Hannover „Circular Route No 100/200“
Based on an urban spatial development concept qualifying those areas bordering on the circular bus route no 100/200, the city council of Hanover generated open space projects for young people. A newly created youth fund helped local adolescents contribute their ideas to improving and shaping open spaces and implement them independently in the context of microprojects.
Context
Source: Stefan Saak
Young people in the federal state capital of Hanover (552,000 inhabitants) are an important urban development target group. This is why the division for youth and family in cooperation with other divisions and partners of the city council of Hanover had developed the concept study on action strategies and model projects for circular bus route 100/200 ‘Das Plus entwickeln! Jugendliche und das Netz urbaner öffentlicher Räume in Hannover’ (Promoting the plus! Young people and the network of public urban areas in Hanover). The circular route leads around the inner city, connects several urban districts and completes the star-shaped underground system.. The route is important especially to young people as significant facilities such as schools, youth clubs and sports facilities are situated along it.
The concept study's purpose should be to create the preconditions for combining various forms of young people to move with their geographically spread areas of action. The city council took up this conceptual framework and action concept by establishing a youth fund. The youth fund follows the structure of revolving funds within urban development support programmes. The city council created a fund of 20,000 euros for youth projects by which youth microprojects of 2,000 euros maximum, involving concepts in the field of sports and movement in urban areas, could be funded. Creating the fund should be a test whether microprojects initiated by young people might be a chance to involve them actively in urban development processes. Another objective was to develop and check interdisciplinary forms of cooperation that, in case of success, should be established to ensure sustainable administrative action.
Project description
Source: Stefan Saak
The city council of Hanover invited young people with a flyer laid out in schools, clubs, youth facilities to develop ideas on sports and movement activities in areas along the circular route 100/200. Additionally, an increased commitment of young people to shaping open spaces was promoted via press releases, the Passenger TV of üstra, Hanover’s public transport corporation, and via various internet platforms. The city council created a contact point to advise and support interested young people.
Following six weeks of duration of the project call, a total of 18 project ideas was submitted by young people. A jury consisting of spokespersons responsible for youth policy of the city council parties, of a representative of Hanover’s public transport corporation and representatives of the city council assessed the projects and chose 13 project ideas eligible for funding. When putting their project ideas to practice, the young people were supported by the interdisciplinary network ‘Young persons and the network of public spaces’ involving the divisions ‘planning and urban development’, ‘education and qualification’, ‘environment and urban parks’, ‘sports and event management’ as well as ‘library and school’.
During the so-called ‘Circular Route Day’, the selected microprojects were given the opportunity to present their results to the public during a youth event. üstra, Hanover's public transport corporation, as a project partner provided extra buses without charge for the visitors of the ‘Circular Route Day’ calling at the various project locations along the circular route - no 100/200. With this measure, the projects were publicised well-covered by the media and the young stakeholders’ commitment at the same time gained special recognition.
The majority of them received mobile or temporary equipment that can be flexibly used. A group of young BMXers for example built portable ramps, so-called “funboxes”, to use them on city squares and open spaces. When dismantling them, funboxes fit into a van and can be put up wherever there is a surface on which something can be rolled and enough space for taking a run-up and jumping. Most activities like drilling, cutting and precision work on wood and steel were done by the adolescents themselves in the workshop of a youth centre.
Another group of adolescents of an integrated comprehensive school developed and built an own shelter serving as a place to meet, rest and listen to music. The shelter consisted of standardised scaffolding elements and lorry tarpaulins as a cheap solution. The shelter was put up on a public parking place and is available to all youth interested.
The project “Lighting of a play area” focused on the missing lighting of a sports field with football and basketball pitches in the centre of a neighbourhood. The young people sought an opportunity to have their sporting activities also in the evening and dark winter months. In involving them, the field was provided with lighting. As the city council feared that using the sports field in the evening might lead to conflicts with local neighbours, the city council and the young persons together formulated terms of use allowing the use of the place in the evening at fixed times.
In creatively developing ideas for using and acquiring public spaces, adolescents in Hanover gave important impetus to urban design and development. In a further step, some of the projects even became fixed offers. With the city council’s initiative “Freiraum 2011” (Open Space 2011), the projects were given a common basis to publicize their activities and offers. Due to the success of the project “Youth Moves the City“, the city council of Hanover has established an annual fixed revolving fund for involving the youth in urban development activities.
Project chronology
Year | Event |
---|---|
07/2010 | Project started |
08/2010 | Project call launched |
10/2010 | “Circular Route Day” |
08-12/2010 | Microprojects implemented |
Aims
- To establish a new model for youth participation.
- To create new and improve existing public spaces for young persons
- To test self-organised projects
- To strengthen interdisciplinary working processes in the city council
Types of measures
- To establish a youth fund
- To create an information and contact point for young persons
- Young people accompanied and supported by the city council
- To set up an annual budget for youth projects
Innovations
Realising the youth fund in Hanover was an example how the funding instrument can be integrated in an urban spatial development concept. An urban spatial development master concept came to life through concrete projects and local cooperations. Many interested and committed young participants could be won through an attractively formulated project call that was inter alia spread via the Passenger TV. Giving the young people the chance to submit own ideas for shaping their environment and to put their own ideas into practice gave them the feeling that they and their needs were taken seriously. The readiness of the employees of the Hanover city council to cooperate and to work interdisciplinarily changed the views of people working within the council and resulted in the fact that interdisciplinary work shall be promoted in the future.
Sources
- ExWoSt field of research “Adolescents in Urban Neighbourhoods”, model city Hanover “Youth Moves the City”, for details on the model city see BBSR hompage >>more information
- BMVBS (ed.), Jugendfonds als Instrument der Stadtentwicklung, Berlin, 2012
Further information
- Das PLUS entwickeln! >>download (PDF, 5,0MB, german only)
The projekt site ist to be found at postal code: 30161 - town: Hannover - street: Lister Meile.
Poject site on Google-Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/8kwDe9ko4G62
Last update: 14.03.2018