Hamburg Hafencity

Hamburg HafenCity On February 29, 2000, Hamburg’s Senate made history by giving its approval to the Masterplan for the new inner-city district of HafenCity. It was on this date at the latest that, after almost ten years of preparation, a decisive, metaphorical "foundation stone" for its realization was laid. The chance to transform the edges of the port around the city center was partially perceived back in the 1990s. Hamburg’s role in Europe improved dramatically with the fall of the Wall and the Iron Curtain: from being a city on the easternmost edge of the Western World, it has become the metropolitan heart of a continent growing together again, and a place with enormous potential. This opened up the way for Hamburg to become a crucial hub in Central Europe. Connections with Northern Europe were also being upgraded and the whole Baltic Sea area grew enormously in significance. This process gave Hamburg huge potential for development - but it had to be exploited quickly, to prevent other competing regions from overtaking. It was 1991 when the city’s former first mayor, Henning Voscherau, unofficially commissioned a study to look into the transformation of the inner-city port fringes. Port capacity had been built up south of the River Elbe, which had left centrally sited areas on the north banks of the river either idle or under-used, since they were unsuitable for container operations. To begin with, just a handful of people were in on the project: if Voscherau’s plans had become known too early, there would have been resistance in the port industry as well as resistance to the acquisition of buildings or companies - which would have raised the stakes in terms of cost. Under this cloak of discretion, then, the city was able to take control of crucial parts of the area, since although the majority of the land belonged to Hamburg, the buildings on it mostly belonged to private businesses. Buildings and companies were acquired through the then 100% Hamburg-owned Hamburger Hafen und Lagerhausgesellschaft mbH (now HHLA Hafen und Logistik AG) and its 100% city-owned subsidiary, founded in 1995, GHS Gesellschaft für Hafen- und Standortentwicklung (since 2004, HafenCity Hamburg GmbH). HHLA’s former chairman, Peter Dietrich, played a key role. The first study on the urban regeneration of the port peripheries, then still confidential, was commissioned from the well-known Hamburg architect, Professor Volkwin Marg. The study he presented in December 1996 laid out many of the development principles that are now taking effect in the new part of town - for example the urban structure and the principle of mixed uses. Then, on May 7, 1997, Henning Voscherau finally presented "Vision HafenCity", as it stood then, to the public. In a speech in Hamburg’s Übersee Club, he made the case for the inner city to regain its waterfront; at that time this only applied to a few sections (primarily the River Elbe embankment in Altona, between Fischmarkt and Museumshafen), a process initiated by the then City Planning Director, Professor Egbert Kossak. Yet at that stage, it only affected comparatively narrow sections right on the riverfront. Now, however, an area of around 157 hectares was to be developed into an upmarket inner-city district with mixed residential, work, cultural and leisure uses. Particular political legitimation for the removal of the HafenCity area from the Port of Hamburg was provided by the simultaneous establishment of a special fund under public law to hold "city and port" assets, public land in the ownership of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. The burden of financing the new, state-of-the-art container terminal at Altenwerder was also transferred to this special fund; the original intention was that this should also be financed out of the proceeds of sales of land. Thus, the HafenCity development and the special fund under public law were to finance not only the inner-city HafenCity project and its accompanying infrastructure, but also the modern port facility at Altenwerder, for which no funds were set aside in the city budget. This also provided the political legitimation for removing the HafenCity area from the confines of port territory, without coming into conflict with the port industry. An urban planning ideas competition (draft masterplan) for HafenCity was launched at the end of April 1999 and, after intensive initial studies in 1997 and 1998 carried out by Hamburg authorities and GHS (Gesellschaft für Hafen und Standortentwicklung), the decision was announced on October 2, 1999. The winner, declared by an international jury, was Hamburgplan, a Dutch-German team with Kees Christiaanse / ASTOC. The Masterplan, which amounted to the formulation of the urban redevelopment plan for HafenCity, was then approved by the Hamburg Senate on February 29, 2000. The Masterplan was subsequently opened up to public discussion through a series of exhibitions and other events. Already