Temporary usage for empty spaces
(Hesse)
In 1973, a 760 hectare development area was made available in Dietzenbach with the aim of enlarging the community from 6,000 to 60,000 inhabitants as an overflow city for Frankfurt/Main. However, until today, it has only been possible to achieve half of the population figure aimed for. The only partly implemented urban development plans of the 1960s and 70s left behind a tower block settlement regarded as a social problem area, plus wasteland areas and oversized transport areas. The project "Dietzenbach - definitiv unvollendet" also pursues the aim of experimenting with new forms of planning methods.
Photography: C. Bigos
The project attempts to find new ways of dealing with empty, currently unused areas and changing from the expansion course planned at that time to a qualitative inner development. At the same time, this started a discussion between citizens, administration and politics on the city’s future direction. An interdisciplinary project group made up of representatives of the city, planning offices and universities formed to carry out and complete and to accompany the project in a scientific manner.
In the first phase, an art installation in the undeveloped city centre served to make contact with the citizens, to motivate them think and contribute. For this, a 600 metre long, 1.8 metre wide axis made up of 2,500 wooden columns was set up.
The population was informed about the idea connecting the columns and land usage and encouraged to make suggestions on the use of 100m² land sections in Dietzenbach. A building truck parked in a central location served as an information and contact point. More than 300 usage requests and ideas were expressed.
In the second project phase, columns were removed for the registered individual usage ideas, in order to stake “claims” on one of 30 pieces of city wasteland.
With temporary usage contracts, the provisional uses were a contribution to taking possession of one’s own city. A large part of the area usage ideas were expressed by citizens with a migration background (immigrants, foreigners, resettlers,...). The requests for usage as garden space were particularly significant from multi-storey flat neighbourhoods.
Besides sections for garden land, areas were allocated for a play area, a chicken yard for children, a wind art installation and flower beds made by school children.
Even though the amount of temporary usage remained relatively low, due to the only one-year-long contracts, the required payment of a 500 euro security and the complex bureaucracy, the project was able to make a contribution to the architectural and social integration in a city with a very heterogeneous population.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| June 2000 | The City of Dietzenbach’s application for the idea competition "Stadt 2030" (“City 2030”) of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) |
| March 2001 | Award of the Winner’s Certificate by the BMBF |
| August 2002 to April 2003 | Series of columns as an installation in the undeveloped city centre |
| Until May 2003 | Allocation of land areas to interested users |
| July 2003 | Completion of the project |
Photography: C. Bigos
Photography: C. Bigos
The project highlights ways of how temporary usage can be picked up on for urban development, in order to promote a change in consciousness regarding how land is dealt with. Through art installations in public areas and accompanying public relations work, it was possible to arouse the interest of a great many citizens in their city and its planning. The unconventional planning approach combined the requirements of economic land management with the elements of planning based on community involvement and self-help.
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: 01.03.2010
