Gelsenkirchen-Schalke-Süd „Bahnhof (Railway Station)“

Context

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As part of the Rhine-Ruhr conurbation and of the northern Emscher Zone, the city of Gelsenkirchen has been undergoing an economic structural change since the 1960s. The consequences include a continual fall in population from approx. 400,000 to around 270,000 inhabitants today, as well as a high level of unemployment. The structural change makes Gelsenkirchen face up to the tasks of redesigning industrial wastelands, adjusting housing supply to the demand, and strengthening the inner-city. With the redevelopment of the derelict goods station Schalke-Süd, there is a change to deal with these challenges.

Project description

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The former goods station Schalke-Süd has an area of 15 hectares and is located close to the Gelsenkirchen inner-city. Important support, infrastructure and leisure facilities are just a few minutes away on foot. The closure of the site, which had only one remaining platform in 2007, is desired over the medium-term. The site is owned by two companies. The larger, approx. nine hectares, belongs to aurelis, a subsidiary of West LB and Deutsche Bahn AG. A second section is owned by a haulage company , which gave up the site in 2005 and which began to prepare for the redevelopment of the site in 2007 on the basis of an approved development plan, which ultimately envisages 350 residential units.

A development of the residential neighbourhood can only be realised over the medium-term and in separate stages. In view of this, a concept has been devised for the nine-hectare site owned by aurelis, which envisages a high-quality use as a temporary open space and which serves both to form the reputation of the planned neighbourhood and to increase the quality of life in neighbouring urban districts. The site has become accessible to children and young people in particular. Creative leisure uses were devised at limited financial cost and a green area was created on the former track.

The temporary use concept was developed with intensive resident participation in the form of workshops and meetings. The concept was accompanied by the initial realisation work, such as planting with school classes. After planning permission was granted for a temporary use as a sport and leisure area, from 2007 the first pitches were set up, along with temporary allotment plots and part of the planting.

The temporary use is based on a licence agreement that regulates the term of the temporary use in several sections and the rights and duties of the owners of the area. The basis is the free transfer of the cleaned land to the city by the owners for the duration of the planned public use.

Project chronology

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Year	Event
To 2005	End of the use as a goods station and haulage site
2005	Development plan decision
2005	Planting with school classes
2006	Workshop on the temporary use
2006	Agreement between the city and the owners
2006	Start of the temporary use
2007	Realisation of the temporary sports facilities, allotments and parts of the green space

Aims

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• To strengthen the inner-city
• To revitalise a wasteland close to the centre
• To build a reputation for the planned residential area
• To strengthen the housing quality of an inner-city area
• Intensive participation from residents
• To encourage temporary solutions as a new inner-city task

Types of measures

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• Licence contract
• Planning workshops with residents
• Realisation campaigns with residents
• Creation of temporary allotment plots
• Creation of temporary play and sports areas
• Realisation of parts of a green space

Innovations

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Subject to the conditions of a lengthy and gradual urban regeneration perspective, a licence contract is the ideal form for cooperating with the owner when using wasteland areas for a limited period. In this way, parts of Schalke-Süd were made accessible to the public again. Attention was steered towards the regained area and the housing and leisure supply was enhanced for the residents.

Sources

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• City of Gelsenkirchen: Final report of the ExWoSt research project Stadtumbau West 2003 – 2007 (unpublished)
• Research Agency Stadtumbau West: Temporary use in Stadtumbau West. Online document 2007 2007 (<http://www.stadtumbauwest.de/inhalte/Guter_Ansatz_Zwischennutzung.pdf>, PDF, 1.3 MB)
• North-Rhein Westphalia Ministry for Construction and Transport (pub): Stadtumbau in Nordrhein-Westfalen – Projekte, Ansätze, Erfahrungen (Urban Regeneration in North-Rhine Westphalia - Projects, Methods, Experience) Düsseldorf 2007.

Further information

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• Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (Hrsg.) (published by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning): Temporary use and new open spaces – Inner-city living areas of the future. Bonn 2004
• Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (Hrsg.) (published by the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning): Stadtumbau West. Stadtumbau in 16 Pilotstädten – Bilanz im ExWoSt-Forschungsfeld Stadtumbau West (Urban Regeneration West. Urban Regeneration in 16 pilot cities) ed. 2008. Berlin/Oldenburg 2008.
• <http://www.stadtumbauwest.de>

The project location can be directly translated into Google-maps. Project in Google-Maps

The projekt site ist to be found at postal code: 45881 - town: Gelsenkirchen - street: Rheinische Straße.

Protagonists

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• Stephan Kemper, Stadtumbaubüro Gelsenkirchen-City, Bahnhofstr. 26, 45879 Gelsenkirchen, Tel.: 0209-925645-3, Email: <stadtumbaubuero@gelsennet.de>
• aurelis Real Estate GmbH & Co. KG, Mergenthalerallee 15-21, 65760 Eschborn, Tel.: 06196-5232-0, Fax: 06196-5232-199, Email: <info@aurelis-real-estate.de>, Web: <http://www.aurelis-real-estate.com>
• Bundestransferstelle Stadtumbau West, FORUM GmbH, Donnerschweer Str. 4, 26123 Oldenburg, Tel.: 0441-9805922, Email: <info@forum-oldenburg.de>