This week: the opening of the BUGA in Erfurt, the award ceremony for the German Urban Development Prize 2020 and the rent freeze in Berlin.
What happens in the world of planning? What are your colleagues talking about at the coffee machine in the morning? In our weekly press review, we summarize the most important news fromlandscape architecture and urban planning for you. This week: the opening of the BUGA in Erfurt despite high incidence figures, the award ceremony for the German Urban Development Prize 2020, the rent freeze in Berlin and the “WILA 24h – Women in Landscape Architecture” event taking place at the beginning of June.
BUGA Erfurt opens with an incidence of 181.1. There was anger about the lack of corona test stations at the opening of BUGA Erfurt last Friday. The CDU city council faction also criticized the treatment of restaurateurs on and off the site. And seven hares ate all the BUGA kohlrabi. Everything about the BUGA kick-off here.
Urban Development Award 2020. Last Friday, the award ceremony for the German Urban Development Award 2020 took place via live stream. Awards went to the “Waller Sand” project by A24 Landschaft and the “Neckarbogen urban quarter” in Heilbronn, among others. The first prize went to Berlin. You can read about the project here.
Federal Minister of the Interior Seehofer happy about the end of the rent cap. The Berlin Senate has launched the “Secure Housing Aid” in the wake of the rent freeze. The loan can be applied for as of this week. You can read everything you need to know about the rent freeze, why it failed and why Horst Seehofer is happy about it here.
As much open space as living space for city dwellers
Allocation report of the federal government for green federal securities. Last week, the federal government published its first allocation report for the green federal securities issued in 2020. The “Green bond allocation report 2020” provides investors with transparent and binding information on issues from the federal government’s environmental and climate protection programs. We have compiled everything you need to know about the report here.
“Women in Landscape Architecture” event. On June 5 and 6, the “WILA 24h – Women in Landscape Architecture” event will take place for one weekend in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The event will kick off with a generational discussion with Berlin Senate Building Director Regula Lüscher. All information about the event can be found here.
MDR interview with Cathrin Schmidt. In an interview with MDR Thüringen, the Director of the Institute of Landscape Architecture at TU Dresden calls for as much open space as living space for city dwellers in the wake of the pandemic. Read here what opportunities Schmidt sees in Earth Overshoot Day.
Vienna is becoming greener
End of rent cap in Berlin. Last week it became public that the Federal Constitutional Court declared Berlin’s rent cap unconstitutional. Since then, tens of thousands of Berlin households have been threatened with high additional payments. The Senate is now offering bridging assistance for tenants. Read all about the end of the rent cap, the background and the reactions of Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer and Co. here.
Final spurt German Landscape Architecture Prize. This Friday, the jury meeting for the German Landscape Architecture Award 2021 will take place. We have summarized which projects are up for election here.
Vienna’s path to more green. Vienna’s red-pink government wants to make Austria’s capital greener. In its government program, the coalition of SPÖ and Neos plans to increase the proportion of green spaces from the current 53 percent and plant around 25,000 new city trees. The city has now also announced an ideas competition. Under #wienbegrünen, it is looking for further green projects until mid-May. We present the first ideas submitted here.
Lectures by renowned planners every Tuesday on YouTube
German Sustainability Award for Architecture 2022. This year marks the ninth time that the award has honored exceptional achievements in architecture. Last year, one of the winners was the SKAIO building created as part of the BUGA Heilbronn. Everything about the award and the application until June 15, 2021 here at garten-landschaft.de.
Hot spots of urban development. The “Digital City” department of the City of Leipzig invites you to the event series “Hot Spots :: Urban Development” today, Thursday, April 22. The series will focus on the opportunities offered by innovation competitions as a form of cooperation between municipalities and start-ups for the implementation of digitization projects. Find out more here.
Tuesdays at 7: The Faculty of Architecture and Landscape at Leibniz University Hannover is launching a new public lecture series on April 27, 2021. Every Tuesday at 7 pm, the faculty will stream lectures by renowned planners on its YouTube channel. The Dutch architect Anne Holtrop will kick things off with a contribution on the topic of “Site, Matter, Gesture”. Take a look at all the guests and topics here.
New strategy for the rights of people with disabilities
Wels becomes a “Smart Sustainable City”. Singapore, Moscow, Montevideo and now Wels. The municipality of Wels is the first Austrian city to call itself a “Smart Sustainable City” – including a certificate from the UN organization ITU and its “United for Smart Sustainable Cities” program (U4SSC). Find out more from our colleagues at a3bau.
Flowers in ice, flowers in space. Japanese artist Azuma Makoto has draped flowers and plants in unusual places for an experimental art project. Our colleagues from designboom.com show us the impressive pictures here.
New EU strategy for people with disabilities. At the beginning of March, the EU presented a new strategy for the rights of people with disabilities (2021-2030). It aims to strengthen the equal participation of people with disabilities and expand it at European level. Read all about the individual measures here.
