Germany’s largest urban development will be a benchmark for resilient urban development.

Tuesday 26th of February, the Senate of Hamburg has officially adopted the masterplan for the city’s 105th district. The Danish-Dutch team of Adept and Karres en Brands, won the masterplan competition back in the summer of 2018 and have been working since then intensively together with IBA Hamburg and local authorities to make the visionary plan reality.

A new standard for the European city of the 21^st century

Peter Tschentscher, mayor of Hamburg notes: "With the "Connected City", a modern new district, which meets all the requirements of modern city life is being built: modern apartments, sustainable energy and water concepts, fast train connections and short distances to leisure facilities."

Planned to break ground in 2020, the plan will include 7000 households and 5000 workplaces in a 124ha area, making it Germany’s largest one-off development since Hafen City.  The visionary plan by Adept and Karres en Brands goes beyond spatial solutions and aims to set a new standard for the future of European cities of the 21^st century.

Resilient urban development

The plan approaches urban development as an integrative ecosystem with healthy urban living and resilience at its heart. It combines sports and recreation with water management and ecology in an innovative landscape structure (the Green Loop) that brings the whole plan together.

Andy Grote, Sports Senator: "The master plan for Oberbillwerder is a quantum leap in urban development through sport and an absolute novelty: For the first time, movement and health are integrated in the planning from the first minute and throughout the entire planning phase. As a model “Active City”, sport is a groundbreaking identity feature that will decisively shape the character of this neighborhood and thus contribute to the quality of life."

The entire plan will be energy self-sufficient and integrate new forms of living, working, recreation, urban farming.

“Oberbillwerder transforms regulation into freedom. Traffic, technical and ecological requirements are transformed into unique qualities of the district,” says Karen Pein Director of IBA Hamburg.

Breaking new ground in urban mobility According to Hamburg municipality “the city is breaking new ground in terms of mobility with Oberbillwerder”.Mobility goes beyond infrastructure and proposes an ecosystem of 11 mobilityhubs based arround the daily urban systems of future inhabitants. These become vibrant centers of the neighborhood integrating innovative mobility concepts such as car sharing, new bike facilities or autonomous public transport in combination with active program, social facilities sports and energy production and storage. The entire system ensures parking free neighborhood streets with a focus on bike and pedestrian flows. 

Dr. Dorothee Stapelfeldt, Senator for Urban Development and Housing: “In the coming years it will be possible to see what responsible urban development in the 21st century can look like. A forward looking urban development, oriented on needs of present and future residents: with energy neutral living, affordable, diverse, low car and yet extremely mobile. ”