海角视频

The second Lab Talk in the series “Futureproof 鈥� Engineering Resilient Cities” on 20 February 2025 focused on the renewal of urban districts and strategies for climate-resilient neighbourhoods.

The spotlight was on solutions for repurposing existing areas, such as former industrial sites. Three central questions shaped the discussion: How can existing districts be designed flexibly and continuously renewed? How do we find and integrate new uses for existing districts? And what political measures promote adaptable districts? 

To answer these questions, we explored Manchester, Berlin and Vienna with our panellists Maria Vassilakou, Oliver Schulz und Dr Karim Rochdi to identify possible drivers of change. Peers included Lars Loebner, Elena Wiezorek and Gudrun Sack. Felicitas Leithner and Thomas Kraubitz from 海角视频 guided the evening. 

Urban game changers

Cities and districts face numerous challenges: an ageing population, young families, the housing crisis with rising rents and scarce spaces, migration 鈥� whether due to work, conflicts, or disasters 鈥� and the climate crisis with the accompanying need for prevention and resilient adaptation. Social and cultural changes also shape the city: more single-person households, the rediscovery of public spaces, global tourism with issues like overtourism, and democratic processes demanding more collaboration and plurality. All these factors influence urban development. 

Rejuvenation means the modernisation and upgrading of existing urban districts to adapt them to current and future needs. This includes both structural measures and the improvement of social and ecological infrastructure.

Climate change requires adjustments. Unsealed streets, sponge city principles, and the greening of streets help manage heavy rain and heat. Not every street needs to be accessible to cars, creating space for greenery. The Climate Loop project in Manchester, for example, shows how nature and public spaces enrich urban life. It places public life and nature at the centre. The master plan runs like a loop through Manchester, connecting key locations in the city with green and blue spaces. In this loop, pedestrians have priority, lighting facilitates accessibility day and night, and there is space for nature. The intertwining of open spaces and buildings, accessible on foot and by bicycle via a barrier-free Climate Loop, will ensure that public space supports new sustainable lifestyles in Manchester’s city centre. 

A child-friendly city is a city for everyone. Therefore, it is worth thinking from a child’s perspective because cities that work for children work for everyone. This leads to a different mobility that is more orientated towards non-motorised traffic. Traffic-calmed centres, connected by footpaths, allow users to walk through the city while being in green spaces areas away from heavy traffic. A well-known example from Vienna is Mariahilferstra脽e, one of Austria’s most important shopping streets, which was gradually transformed into a pedestrian and shared space zone from 2013. In shared spaces, interaction between road users is encouraged, and everyone looks out for each other. Cyclists may ride through the zone at walking speed, while pedestrians have priority. 

Future-proof mobility concepts are crucial to revitalise existing districts. Considering mobility from the perspective of children, it is important to promote public transport, cycling and walking. Parking spaces are relocated to the edges of districts, where parking garages are created. Mobility hubs offer residents various options for the last few metres. These hubs are increasingly becoming central points where users can access micromobility and car-sharing services. Parking garages or mobility hubs at the edge of districts are also suitable for park and ride schemes. The buildings created in this process can be designed flexibly and used differently later. 

In the future, new technologies such as drones and micromobility will expand the mobility pyramid and must be considered by planners to ensure future viability. 

Repurposing industrial wasteland

ndustrial wastelands play a key role in repurposing existing districts. They often lie fallow and offer enormous potential to transform them into vibrant, multifunctional urban neighbourhoods. However, alongside opportunities, they also bring many challenges. 

Monuments evoke emotions. Monument protection often makes adaptation to today’s requirements (e.g., energy-efficient renovation) a balancing act. Successful repurposing requires political decisions and a well-thought-out strategy to reconcile history and modern needs. 

Risks lurk here: defects are often invisible when buying, contaminated soils require expensive remediation, legal uncertainties and complicated approval procedures delay projects. Despite these hurdles, industrial wastelands are an important part of the answer to creating attractive urban districts and new housing. The right political framework can make repurposing more attractive for builders. 

Examples such as Luxwerk in Berlin show how former factories can become vibrant places. Luxwerk, once a glasswork for OSRAM, a German high-tech鈥痯hotonics鈥痑nd electric lights manufacturing company founded in 1919, is to become a business campus with flexible spaces for manufacturing, repair, and high-tech laboratories. Such projects connect the past and future and create new social and cultural spaces. 