Further development of green infrastructures
Ingolstadt State Garden Show opens digitally. As things stand, the Ingolstadt LGS will officially open next week on Wednesday, April 21. Minister President Markus Söder, Minister of State Thorsten Glauber and Lord Mayor Christian Scharpf will be among those invited to the digital ceremony. Find out everything about the opening here.
Round 2 for Green Urban Labs. The second round of the Green Urban Labs II pilot project is in preparation. For the new ExWoSt research field, the BBSR is looking for strategies for the future-oriented further development of green infrastructure in growing municipalities. 50,000 euros are available per project. Find out more here.
House sale à la Tom Cruise
Garden Animal of the Year 2021. The Heinz Sielmann Foundation is currently looking for the Garden Animal of the Year. A total of six candidates are up for election. Find out which animal contemporaries are involved and how you can vote here.
Architecture Biennale starts in May. Provided the current plans remain unchanged. Then the 17th International Architecture Biennale in Venice will open to the public on May 22 despite the coronavirus pandemic. Find out more from our colleagues at Baumeister.
Competition for air base in Erding. Until June 10, a total of 14 offices – including Adept and Octagon – have the opportunity to submit their conversion ideas for the development of the air base site in Erding. A Q&A colloquium will be held for participants today, April 15, at the Stadthalle. Find out all about the competition from our colleagues at SZ.
House sale à la Tom Cruise. Something for wanderlust and the curiosity to look into other houses: As our colleagues at “Der Standard” report, Tom Cruise wants to sell his mountain ranch in Colorado. 1.2 square kilometers of land for 33 million euros. What a bargain. Click here for the pictures.
When am I insured when working from home?
Young designers focus on indigenous urban planning. Spiegel-Online currently reports on how several young international designers – including futurologist Monika Bielskyte and Thai landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom – are using indigenous techniques to make modern cities more liveable and crisis-proof.
mdr interview with Frank Eckardt Urban planner and Bauhaus University professor Frank Eckhardt fears a “great wave of bankruptcy” for German city centers and calls for a city center task force. Click here for the interview.
20 percent at Baumeister. The architecture magazine Baumeister is celebrating 10,000 followers on Instagram. We’re celebrating with them! As a thank you, our Baumeister colleagues and we at G+L are giving you 20 percent off all our Georg Media magazines and subscriptions in April. This includes Baumeister, G+L and topos magazine. You can find the code you need here.
When am I insured when working from home? A question that has been on everyone’s mind. Our colleagues at NXT A answer it.
EU digital targets for 2030
Landesgartenschau Überlingen will not start for the time being. It has been official since the end of March – due to the current infection situation in Germany, the State Garden Show in Überlingen will not open as planned on April 9. Visitors will only be able to enter the Landesgartenschau grounds as soon as the incidence rate has been below 100 for five days. Everything is ready, only the incidence value has to be right. All information here.
Pop-up cycle paths are here to stay. They were intended as a short-term solution at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, but now they are here to stay – the pop-up cycle lanes in Berlin-Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Munich. What benefits do the cycle lanes actually bring? We have investigated.
Federal government funds House of Statistics. In addition to 23 other projects, the federal program “National Urban Development Projects” is funding the Haus der Statistik in Berlin-Mitte. After ten years of vacancy, the GDR building complex is to be developed for the common good. The federal government is contributing 3.27 million euros and the state of Berlin 1.63 million euros. Find out more here.
EU digital targets for 2030. And more from the digital age! Last Tuesday, the EU Commission presented a strategy paper on how digital skills are to be promoted in our society by 2030. The goals include ensuring that all households have a gigabit connection and that all important public services are available online. The goals of “Europe’s digital compass” at a glance.
Mega art warehouse for the Louvre
Is anything moving? On dabonline.de, BAK board member Rolf Westerheide comments on current developments in German urban planning in the wake of the “pandemic crisis”. For example, “the urban model of shopping malls, system restaurants, office buildings, parking lots and private transport seems to have come to an end”. We leave this without comment – see for yourself here.
Are our city centers going to the dogs? And if so, what concepts are there to counteract this? Here, our colleagues from Handelsblatt present various ideas. Among them: Cosmetics stores that become spas and DIY stores that advertise with workshops.
Off to Lithuania. In the “Metropolis Explained” section, our colleagues from the international topos magazine regularly discuss the pulse, the actual essence of an international metropolis. The current trip on toposmagazine.com is to Vilnius – travel with us.
The Louvre and its mega art warehouse. The Louvre’s 18,500 square meter depot in the northern French department of Pas-de-Calais cost 60 million euros. The new art bunker is considered unique. It is designed to securely store around 250,000 works of art. The British architecture firm Roger Stirk Harbour + Partners was involved in the design. Find out more at restauro.de.
Click here for the news in March.
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