Communal area management promotes rural inner development
(Baden-Württemberg)
Photography: Günter Konieczny
The village centre of Sulzfeld (pop. 4,750) was characterised by the decay of former agricultural estates, a high building density with lacking private and public open space and bad building fabric. Added to this was an above-average aging of the population and a high percentage of foreigners. Difficult ownership structure and a lack of private investment prevented a village development with the usual instruments. The consequence was the neglect of the village centre and relocation of the building development to the outskirts.
Photography: Günter Konieczny
Since 1992, the model project “Ecological settlement neighbourhood concept” has been on the way to specifically developing the village centre as a place for living and working with the help of communal area management. Through communal purchase of the land, demolition of derelict buildings and preparation for a new development, it was possible to reactivate settlement areas. In the case of bad building fabric, the community claims its pre-emptive right to demolish the buildings and to prepare the areas as building land. In the case of buildings which are worth preserving, the owners’ motivation for modernising is in the foreground. The process is planned for a period of 15 years and is based on intensive involvement and consulting of all parties involved. The community dispenses with a rigid redevelopment plan in favour of determined guidelines that are used flexibly from case to case. The implementation of the model was made possible by a 50% federal state funding of acquisition, demolition and preparation for new building. The ecological approach concentrates on dispensing with the demarcation of additional settlement areas on the outskirts of the village, the reduction of area covering and the improvement of the greening and airing of the area.
After ten years of redevelopment, it was possible to create 56 housing units (single and multiple-family houses) in new buildings on recycled areas, and five units by modernising the existing stock. Settling nine new commercial companies and securing the location and the modernisation of three industrial units with a total of 63 jobs was successful. In the buildings of a former school, a centre with 30 sheltered flats for the elderly was built. The community owned common rooms accommodated there, a fitness studio and a surgery additionally enliven the village centre. The new building measures blend into the existing urban development structure by taking up elements typical for the village.
The residential area was improved by the design and greening of the street areas, building parking space and creating play and exercise areas for children and youths which are open to different usages. The usage of the existing development facilities and the technical infrastructure led to lower development costs in comparison with the new building areas. With this it was possible to resell the plots of land at a favourable price to the people wishing to build.
Through the model project it was possible to again turn the village centre into a place for contemporary housing for different classes of the population and age groups, so that “at home in the village” became a positive slogan in Sulzfeld. Through the consistent inner development, the demarcation of 5.5 hectares of new building land was dispensed with, and with this a significant contribution made for avoiding additional usage of settlement area.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1986 to 1989 | Planning of the village development |
| 1992 | Start of the model project "Ecological settlement neighbourhood concept" |
| 1997 | Start of increasingly privately conducted projects |
| 2001 | Inauguration of a senior citizen centre |
| 2003 | Further research into the expansion of the project |
Photography: Günter Konieczny
Photography: Günter Konieczny
Model project as part of the "Development Programme Rural Space” of the Ministry of Nutrition and Rural Space, Baden-Württemberg
Photography: Günter Konieczny
The strategy of inner development led to a functional and social mix with new qualities for the location. The model shows valuable perspectives for a grown village structure as an alternative to the development of the outskirts.
The projekt site ist to be found at postal code: 75056 - town: Sulzfeld - street: Hintere Straße.
Record inserted on 01.10.2003 by Lehrstuhl für Planungstheorie und Stadtplanung, RWTH Aachen and updated by theFederal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) within the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR).
Last update: 02.03.2010
