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Friday, January 20, 2012

Lessons from Freiburg on Creating a Sustainable Urban Community

by Joseph Little

The development comprises 2,000 homes plus business units for 500 - 600 jobs. If all proceeded to programme it was completed in 2006. Excluding the remaining barracks buildings (shown in white to the right of the site) which were renovated and turned into student accommodation, an asylum seekers’ centre and the Forum-Vauban offices, the site was to be developed in three phases. From an early stage it was agreed that the primary goals for Vauban were:
1. To offer high quality building spaces for young families within the city's limits and to counteract urban sprawl.
2. A dense urban design concept comprising low energy standard for all buildings, green spaces, good public access (including a new tram) and further infrastructure (kindergartens and a primary school). Further objectives were developed during the participation process organized by Forum-Vauban. The most important were:
Vauban, Freiburg, Germany, photo by sararasmussen

3. The car-free project combined with the specific traffic concept and the special offer of alternative mobility,
4. Promotion and support of Baugruppen
5. A minimum of 100 buildings built to Passiv Haus Standard,
6. A central market place and a community center.
7. The Forum's priority was to develop a sustainable city district in aparticipatory way which could become a model for further initiatives.


Vauban, Freiburg, Germany, photo by Jute Marketing

Vauban, Freiburg, Germany, photo by Payton Chung

Vauban, Freiburg, Germany, photo by Jute Marketing
Vauban, Freiburg, Germany, photo by tom.brehm

Vauban, Freiburg, Germany, photo by bjoern.f | Björn Freiberg Fotografie

Vauban, Freiburg, Germany, photo by Payton Chung

Vauban, Freiburg, Germany, photo by tom.brehm

more about green design:

A Seattle development that is greener than green

A house with no furnace? You betcha

Sustainability on the Urban Scale: ‘Green Urbanism’

The Human Benefits of Green Building

The relationship of historic city form and contemporary greenway implementation: a comparison of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (USA) and Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)

New Heden: The City Made of Green Roofs

The Vauban district is a green, planned community in the city of Freiburg in southern Germany. Construction of this community began in the mid-1990s and opened in 2000. By 2001, it had 2,000 inhabitants living in a greener, more sustainable way. Now, the Vauban district is said to have 5,000 inhabitants and 600 jobs. A recently article I ran across highlights the green features of this community and I thought I’d share some of that here.

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