Co-creating law of urban design in the historical and listed settlement "Dunkelschlag"
The subject of the initiative is the cooperative elaboration of a law of urban design in the listed settlement "Dunkelschlag" in Oberhausen to secure its urban design.
The settlement belongs to the architectural heritage of the city of Oberhausen, so that the law of urban design is intended to serve the preservation of the historic settlement and contributes to the identity-creating added value of the settlement structure. The citizenry will be closely involved in this process
Local
Germany
-City of Oberhausen, Germany
-Ruhr Region
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): City Planning Department of the city of Oberhausen, Germany Type of organisation: Public authority (European/national/regional/local) First name of representative: Sophie Last name of representative: Ipta Gender: Female Nationality: Germany Function: Head of the Initiative Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Bahnhofstrasse Town: 66 Postal code: 46145 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 208 3252366 E-mail:sophie.ipta@oberhausen.de
The Dunkelschlag settlement was listed in 1986 on the initiative of the residents, as it was classified as being in danger of demolition. It was initially owned by "GHH", then later managed by a real estate investor, and has been successively converted into private ownership since 2003. The settlement, which today contains around 200 residental units, is largely privately owned and has only a few remaining rental apartments. As a result of privatization and the accompanying generational change, the settlement has been subject to considerable processes of change in the recent past. In addition to long-established residents, some of whom grew up in the estate and in some cases even became descendants of first-time residents, many new neighbors have moved in over the past few years in the course of privatization, which has changed the way people live together in the estate. While for one group the proverbial cohesion and community in a coal mine housing estate was still a matter of course, many of the newcomers have other housing wishes and needs that have had a lasting effect on the social and neighborhood structure and have also led to the estate losing much of its uniform design. In order to safeguard the design, the city of Oberhausen has taken on the task of adopting a new cooperative approach. In contrast to the usual approach of drafting the design statutes "from above", in this case the development is being approached together "from below" in a participatory process with the citizens.
Cooperative
Innovative
Sustainable
Smart
Aesthetic
Sustainability plays a leading role in this initiative in terms of sustainable raw materials, renewable energies and dealing with the tree population in the historic settlement.
The use and processing of sustainable raw materials is essential for structural changes within the settlement. Renewable materials, such as wood, should be used, for example, for doors, windows or fences.
One of the important challenges is to adapt the Dunkelschlag settlement to today's housing needs and desires in a way that is appropriate for a listed settlement. The law of urban design should therefore define how energy-efficient refurbishment can be carried out in a climate-friendly manner and how monument protection can be reconciled with the "Erneuerbare Energien Gesetz (Renewable Energies Act)". Binding guidelines are needed for solar panels that can be installed on the street side of the buildings. It must be defined which types are allowed and where they may be placed. In addition, there is a need for binding statements on how wall boxes can be placed.
The plane trees from the construction period are also protected as they are part of the original planting concept of the city. They must be protected, maintained and preserved as part of the process. They favor the climate in the settlement and contribute significantly to its shading.
The initiative promotes to a high degree of aesthetics and quality of experience for people in the settlement. The aesthetic aspect is covered by the elaboration of the law of urban design. It is necessary to emphasize the historical elements of the settlement as much as possible in order to give cultural value to it. The cultural awareness of the settlement must be restored and brought to the people living in the settlement. Unfortunately, this awareness has been lost in the last decades, so that the citizens do not have an emotional value for their settlement.
Embedding the law of urban design in a cooperative context forms an exemplary approach for many other settlements and places similar to the Dunkelschlag settlement. The main goals are: to restore the aesthetics of the historic site, to let the cultural and emotional awareness of the people in the settlement blossom, in the context of a collaborative process.
The initiative is inclusive to a high degree, precisely because the law of urban design, which is normally created only "from above", by the authorities and offices, are developed "from below" within the framework of this initiative. Every citizen in the settlement has the opportunity to express his or her wishes and comments, which are ultimately taken into account.
In order to make the creation of the law of urban design even more transparent and accessible, the whole process became a participatory dialogue process. An independent external planning office from Berlin "die Stadtdenkerei" was commissioned to filter out the contents of the law of urban design together with the citizens. In the summer of 2022, "die Stadtdenkerei" launched the dialogue process during a long weekend in the settlement. They traveled in a camper, making it easier to talk with residents in the settlement and engage in the participatory process.
The exchange between the city of Oberhausen, the citizens and the Stadtdenkerei takes place in order to be able to work out the best possible result of a cooperative design statute.
This approach is unique and can be transferred to many other historic settlements as an example.
Because the initiative is designed and structured in a participatory manner, they have the opportunity to contribute their wishes, suggestions and criticisms. As already explained, an external planning office "die Stadtdenkerei" was commissioned to enter into an unbiased dialogue with the citizens of the settlement and to start the participation. When "die Stadtdenkerei" started the dialogue process over a long weekend in August 2022 in a camper everything was documented in detail. Citizens voiced their concerns about historic preservation and what they wanted for their settlement. One core element that emerged was that the residents would like to see is a meeting place in the settlement. Based on this wish, a cooperation with the "Münster School of Architecture" was started. A group of students spent an entire semester working on creating a new meeting place for the Dunkelschlag estate. The students came up with a wide variety of designs. The public had the opportunity to participate in the process from the very beginning. In a jury meeting, in which architects and people from the city planning Oberhausen sat, three winning designs were chosen. One of the designs will be built by the students in the settlement and inaugurated together with the citizens.
As you can see, the participation process in this initiative is multi-layered. The citizens not only have a say in the law of urban design, but also in the design of a new meeting place in their settlement. Participation has a consistently positive effect on the initiative, since it means that different opinions come from a wide variety of directions that one would not come up with on one's own, and requires a view from outside the settlement. It is not only planned for the settlement, but for the citizens in it.
