Frieburg and Malmo (Part 1)

I had the opportunity recently to compare notes on two famed eco-neighbourhoods: Freiburg and Malmo. On 1st March, Wulf Daseking, chief planner of Freiburg came to speak at the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL. He took us through the distinctive planning styles of each decade in the city and highlighted the key decisions that had help create a more sustainable urban pattern. In the 1950s, when considering how to respond to the dreadful bomb damage of WWII, the city council decided to maintain densities in the town and to preserve the pre-existing street lines and plot sizes. Much of the character of the town centre depends on these decisions. In the 1960s, the tram system was put in place and green fingers were preserved from development, preventing continuous urban sprawl. The close link between urban development and accessibility to the tram system was established. Then in the 1970s, investment in public spaces occurred and pedestrianisation extended. The following decade saw a zoning plan that limited large supermarket development dependent on car parking. Existing shopping malls became the focus of densification plans, with added community facilities and green spaces. And more recently, there has been targeted new development which aims at zero carbon standards, low car use, mixed land uses and a strong emphasis on place making. What is distinctive about this period is the development model: a proportion of increased land value on private developments is made available to planners for affordable housing; the council is able to buy land at existing use value and then sells it on at a price that reflects the costs of all the essential infrastructure that the council puts in; and 'baugruppen' are used whereby each plot is built out by a group with a different architect. This enables the cost of new energy infrastructure such as district heating to be recouped and for new development then to fit within the new energy framework. All these principles have now been captured in the Frieburg Charter which was launched by the Academy of Urbanism on 2nd March 2011. Keep an eye out for it!

Yvonne Rydin