Jüchen City Lab

The Jüchen City Lab is our proposal for the innovation quarter of tomorrow. A source of inspiration that goes beyond Juchen and proposes a prototypical development for post-mining landscapes around the world. A vibrant urban area with unique typologies, housing and opportunities for production, recreation and new economic models.

The Urban Lab is our vision for a new way of living: a neighbourhood that is defined not by the finished architecture, but by the process itself. A city that is constantly evolving, growing, learning and adapting, and in which the “pre-city landscape” is as important as the finished product itself.

The Juchen Urban Lab is a learning city. An ecosystem that can change  and adapt to the needs of its inhabitants. It is not just about housing and business, but becomes the breeding ground for the sustainable city of the future. We strongly believe that flexibility and dialogue are crucial to the implementation of a plan. By using a robust structure, we can grow the city incrementally with new initiatives.

Our dream for the City Lab is not only to suggest what life might be like in the city, but also to prove that a adaptive method  offers more opportunities to react, learn and grow. The City Lab uses process as fuel for experimentation, testing and innovation. It uses space for temporary energy fields and energy crops, food production and place-making events. In the early planning stages, the available fields are used to grow trees for the future city, but also for sustainable energy and food. Our intention is not to built a fixed and rigid end image, but create a dynamic and adaptable planning tool with long-term usability. A city that learns along the way and leaves room for innovation.