set in stone in the Masterplan was the intensive interaction between existing and new buildings and the water, the elevation of buildings as a flood protection concept, the public character of many ground-floor uses, and the fine-grained mix of uses. Also detailed in the plan was the development of the various neighborhoods within HafenCity and their successive realization into the 2020s. The Masterplan also enunciated the goal of making HafenCity the figurehead for a new business, social, cultural and urban economic breakthrough: what took shape in HafenCity would leave its stamp on Hamburg’s city center for many decades - not to mention the coming century. The new city district therefore not only had to be futuristic, it was also to develop as a model for the European inner city of the 21st century. At the same time, the Masterplan was flexible enough to be highly adaptable to any future changes that might affect the development process. HafenCity is one of the most remarkable urban redevelopment schemes in a water situation worldwide. Its trend-setting concept will see the area of Hamburg City Center enlarged by 40 percent, with the development sparking impulses not only for the existing city center, but also for the municipality with its 1.8 million inhabitants, as well as the surrounding metropolitan region, with an overall population of around five million. Hamburg’s identity as a maritime city is being further reinforced, while HafenCity is a blueprint for the development of the European city of the 21st century. HafenCity is already regarded as a showcase for major international urban development projects, even though its development timeframe extends to 2025. New core inner city created Development of HafenCity is essentially based on a Masterplan approved by the Hamburg Senate on February 29, 2000, which was developed further for the eastern section of HafenCity after wide-ranging public discussions in 2010. For the previous ten years the Masterplan, with its concept for an urban horizontal and vertical mix of uses and its flexible basic framework, served as a good point of departure for development of old port sites south of the city center. However it initially lacked an adequately detailed planning basis for the three eastern neighborhoods, Oberhafen, Baakenhafen and Elbbrücken. The underlying circumstances have also changed during the past decade. Initially, eastern HafenCity was regarded almost as suburban, yet now – partly due to new subway connections – it is seen as very much part of the new city core. Redefinition of the Masterplan was led by HafenCity Hamburg GmbH in conjunction with the Hamburg Urban Development and Environment Ministry as well as the principal authors of the original Masterplan, Kees Christiaanse, with ASTOC. At the same time there was intensive public discussion, with a program of more than 40 events. Since then the reworked draft has been honed increasingly in further phases (urban design competitions, open space competitions, zoning plans and architectural competitions). Eastern districts get their own profiles Compared with western and central HafenCity, the three eastern neighborhoods are more extensive but less integrated into the existing city. Their proximity to transport routes also calls for noise protection planning. But this also creates special opportunities to give the eastern neighborhoods their own identities: Am Baakenhafen will be a neighborhood focusing on living and for leisure; Oberhafen will become the creative and cultural quarter, and Elbbrücken an urban location for business and housing. The revision of the Masterplan resulted in a marked increase of useable area throughout HafenCity. Because of the intense building density and thanks to the relocation of businesses formerly situated in the port area, the total area realizable has been increased from 1.5 million sqm of gross floor area (GFA) to 2.32 million sqm GFA. Partial infilling of the eastern end of Baakenhafen harbor basin also boosts overall land area from 123 to 127ha. Many more homes to be built Reworking of the Masterplan also meant that the number of homes that can be built is much higher. A total 2,800 housing units will be created in Baakenhafen and Elbbrücken, raising the total number of homes in HafenCity from 5,500 to more than 6,000, with the calculation of average unit size increased to 110 sqm GFA. Joint building ventures receive more consideration in site tenders and since 2011 one third of residential space developed is to be publicly subsidized. Additional primary and secondary schools, as well as several more children’s daycare centers will also enhance HafenCity’s attractions as a place for families to live. The number of potential jobs also rises markedly from 40,000 to well over 45,000. The new jobs will be primarily in leisure, retail, catering and hotels. The leafy character of HafenCity will also be intensified.

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