EUROPAN 16: Locations Germany

The 16th EUROPAN ideas competition began at the start of April 2021. Under the motto “Living Cities”, municipalities from all over Europe are once again looking for designs for their specific project locations until September 17, 2021. The aim of the competition is to give young planners a platform and, ideally, the opportunity to realize their designs. Germany is represented with five project areas. Read all about EUROPAN 16 and the five German locations here.

It has been running again since the beginning of April – the Europan ideas competition. Every two years, the Europan community, which now has 13 members – i.e. participating countries – organizes the architectural and urban planning competition. This year is the 16th edition and the theme is “Living Cities”.

Under this year’s motto, Europan is looking for innovative processes and projects for the reactivation of urbanized spaces. How can we tackle climate change and man-made social, economic and cultural inequalities in the urbanized spaces of our cities and municipalities with innovative and integrative projects and new planning processes? Participants will answer this question with their designs.

The planners taking part in the competition are therefore encouraged to develop ideas for neglected, derelict, empty, stigmatized or monofunctionally used areas. These ideas should aim to transform these areas back into lively, integrative and mixed urban spaces. In doing so, they should take water, material and energy cycles into account, link them together and relate them to each other. Furthermore, the dynamics of the circular economy should be an integral part of the design.

In addition, the tenderers expect the structural-spatial dynamics of integration to be at the forefront. In other words, they should support territorial justice by articulating social and ecological concerns. These include accessibility and affordable housing.

By promoting marginalized spaces, Europan also hopes to promote inclusion. This is achieved by transforming spaces into places of exchange, shared learning and biodiversity.

The ideas competition is aimed at up-and-coming generations of architects, urban and open space planners under 40 and brings them together with European cities. Each Europan competition has a central and topical theme that is of great importance for the development of European cities. A total of 13 countries take part. Accordingly, over 50 cities and 2,000 teams are involved each year.

Key aspects of the Europan competition include networking and exchange between cities, developers and young planners. In this way, it creates a platform that provides space for debate on the transformation of the European city. At the same time, it promotes the development of innovative planning processes and pilot projects, as the aim is to realize the winning designs wherever possible.

There are five project locations within Germany in the 16th Europan ideas competition.

The City of Ettlingen’s Europan tender relates to the former site of the ELBA engineering company. This is located on one of the most important main railroad lines in southern Germany, the Rheintalbahn. The Albtal-Verkehrsgesellschaft depot is to be accommodated on an area of approx. 16.4 hectares and a district development is to be initiated. The Ettlingen-West railroad station, which is located in the study area, is to be expanded as an intermodal hub and better connected to the surrounding transport network. Accordingly, the tender calls for an urban development framework plan for a transformation to a new positive identity in line with the New Leipzig Charter.

Click here for the tender.

In its invitation to tender, the city of Landshut is calling for a new concept for the one-hectare site of the former Landshut prison. This is a listed building and is located on the edge of the city center. It has been vacant for several years and requires almost complete gutting. The aim of the design was to develop the building and the site and integrate it into the city. However, the city of Landshut would like to see proposals for uses beyond the “prison hotel” that contribute to complementing and revitalizing the historic city centre.

Click here for the tender.

The city of Schwäbisch-Gmünd’s Europan tender calls for a new western city entrée. The project area of 27 hectares consists largely of commercial and derelict areas. However, these areas hold potential for urban development, particularly with regard to forms of mobility. The city would like to see the area developed in a coordinated manner, both conceptually and functionally. Accordingly, the aim is to develop a mixed quarter in which building groups, housing cooperatives, services and new production facilities find a place.

Click here for the tender.

The 5.7-hectare project area of the city of Selb is located in the immediate vicinity of the city center. It is characterized by vacant buildings, undefined public space and a street with no qualities for pedestrians and bicycles. The city therefore hopes that the Europan tender will lead to new strategies for architecture, public space and mobility. These are intended to reactivate the area, for example through innovative and sustainable residential concepts or an attractive connection to the city center. The city also wants to involve local residents in the transformation processes.

Click here for the tender.

The town of Wernigerode has two competition areas in the north-western part of the town. These are home to a heterogeneous development of large-scale commercial areas, residential buildings and garden plots. In addition, the main railway station is in the immediate vicinity. The Europan tender aims to create a sustainable, ecological and mixed-use master plan for the larger area under consideration. This is to be divided into small and sensible building and development sections. Ideas for further diversity of use and a residential mix with an integrative character are desired. Statements on sustainability and the circular economy should also be made. A future-proof mobility and energy concept would be desirable in this respect.

Click here for the call for entries.

Application deadline: September 17, 2021

On September 17, the deadline for registration and submission of the competition entries will coincide. After the jury meetings, the results will be announced internationally on December 20, 2021.

Here you can find the winners of the EUROPAN 15 winning designs for the German locations.