Dietzenbach „definitely incomplete“
A series of 2,500 columns in Dietzenbach city centre formed the artistic kick-off for a project which was intended to motivate all citizens to temporarily use inner city wasteland areas. With this, attention was drawn to the importance of land resources for future urban planning and opportunities were offered for the usage of inner city wasteland areas.
This project has been put into the archive. The project details will not be updated anymore.
Context
In 1973, a 760 hectare development area was made available in Dietzenbach with the aim of enlarging the community from 6,000 to 60,000 inhabitants as an overflow city for Frankfurt/Main. However, until today, it has only been possible to achieve half of the population figure aimed for. The only partly implemented urban development plans of the 1960s and 70s left behind a tower block settlement regarded as a social problem area, plus wasteland areas and oversized transport areas. The project "Dietzenbach - definitiv unvollendet" also pursues the aim of experimenting with new forms of planning methods.
Project description
Source: C. Bigos
The project attempts to find new ways of dealing with empty, currently unused areas and changing from the expansion course planned at that time to a qualitative inner development. At the same time, this started a discussion between citizens, administration and politics on the city’s future direction. An interdisciplinary project group made up of representatives of the city, planning offices and universities formed to carry out and complete and to accompany the project in a scientific manner.
In the first phase, an art installation in the undeveloped city centre served to make contact with the citizens, to motivate them think and contribute. For this, a 600 metre long, 1.8 metre wide axis made up of 2,500 wooden columns was set up.
The population was informed about the idea connecting the columns and land usage and encouraged to make suggestions on the use of 100m² land sections in Dietzenbach. A building truck parked in a central location served as an information and contact point. More than 300 usage requests and ideas were expressed.
In the second project phase, columns were removed for the registered individual usage ideas, in order to stake “claims” on one of 30 pieces of city wasteland.
With temporary usage contracts, the provisional uses were a contribution to taking possession of one’s own city. A large part of the area usage ideas were expressed by citizens with a migration background (immigrants, foreigners, resettlers,...). The requests for usage as garden space were particularly significant from multi-storey flat neighbourhoods.
Besides sections for garden land, areas were allocated for a play area, a chicken yard for children, a wind art installation and flower beds made by school children.
Even though the amount of temporary usage remained relatively low, due to the only one-year-long contracts, the required payment of a 500 euro security and the complex bureaucracy, the project was able to make a contribution to the architectural and social integration in a city with a very heterogeneous population. The project’s idea that the town should provide land for an “international garden” in the long term, was realised in 2005 after the association “Internationale Gärten Dietzenbach” (Dietzenbach international gardens) had been founded.
Project chronology
Year | Event |
---|---|
June 2000 | The City of Dietzenbach’s application for the idea competition "Stadt 2030" (“City 2030”) of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) |
March 2001 | Award of the Winner’s Certificate by the BMBF |
August 2002 to April 2003 | Series of columns as an installation in the undeveloped city centre |
Until May 2003 | Allocation of land areas to interested users |
July 2003 | Completion of the project |
2006 | „Internationaler Garten Dietzenbach“ (Dietzenbach international garden) opened |
2008 | Laudatory tribute paid to the Dietzenbach stele project in the context of the competition of „Landessinitiative Baukultur in Hessen“ (Building culture initiative in Hesse) |
Aims
- Temporary usage of wasteland areas in the city
- Positive image transformation for the city
- Making citizens aware of the topic “land usage”
- Strengthening interest for public “communal” space
- Making an issue of the spatial potential in the city
- Strengthening the self-responsibility and self-realisation of the city population
Types of measures
Source: C. Bigos
- Intensive public relations work (information sheets for all households, placards, website, building truck, interviews)
- Public installation made up of 2,500 columns in the city centre
- Receipt of around 300 ideas and requests from citizens
- Allocating land sections for gardens, play area, art projects, chicken yard, etc.
- Accompaniment and evaluation by an interdisciplinary project group
Innovations
Source: C. Bigos
The project highlights ways of how temporary usage can be picked up on for urban development, in order to promote a change in consciousness regarding how land is dealt with. Through art installations in public areas and accompanying public relations work, it was possible to arouse the interest of a great many citizens in their city and its planning. The unconventional planning approach combined the requirements of economic land management with the elements of planning based on community involvement and self-help.
Sources
- Boczek, Barbara (2003): Definitiv unvollendet (Definitely incomplete). Project "Stadt 2030" (City 2030) for Dietzenbach. In: polis, magazine for cities and building culture, 1/2003 (March 2003), without place
- Wilhelm, Martin; Becker, Claudia (2003): Definitiv unvollendet (Definitely incomplete). Das Forschungsprojekt Dietzenbach 2030 (The research project Dietzenbach 2030). In: db, Deutsche Bauzeitung, 7/03. Darmstadt
- Stadtverwaltung Dietzenbach (Dietzenbach City Administration); Office TOPOS; Goethe-University Frankfurt; TU-Darmstadt (2002): dietzenbach 2030 - definitiv unvollendet (definitely incomplete). Zwischenbericht (Intermediate Report). Without location (layout plan)
- City of Dietzenbach (without year): Information sheet "Paradies auf 100qm" (“Paradise in 100m²”). Without place
- Rodenstein, Marianne (2004): Ein Plädoyer für Planung als Dekonstruktion (A plea for planning as deconstruction). In: Altrock, Uwe u.a. (ed.) Perspektiven der Planungstheorie, Berlin: Leue, 89-98
- Becker, Claudia, Bigos, Claas, Boczek, Barbara, Böhm-Ott, Stefan u.a. (2005): Dietzenbach 2030 – ein neuer Planungsansatz für die Innenentwicklung der Stadt (Dietzenbach 2030 - a new planning approach for the inner development of the town). In: Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik (ed.) Zukunft von Stadt und Region, Bd. I: Integration und Ausgrenzung in der Stadtgesellschaft, Wiesbaden: VS, 249-278
- Böhm-Ott, Stefan, Boczek, Barbara, Günther, Petra, Rodenstein, Marianne, Saridis, Vasili: (2006): Bürgerschaftliche Interessen als zentrale Ressource kommunaler Selbstverwaltung (Citizen’s interests as central resource for local self-government). In: Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik (ed.): Zukunft von Stadt und Region, Bd IV Chancen lokaler Demokratie, Wiesbaden: VS, 55-83 Günther, Petra, Rodenstein, Marianne (2006): Mobilisierung von Migrantinnen für ihre Interessen am Stadtraum (Mobilising female migrants to stand up for their interests in urban space. In: Rodenstein, Marianne (ed.) Das räumliche Arrangement der Geschlechter. Kulturelle Differenzen und Konflikte. Berlin: trafo, 85-97
Further information
The projekt site ist to be found at postal code: 63128 - town: Dietzenbach - street: Adolph-Kolping-Straße 1.
Poject site on Google-Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/ZVrHDVpzF5B2
Last update: 21.03.2018