Strategies for the Future

Building design
How is the coronavirus changing your business? What matters most to customers right now? Which business sectors are booming? Photo: Unsplash
How is the coronavirus affecting your business? What are customers looking for now?

The year 2020 was a real test for entrepreneurs. In 2021, the challenges won’t get any easier. How markets are changing, and what’s strategically important right now.

Inwiefern verändert Corona Ihr Business? Was ist Kunden jetzt wichtig? Welche Geschäftsfelder boomen? Foto: Unsplash
How is the pandemic changing your business? What matters to customers right now? Which business sectors are booming? Photo: Unsplash

Every company needs a comprehensive strategic framework: a “where” (vision), a “why” (mission), and the right values. When crises turn the operating environment upside down, companies must reassess their strategy. For 2021, fueled by the pandemic, the social and economic landscape is poised for upheaval.

Social and environmental responsibility are becoming increasingly important factors in purchasing decisions. “Sustainability will be the next digital,” explained Tanja Reilly, Business Development Manager at the eco-rating agency EcoVadis, to industry buyers at the BME Sustainability Summit in October 2020. Tanja Reilly sees the coronavirus as a trend accelerator: “The pandemic has heightened crisis awareness and is making change possible in many places.”

COVID-19 has changed the way not only industrial customers but also consumers view the world. Trend researchers believe the shift is here to stay and will not fade away. In the future, markets will be driven by trust, security, connection, openness, reputation, and resonance. Transparency and traceability are becoming decisive competitive factors.

One example among many: the Supply Chain Act currently under discussion in the German federal government, which holds companies accountable for the human rights implications of the extraction and production of raw materials in their supply chains. Even if SMEs will not initially be legally affected by the legislative amendment, the focus on social and environmental responsibility regarding sourcing is here to stay—and it will not bypass the skilled trades sector either.

Market researchers see new opportunities arising from this: Global connections and interdependencies are important to customers. Clear, regional ties are becoming more important.

Read more on this topic in STEIN 12/20.

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News from the planning department – G+L 04/22

Building design
We summarize the planning news of the month for you.

We summarize the planning news of the month for you. (Photo: Roman Kraft via Unsplash)

Do you also regularly suffer from acute information overload? We do too. That’s why you can find last month’s news here.

Every beginning is also an end: at the beginning of each month, we summarize the most important planning news of the past month for you. Here you will find current discussions, news, projects and industry information from March 2022. A look back.

“While we in the G+L editorial team are producing a series of issues on urban mobility, war is raging in Ukraine two hours by plane from Germany,” said editor-in-chief Theresa Ramisch at the start of the editorial for the G+L April issue. “Does that feel good? No. At the same time, we are proud to be part of a profession that stands up for each other across national borders in difficult times,” Theresa Ramisch continues. By this she means: numerous international planning offices as well as a total of 6,500 Russian planners who took a stand against the war of aggression in violation of international law. Among them were BIG, David Chipperfield Architects, Foster + Partners, gmp, Herzog and de Meuron, MVRDV, OMA, Snøhetta and Zaha Hadid Architects. We provide an overview here.

At the end of February / beginning of March, the IPCC published its new report. The message: We are running out of time. Here we have summarized the contents clearly and collected initial reactions. The new UN report from the UN Environment Programme UNEP also warned of the risk of forest fires: according to the report, these are expected to increase by 50 percent by the end of the century. Climate change will not only increase the risk of forest fires, more and more people will also be affected by flash floods like the one in Australia at the beginning of March.

Answers must be found to the challenges of climate change. The German Landscape Architecture Prize therefore also awarded a prize in the “Climate Adaptation” category in 2021. The award went to the city of Heilbronn. They and other award winners such as the first-placed office Lohaus ∙ Carl ∙ Köhlmos have been invited to the award ceremony in Berlin on May 13. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the award ceremony did not take place as planned in 2021. You can find out more about the award ceremony and the winners here.

Landscape architecture greats: At the end of February, the international profession bid farewell to Anuradha Mathur, architect, landscape architect and professor of landscape architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. An obituary.