Flexibility and mixed uses are also crucial. The city of the Gr眉nderzeit – a period of extraordinary economic growth in mid- and late-19th Century Germany and Austria – can serve as a model, as it integrates many different uses, such as small shops on the ground floors, production in the backyards, and living on the upper floors. When repurposing industrial monuments, a mix of residential, work, cultural, and leisure uses contributes to revitalisation and avoids the creation of monotonous “pyjama cities” 鈥� districts that appear deserted during the day because their residents only return to sleep. To promote a mix of uses, Vienna has introduced mandatory minimum ground floor heights to encourage retail space.

Realisation

For these approaches to succeed, the framework conditions must be right. Politics, business, and civil society play a central role.

The question of how to handle land is crucial for sustainable transformation. Land policy can have a significant impact on the future affordability of the city and social diversity. Instead of selling land, it can, for example, remain in the possession of the city and public authorities. The former Tegel Airport site in Berlin demonstrates how this can succeed with leasehold rights. Leasehold rights separate ownership and use of a property: instead of selling it, the owner grants the right to use it. Flats in the future “Schumacher Quarter” on the former Tegel Airport site are to be built according to this principle. The plots are allocated to cooperatives and building groups through so-called concept procedures under leasehold rights, creating flats that promote social diversity. 

Another lever of land policy is the subdivision of existing plots: while large parcels are important for attracting international companies, small-scale subdivision promotes building groups and social housing. Moreover, small-scale subdivision leads to a higher diversity of uses and architecture. 

Vienna shows how land policy can secure affordable housing. The city is known for its moderate rents, thanks to the high proportion of rent-capped municipal and cooperative housing. To secure this, the Vienna city government introduced the designation “areas for subsidised housing” in 2018. This required developers to design two-thirds of the residential space as subsidised housing. This keeps rents moderate and ensures social diversity. 

Berlin, on the other hand, focuses on thematic priorities in the development of existing urban districts. The city’s 11 future locations are networked and have individual focuses. Tegel, for instance, is dedicated to future technologies, Tempelhof to culture, Berlin-Buch to health, and Siemensstadt to energy and environmental technology. This focus promotes the targeted development and use of the districts. 

Since existing buildings often come with unknown challenges, financing is often fraught with hurdles. Therefore, funding is particularly important in the transformation of existing districts, as it can promote incentives for sustainable transformation. Currently, funding is spread across different authorities and requires various applications, making it difficult for applicants to get an overview. Given the current lack of transparency in funding, communication of funding is particularly crucial. A central point of contact can facilitate access to funding, such as the one-stop-shop principle, which refers to the possibility of carrying out all necessary bureaucratic steps to achieve a goal in one place. They serve as central points of contact for energy-efficient building renovation and take on a variety of tasks that arise in an energy renovation. This way, property owners are accompanied through the entire renovation process, simplifying the often complex process with its many individual steps and interactions between them.

Public-private-people partnerships

Both public-private partnerships (PPPs) and the involvement of civil society are crucial. Such alliances advance projects. An example of a successful public-private partnership is Herrengasse in Vienna: local property owners initiated and largely financed the redesign of the street. The street is in Vienna’s city centre and is home to numerous shops, restaurants and event venues. The owners recognised the value of the public space in front of their buildings, founded the Herrengasse+ initiative and convinced the politicians of a joint implementation. The street and adjacent areas were redesigned: about 20 parking spaces disappeared and the surface was given a uniform level. The total cost of six million Euros was mainly borne by private investors; the city of Vienna contributed only slightly, for example, to the renewal of the water pipes. 

The involvement of society is another important aspect. Successful participation requires on-site involvement of the community in local transformations. It is important to manage the transformation at the local level and support bottom-up actions to involve citizens in local renewal. 

Public-Private-People Partnerships (PPPPs) expand the concept of PPPs by actively involving citizens. These partnerships strengthen cooperation between public and private actors as well as civil society to jointly develop sustainable and inclusive solutions. The involvement of people increases transparency, promotes acceptance of projects and thus contributes to their success and long-term benefits.

Conclusion

The event showed that different success factors contribute to future-proof existing districts:  diversity of uses, experienced and motivated partners, identity and charm, sustainability concept, usable substance, time and luck. In addition, it requires: 

1. Optimism: Bringing positive promises for the future into urban planning. 
2. Leadership: Taking responsibility, not only top-down but also bottom-up. Everyone can show leadership by deciding to take responsibility
3. Cooperation: Moving away from silo mentality towards cooperation.

Futureproof series

Futureproof, a three-part event series, was initiated by 海角视频 in collaboration with Aedes to mark its 30th anniversary in Germany. The first event, Futureproof XL, focused on the future viability of regions, while the final event, Futureproof S, centred on climate-neutral buildings.