A wide range of stakeholders have been involved in this initiative at various points. Starting at the local level, the stakeholders are of course the citizens in the settlement and the city planning office and the Monument Authority of the city of Oberhausen. The city initiated the conception of the law of urban design and had the unique idea of writing them together in a participatory process with the citizens.
Regionally for Oberhausen, this process of cooperative law of urban design will be a model initiative for the other 31 historic settlements in the city. And not only in the city, but also statewide. Our initiative came to the attention of the "Baukultur NRW" initiative, which praised our predestined approach.
National stakeholders who have already contributed to the initiative are, on the one hand, "die Stadtdenkerei" from Berlin, which is leading the dialog process in the settlement and jointly structuring the contents of the law of urban design. Secondly, the "Münster School of Architecture" from Münster is also one of the national stakeholders who have designed new meeting places in the settlement as part of a student competition.
We hope to gain European stakeholders by winning the "New European Bauhaus Prize" and to set an example in dealing with participatory design processes in historic settlements.
The most diverse fields of knowledge have participated. City planners and architects from the Oberhausen city planning office were involved in the process. The colleagues of the monument authority from Oberhausen bring expertise and knowledge in the fields of monument protection and monument preservation. With the participation of the "Stadtdenkerei" the knowledge field of urbanism as well as architectural history was supplemented. The architecture students as well as the teachers brought architectural expertise and the citizens of the settlement are represented in almost every professional field, from nursing to mechanics.
The added value from all these different knowledge spectrums and fields is consistently positive, as each individual has a different perspective on the subject matter and thus representatives from all relevant fields are represented and can contribute in a participatory manner.
The essential character of the initiative is the already often mentioned, unique participatory process in the development of a law of urban design. Normally, a law of urban design is developed "from above" by the municipal staff and communicated as a given in the settlement. In this initiative, however, the law of urban design is developed "from below" with the concerns of the citizens from the settlement together. This approach is unique in such a historic settlement as the Dunkelschlag settlement.
Another innovative aspect is that the initiative is part of a Smart City project. With the help of this, participation formats are to be designed digitally and smartly. In addition to a website full of information about the current process, a digital twin of the settlement is to be created and the monument permit process is to be digitized. In the future, it will be possible to visualize the settlement completely in 3D and to walk through it digitally. In addition, the settlement will be digitally prepared in such a way that it will be possible to view the settlement as it looked when it was built. In addition to the digital twin, it should be possible in the future to carry out permission procedures under monument law and to obtain all information on the law of urban design at the click of a mouse. For example, if a citizen wants to renovate his front door, he can use the digital twin to find out online which doors are included in the design statutes. He can then apply for permission online and, if permission is granted, order the door online.
Since the approach is unique and exemplarily applied in the Dunkelschlag settlement, it can be transferred to similar initial conditions in the same way. Since Oberhausen has a total of 32 historic settlements, it is obvious to transfer this approach to the other settlements.
The methodological approach of this initiative is very multi-layered, but above all participatory. As already explained, a dialog process is conducted from start to finish between the citizenry and the urban planning department of the city of Oberhausen.
The initiative started in 2022 with the dialog process in cooperation with "Stadtdenkerei" from Berlin. The office helped us as a city to establish a dialogue between the citizens in the settlement. It was thus possible for the citizens to work together with the "Stadtdenkerei" in an unbiased way. The methodology behind this was that the employees of the "Stadtdenkerei" traveled from Berlin to Oberhausewn and spent a long weekend in a camper in the settlement. The close proximity made the dialogue a lot easier. All suggestions, wishes and concerns were recorded and documented. This forms a good basis for the further process of participatory law of urban desing.
The already explained cooperation with "Münster School of Architecture" reflects the methodical approach of having architecture students create a meeting place for the settlement in a design process. Here it is again important to emphasize that this is also a participatory method.
In addition to the design work, the smart city method is also important to emphasize. With the help of digital technology, visualization is facilitated and the approval process is made smart.
The global challenge of a lack of participation in the design process of cities can learn significantly through our initiative. Not everything can work "from above". Cities are planned for the people who live in them, not the other way around. Urban planning must adapt to the wishes of its inhabitants, so it is becoming increasingly important to involve citizens in a participatory way. The approach of a cooperative design statute should serve as a pioneer for many other examples, not only in Oberhausen and in Germany. Through participatory processes, citizens regain a sense of connection to "their" places and perceive them as "their" places again. The discrepancy between authorities and the citizens becomes less, so that a more peaceful coexistence can develop. People feel understood and heard and gain a new urban awareness.
After the first dialog process with the citizens was completed in August 2022, a framework for further action could be developed. We, as the city planning office and monument authority, knew about the concerns of the citizens in the settlement and could thus react to them in a targeted manner. The first reaction was the student workshop in cooperation with the "Münster School of Architecture". As already explained, the students had the task of designing a new meeting place for the citizens in the settlement for one semester. After the winning designs have been selected in January 2023, the task now is to build one of the designs in the settlement and make it available to the citizens.
In parallel, the Smart City Initiative of the city of Oberhausen is currently in the process of creating the digital twin of the settlement. This involves a wide variety of IT processes. Drone flights and software developments have to be made. The urban planning office is in constant exchange with the Smart City colleagues.
Furthermore, the urban planning office is preparing the next dialogue process in the settlement. "Die Stadtdenkerei" from Berlin will again start a dialogue process in the settlement on two weekends (in May and June) in 2023. There, the fine-tuning of the law of urban design will be done, so that they can be completed presumably in the fall of 2023. Until then, however, there is still a lot to do.
