Urban Planning in Berlin, London, Paris and Chicago 1910 and 2010

2010 Chapter #10
The Green City
Green spaces are enjoying a renaissance
in the metropolitan areas of
Europe and the US. Brownfield sites
are being turned into new urban
quarters with large parks; gardens
and parks of various scales are
key requirements in planning policy.
They increase attractiveness
and value.
Berlin’s former Tempelhof Airport
is currently available for temporary
uses, seen as part of a phased and
participatory approach to planning.
Chicago’s Meigs Field Airport has
been turned into a park in recent
years. The development of the
Lower Lea Valley in London for the
2012 Games will include a vast new
urban park. The study Le Grand
Pari(s) also suggests the redevelopment
of old industrial and port
areas into new parks.
Allotments and urban agriculture are
playing an increasing role. Urban agriculture
in Chicago is used for food
production and social integration.
Berlin has developed ideas about
how these businesses can
offer leisure and entertainment
as well as food retail. Making public
green spaces multifunctional has
become a key aim of city councils
and park operators.
Climate change and global loss of biodiversity
give urban green space a
new meaning. New policies
demand increases in green space,
living roofs and green walls.
In addition to the large green space
projects led by local government,
bottom­up community greening,
such as ‘guerrilla’ gardening initiatives,
are contributing to the greening
of our cities. Urban policy has
begun to recognise the importance
of these unplanned projects.
We are not doing this because
it is fashionable, but because it
makes sense. It improves the
public health, makes the city
more beautiful, increases the
quality of life, saves money
and will leave a legacy for
generations to come.
The Mayor of Chicago Richard Daley
on sustainable urban development
and green roofs, September 2006
2010 #10 — The Green City Berlin p. 1
Senate Department for Urban Development, Berlin
Tempelhofer Feld
— a Park for Pioneers
A strategy for the re­use of the large area
of the former airport Tempelhof (386
hectares) was agreed in the mid 1990s.
The former airfield was to remain a
meadow with development to be allowed
only along the fringes. One aspect of the
open landscape competition ‘Parklandscape
Tempelhof’ (Parklandschaft
Tempelhof) which took place in 2010
was to clarify future management of the
park despite decreasing investment from
the authorities. The design of the open
spaces is to culminate in an international
garden exhibition in 2017.
3
Client:
Senate Department for
Urban Development,
Berlin
Planning:
Ideas Workshop:
raumlaborberlin / Studio
UC Klaus Overmeyer /
Michael Braum und
Partner
International competition:
six teams were invited to
develop ideas, among
them: Topotek1
Landschaftsarchitekten
(Berlin) /
Dürig Architekten (Zurich)
/
gross. max. Landscape
Architecture / Sutherland
Hussey Architects
(Edinburgh)
When:
Ideas Workshop:
2006
International competition:
2010
International Garden
Exhibition IGA:
2017
Size:
386 hectares
Budget:
Costs to make the former
airport site accessible to
the public in 2010:
ca. 800,000 Euro
estimated costs of IGA:
50.5 million Euro
estimated costs to turn
Tempelhof airport into
a park:
ca. 61.5 million Euro
1
1 & 2
Tempelhofer Feld opened
as a public park in 2010
Photo: Cordelia Polinna
3
Masterplan for
Tempelhofer Feld
Courtesy: Senatsverwaltung für
Stadtentwicklung Berlin
2