Volume 3 - Program & Project Ideas (PDF - 4.5 - Natural Life Network

Natural Resources Canada – Community Energy Systems
- Case study: Freiburg, Germany
The City of Freiburg is redeveloping an old army base as an innovative residential
community for 5,000 people, to be complete by the year 2006. The area occupies a 42hectare
site. The current neighbourhood houses 1,200 citizens; 10 per cent of them are
children below 10 years old.
• All houses are built to utilize improved low energy standards.
• Carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by 60 per cent by using insulation and
efficient heat supply systems that utilize solar power and co-generation.
• Traffic congestion is reduced; 35 per cent of the households agreed to live
without motorized vehicles; a car sharing system is available.
• Playgrounds and public spaces are reserved for green development.
• Building owners formed an organization that develops schemes that enable the
low-income earners to become homeowners.
• An extremely high level of citizen participation characterizes the housing
project in both the planning and the construction phases.
This is also an example of a car-less housing development.
Source: UN. Undated. Sustainable Urban District Freiburg-Vauban, Germany. UN Best Practice
Briefs. http://www.bestpractices.org/bpbriefs/Urban_Development.html.
- Freiburg, Vauban: Individual houses and owner cooperative buildings. Bottom row, from left:
Perimeter solar garage; streetscape in a parking-free access street; greening of a façade. Photos
courtesy of Murdoch University http://wwwistp.murdoch.edu.au/
-Additional resource
Car-free housing in European Cities: A Survey of Sustainable Residential projects.
http://wwwistp.murdoch.edu.au
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