Agreeing and re-making the central places areas in Lübeck’s historical city centre

Lübeck starts to build the new city center. Following a Community Planning Process which prepared ground for an urban design competition, the project “Mitten in Lübeck” is now being realised. Right at the heart of the listed UNESCO world heritage site the central pedestrianised spaces will be upgraded for local residents as well for the millions of tourists visiting the city every year. The 3 years building process started in spring 2010. It will be realised in four phases and convert more than 14.200 square meters. Building costs are estimated at 11,2 Mio. Euro, which will partly be covered by the local Possehl-Stiftung (4,6 Mio. Euro incl. Community Planning Process and competition) and sponsored by the EU (2,45 Mio. Euro).

Please review the cities project website (German language only) …

A detailed description of the Community Planning Process can be found on www.communityplanning.net …

The historic city centre of Lübeck is a prime example of urban architecture from the Middle Ages and it is on the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. This prominence places a high demand on the quality of public spaces in the city centre and on preserving its historic infrastructure. To meet these demands the pedestrian zone (Schrangen, Obere Breite Straße, Kohlmarkt, Sandstraße and Klingenberg) are being extended and refurbished.

The look and feel of this new pedestrian zone will meet the broadest possible consensus among the local residents. For this purpose the City of Lübeck organized a Community Planning Process “Perspektivenwerkstatt” in March 2007 for all interested people of Lübeck.

More than 500 people with an interest in Lübeck’s city centre came to the “open house” in the St. Petri church: businessmen/women and their clients, shoppers, residents, visitors, bicyclists and those that come by car, urban planners, administrators and politicians – everyone was an expert in his own field and participated enthusiastically.

Following the public event an interdisciplinary team of architects and urban planners, lead by the London-based planners John Thompson & Partners in cooperation with the Potsdam planning office VON ZADOW GmbH, integrated the workshop suggestions into a full conceptual plan for the project. This “Vision” for a new pedestrian zone was presented for public viewing and comment closely after the public events and was acknowledged with lots of applause.

→ download German Article about the Lübeck project, 2008

The procedure of holding a “Perspektivenwerkstatt” for sensitive urban design projects that employs planning specialists from outside the city was the first of its kind in the state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Providing a neutral platform for constructive dialogue among city planners and diverse professional and private interest groups, the newformed supportgroup will accompany the process further on.

A documentation of the workshop and the results can be found in the final report (German language only).

→ download final report part 1 start
→ download final report part 2 teambriefing
→ download final report part 3 Workshops
→ download final report part 4 results
→ download final report part 5 recommendation

Read PRESS ARTICLES (in German) about this project:

→ `Der Bürger als Stadtplaner´; Lübecker Nachrichten, 14. Dezember 2006

→ `Ruhe und Grün für die Altstadt´; Stadtzeitung Lübeck, 27. März 2007

→ `450 Ideen für Lübecks Innenstadt´; Lübecker Nachrichten, 29. März 2007

NEWS:

On the basis of the community planning process results the city of Luebeck arranged an urban design competition. This follow up step was finalised in 2009. It confirmed the initial community brief and clarified further details. Since March 2010 building works have started to revamp the Lübeck inner city heart.