EUKN - Germany - Sustainable Model District Vauban

Sustainable Model District Vauban

Introduction

In the South of Freiburg, on the former area of the French barrack site Vauban, a new district is being developed. The district will house more than 5,000 inhabitants and create 600 jobs. The main goal of the project is to implement a city district in a co-operative, participatory way which meets ecological, social, economical and cultural requirements. A good example are the “plus energy houses”: houses that produce more energy than they need.

Problem

The prior objective of the City of Freiburg has been to offer high quality building spaces for young families within the city's territory and to counteract sub-urbanisation.

A dense urban design concept, low energy standard for all houses, green spaces, good public access (including a new lightrail) and further infrastructure (kindergartens and a primary school) were parts of the plan from the beginning.

Description

In 1993 the planning for the district started and in 2006 the district (38 hectares) will be completed. By the beginning of the year 2001, over 2000 people had moved in.

The main objective of the project is to implement a city district in a co-operative, participatory way which meets ecological, social, economical and cultural requirements, such as:

balance of working and living areas;
conservation of the 60-year-old trees and the biotopes of the bordering creek;
priority to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport;
all buildings constructed at least with improved low energy standard;
extensive use of ecological building material and solar energy;
infiltration of rainwater into the ground, ecological sanitary systems;
district centre with shops for the daily needs;
primary school and kindergartens.

Approach

The aforementioned objectives are implemented as follows:

in the city's planning process;
in a co-operative way (working groups, workshops projects jointly run by the City of Freiburg and Forum Vauban);
through the participation process;
by private enterprises such as Genova co-operative and Buergerbau AG;
by private builders and groups of building owners (Baugruppen);
by many private non-commercial and commercial initiatives within the district.

Project Structure
Three main acting bodies or institutions connected with Vauban can be identified:

Project Group Vauban, which is the administrative coordination of the local authorities dealing with the Vauban project;
"Gemeinderätliche AG", which is a committee of the City Council specially dealing with Vauban. Within this committee representatives from political parties discus the main Vauban issues together with representatives from the administration and further consultative members such as Forum Vauban;
Forum Vauban, which is the local citizen's association and legal body of the extended participation process and the social work within the district.

"Gemeinderätliche AG" is the main platform for information exchange, discussion and decision preparation (decisions are made by the City Council). Additionally, there are regular meetings between members of administration and Forum Vauban. If necessary, further common initiatives such as round tables and workshops are organized. For the social work within the district further special committees have been established, including more actors such as the city's welfare institutions. The cooperation is fixed by an agreement between the City of Freiburg and Forum Vauban.

Results

Main Achievements Concerning Ecology:

All houses are built (at) least with improved low energy standard (65 kWh/m2a, calculated similar to the Swiss SIA 380/1 standard), about 150 units will have "passive house" (15 kWh/m2a) or "plus energy" standard (houses which produce more energy than they need).
A highly efficient co-generation plant operating with wood-chips (80%) and natural gas (20%) is connected to the district's heating grid. The estimated CO2-savings through good insulation and efficient heat supply are about 60%.
The number of solar installations is constantly increasing.
The ecological traffic / mobility concept was implemented with a reduced number of private cars to be parked in the periphery, good public transport and a convenient car sharing system providing a higher quality of life.
The new residential area was built around conserved old trees.
Rainwater is collected separately to be used in houses or infiltrated into the ground. A new sanitary concept using vacuum toilets and a biogas plant was introduced.

Main Achievements Concerning Social and Economic Requirements:

Due to the traffic concept, streets and other public areas become playgrounds for kids and places for social interaction.
About 40 groups of building owners have been established. Within these groups also people with moderate income level got a chance to participate because building groups, as apposed to individual builders, can receive significant discounts making homes cheaper.
With the implementation of the extended citizen participation in 1995 and the social work in 1999, people were able to use the Vauban project as a platform to express their needs, to receive support and to start own initiatives.

Resources used

The project’s strongest asset is the involvement of people who are forming the district. The major resources are the ideas, the creativity and commitment of the people involved in the common goal of creating their own neighbourhood.
Human resources: Within the city administration 5-7 people are working for the Vauban project as employed staff. The NGO-initiative started with a handful of volunteers, mainly students and people from the environmental movement. As soon as Forum Vauban received some funding, the NGO created a few moderately paid jobs for young graduates.
Finances: The project has a special status "development site" and its own budget controlled by Project Group Vauban. Other resources are gathered from the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, the German Environment Foundation, the European Union's LIFE-programme and some other institutions.

EU involvement

The project is partially funded by the EU LIFE-programme.

Contact info

Forum Vauban, tel. +49 761 456871 31

Project start date

01/01/1993

Planned end date

31/12/2006

Links

More information on the Vauban project Forum Vauban More information on the Vauban district (in German)

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Urban environment

Keywords

Environmental sustainability