States (Bundesländer) of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The unified municipality of Berlin is a decentralised body divided into 23 districts (Bezirke). The districts have between 50,000 and 300,000 inhabitants. They have responsibilities for local politics and their an own administration. Unlike independent municipalities, however, they do not have financial autonomy but are allocated funds by the City Government, the Senat of Berlin. The main authority for the City as a whole is the Senat which is divided into different administrative departments (comparable to Ministries in other German Länder).
Although Berlin has experienced a steady decline in industry, there are still over 200,000 people working in the manufacturing sector. Approximately 230,000 of the 1.5 million citizens in the workforce are employed in trade and about 750,000 people have jobs in service, primarily in the public sector.
In addition, Berlin is a centre of environmental research as well as technology and a great number of businesses are engaged in environment-related activities. According to a study by the ifo Institute in Munich and the IÖW (Institute for Ecological Economic Research) in Berlin 400 companies with 13,000 employees are directly involved in environmental protection (engineering offices, and producers and distributors of environmental technology). This number has tripled within the last ten years, and half of the companies have started as new businesses since 1990. Furthermore, Berlin is a stronghold scientific research with approx. 100 companies involved in measurement and analytical activities, approx. 80 eco-research institutes (including universities), and 45 public administration and authorities in charge of environmental matters.
Project was added at 27.06.96
Project was changed at 30.07.97