Building the city anew – the major city of tomorrow

Hamburg, 21 March 2012. A shared exhibition in the European Parliament is showcasing Hamburg's two high-profile urban development projects. Invitations to attend the opening have gone out from EU MP Birgit Schnieber-Jastram to members of parliament, EU Commission representatives and town-planning and architecture experts. Brussels is also the starting point of an exhibition tour which is to visit other European cities during the coming months. The objective is to spark an international exchange of ideas and to encourage people to visit Hamburg in 2013, the year of the IBA presentation in Hamburg.

HafenCity and the IBA have made Hamburg the site of two of Europe's most important urban development projects. They share the vision of a specifically European city living up to the challenges of the future without abandoning its own traditions and qualities. Through the joint exhibition "Building the city anew", HafenCity and IBA Hamburg also want to initiate an international debate about the future of large cities which will actively bring in projects and experiences from other European cities. "In the coming year IBA Hamburg will be celebrating its great presentation year after seven years of development; HafenCity has already been under construction for eleven years," says Uli Hellweg, chief executive of IBA Hamburg. "It is a good point in time to encourage debate in a European context, and to show that Hamburg is a city of the future."

At the heart of the exhibition is an outsize compass symbolically showing the way to the city of the future. Instead of showing the points of the compass, it indicates the overarching objectives that the city of tomorrow needs to achieve: Growing City, Open City, Smart City and Civic City. They form the conceptual framework for explanations of the strategies and projects which HafenCity and IBA Hamburg are harnessing to meet the challenges.

"Building the city anew" is devoted to a diversity of approaches to solutions to the strategic responsibilities of European cities - for every urban development project is confronted by different preconditions. Thus IBA Hamburg is transforming the structure of a "metrozone", an inner peripheral area, through selective measures such as renovation and conversion activities, new building and cultural activities, whilst HafenCity has redefined a city area formerly devoted to port and industrial uses in architectural and planning terms. Thus both projects have come up with approaches that are as different as they are intelligent. In addition to introducing an Ecolabel to promote sustainable construction, HafenCity is also aiming for a sustainable urban structure: "With its attractive pathways and excellent connections to public transport, HafenCity encourages people to leave their cars at home," says Jürgen Bruns-Berentelg, CEO of HafenCity Hamburg GmbH. "The intensive mix of uses and the density of building create attractive short distances, which can be easily covered on foot or by bicycle - and mostly even run along the waterfront."

The exhibition will be accompanied by a program of expert discussions on the topic of "cities capable of facing the future", which are aimed at bringing about an exchange of experiences and opinions at personal level between representatives of HafenCity, IBA Hamburg and the various locations of the exhibition. An experts' colloquium of this kind will take place in Brussels, too, on the day after the exhibition opens. Invitations have gone out to representatives of the city of Brussels and European institutions, as well as urban planners and architects.

IBA Hamburg
From 2006 to 2013, the IBA Hamburg international building exhibition is developing innovative and sustainable answers to the problems facing major cities in the future. IBA is developing some 60 model projects which will stabilize and upgrade the hitherto neglected districts of Wilhelmsburg and Veddel.

HafenCity Hamburg
A new "downtown" is growing up on an area of 157 hectares adjacent to the existing Hamburg city center - a vital city with a maritime touch, in which working, living, culture and leisure come together. Eventually 45,000 people will be working here and 12,000 living in HafenCity. In addition to its central location, HafenCity is outstanding in its aspiration to create urbanity and its sustainable development.

Illustrative material
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Or via the image database of HafenCity Hamburg GmbH: https://presse.hafencity.com/index.php


Press contact:

IBA Hamburg GmbH
Kristina Hödl, Head of Press Office
kristina.hoedl@iba-hamburg.de
Tel.: 040 / 226 227-335, or
Anna Vietinghoff, Press Office
anna.vietinghoff@iba-hamburg.de
Tel.: 040 / 226 227-331 or
presse@iba-hamburg.de

HafenCity Hamburg GmbH
Communications Manager, Susanne Bühler
buehler@HafenCity.com 
Tel.: 040 / 37 47 26-14