Competition news in Munich

In March, numerous landscape architecture firms won competitions and prizes. Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten with OMA and Latz + Partner with 3XN have been shortlisted: They are both developing a master plan for BMW. The plan shows future developments on the company’s almost 100-year-old factory site in Munich.

Munich, by the way: Atelier LOIDL and Chipperfield won with their design for the section between the main station and Stachus in the Bavarian capital. However, the current situation resembles a construction site battle. In future, a “glass temple of experience” is to be built there. Read more here.

wbp convinces the Federal Agency for Real Estate. The BImA wants to build a quarter with 110 new residential units and a daycare center on a federally owned property in the Castell district of Bonn. In the competition process, wbp landscape architects won the day with hartlockstädtebau. Find out more here.

Sowatorini Landschaft wins in Dortmund: In December 2021, the city of Dortmund awarded the Bochum-based firm a prize for its design for the redesign of Sonnenplatz and Möllerbrücke. The designs were open to the public on site until February 11. For anyone who missed the exhibition, here is everything you need to know about the winning design.

Outlook …

In seven years, the Federal Horticultural Show World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley will take place. Four universities in the Middle Rhine region have now signed a cooperation agreement for the 2029 Federal Horticultural Show. Why, why, why – you can read about it here.

Press review in G+L 01/21

Building design

Here you can read the planning news that made it into the G+L 01/20 press review – including sources and further links.

The print version of G+L has a new section: from January 2021, we will be summarizing the latest planning news briefly and concisely in a monthly press review. Read here what made it into G+L 01/21 – including sources and further links.

The Federal Chamber of Architects and the “European Bauhaus”. At the 93rd Federal Chamber Assembly at the beginning of December, the representatives of the 16 state chambers welcomed Ursula von der Leyen’s idea of a European Bauhaus and pledged to provide expert advice. Our colleagues from baunetz.de provide an assessment. An appeal for appropriate remuneration was also adopted at the meeting.

The fate of Frank Lloyd Wright as a movie. Our colleagues at monopol regularly present streaming tips. Including: “The Phoenix from the Ashes”. The film documents Frank Lloyd Wright’s life, which was anything but scandalous.

RMP Stephan Lenzen wins BUGA competition in Rostock. Rostock is converting a former landfill site into a city park, creating a multifunctional green and event area for the BUGA 2025. The winning design by RMP Stephan Lenzen envisages a central leisure plateau with sporting and playful activities.

More superblocks in Barcelona. Last week, Barcelona’s mayor Ada Colau announced that so-called superblocks are to be implemented throughout the Eixample district over the next ten years. This would turn Eixample into an entire pedestrian zone. The G+L already discussed the urban development concept last year.

German Landscape Architecture Award 2021. bdla has announced the German Landscape Architecture Award 2021 for the 15th time. The deadline for applications is January 26, 2021.

Studio Vulkan complete “The Park”

Jürgen Vogel and Co. against the climate crisis. GermanZero is a non-profit association founded in the fall of 2019 that is currently attracting attention through various channels. Including through its highly prominent support. The aim of the association is nothing less than to keep the promise made at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris and make Germany climate-neutral by 2035 with a climate plan.

Studio Vulkan complete “The Park”. As of today, November 5, “The Park” by Zurich/Munich-based landscape architects Studio Vulkan is open to the public behind Zurich Airport’s large-scale complex “The Circle”. The park is a new meeting and recreation area right next to Zurich Airport. In just under two years of construction, a new local recreation area has been created on 80,000 square meters of green space on the Butzenbüel. Find out more about the project at garten-landschaft.de.

Signing of the New Leipzig Charter. As part of the German EU Council Presidency, the EU Ministers for Urban Development and Spatial Planning signed the “New Leipzig Charter” at the beginning of this week. It defines the guidelines for integrated urban development policy in European cities and replaces the 2007 Charter. While politicians are celebrating the move, critical voices are being raised. The Leipziger Internet Zeitung headlines: “The Leipzig Charter is a wonderful example of how governments can prevent sustainable European cities”. Read the full article here.

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