Post-Corona City Essen, Germany Interdisciplinary Workshop, 2 weeks, May 24 – June 4

• Urban Design TU Dortmund, • Landscape Architecture Rutgers, • lala.ruhr – the landscape laboratory

Among the many long-term impacts of the Corona Pandemic is the increased shift toward online shopping but also a big demand for high quality public spaces The topic of this class is to explore the impact of this shift on the inner-city shopping district of Essen and to develop concepts for a transformation into a sustainable and resilient future, offering high quality open space for social (distant) interaction.

In the US, the process of suburbanization came along with a shift in shopping habits. When inner cities were considered unpleasant and dangerous, customers preferred the malls. During that period, most German downtowns were able to maintain active shopping areas. Shopping and offices became the main activity in expansive pedestrian zones. Both, the US malls and the German shopping downtowns, were already challenged by the recent shift toward online shopping. Corona gave that challenge an additional boost. Because people are hesitant to enter stores, they prefer to browse for goods from the safety of their living room, avoid going downtown or to the mall, and many offices remain empty due to the higher rate of people working from home.

This is also causing a particularly heavy blow to the city of Essen. During the last two decades, Essen has promoted itself as a shopping destination. Shopping was among the multiple strategies to dampen the negative impact of de-industrialization. Essen is at the heart of the formerly highly industrialized Ruhr Region, introducing more jobs in shopping was supposed to help overcome the loss of jobs in factories and mining and to maintain a tax revenue stream for the city.

As stores are closing, the inner city of Essen is becoming less attractive for people to visit. Less people mean fewer potential customers, a vicious circle. The goal of this interdisciplinary class is to thoroughly analyze the urban context and to use the tools of urban design and landscape architecture to develop concepts for a transformed inner city of Essen.

Participants: Approx. 15 graduate students in Urban Design, TU Dortmund. The workshop will be integral part of a graduate seminar in urban design. Approx. 15 undergraduate and graduate students in Landscape Architecture. The workshop will be integral part of the Rutgers Landscape Architecture Study Abroad Program Germany.

Teaching Team: Päivi KataikkoGrigoleit, TU Dortmund University, Faculty of Spatial Planning Wolfram Hoefer, Rutgers University, Department of Landscape Architecture Sebastian Schlecht, City of Essen, Strategic Management – Dep. Environment, Mobility and Sports & lala.ruhr – the landscape laboratory

Preparation during the spring semester TU Dortmund students will prepare and analyze planning data for Essen inner city. Rutgers Students will prepare case studies of inner cities from the PA, NJ, NY tri state area.

Important dates: Kick off Monday May 24 (Pfingstmontag) Mid-term presentation Friday May 28 , 15:00 (3pm), City officials and key stakeholders will provide input Final presentation, Friday June 4 5:00 (3pm), City officials and key stakeholders will provide input, party to follow.