Flensburg city thinker

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The Flensburg city thinker was the protagonist of a project of the same name in Flensburg . The Flensburger Baukultur eV association carried out the nationwide unique and highly regarded project, also known as the city ​​thinker for Flensburg , from 2004 to 2008 and invited a prominent personality as a "city thinker" to the old port city on the Flensburg Fjord, unknown to the guest . After a one-week stay, the locals asked the “city thinker” about his impartial impressions and ideas. The Berlin Citizenship Foundation voted the voluntary project one of the "1000 strongest ideas in Germany" in 2009.

conditions

As the most important condition , the candidates in question were not allowed to know Flensburg from previous visits or have a personal connection to the city, as this was the only way to guarantee an unbiased opinion about their whereabouts. The unprepared urban thinker only had to find out about Flensburg at the beginning of his visit, which ran from Monday to Friday. the association did not give any suggestions in advance. Only the two local daily newspapers sent two weeks in advance , the Flensburger Tageblatt and the bilingual Flensborg Avis , gave the protagonist the opportunity to find out more about Flensburg in advance. At the end of his stay, he was given the task of presenting a final report that did not provide for any requirements in terms of form, length or media.

The Flensburger Baukultur eV association came up with the idea for the 10,000 Euro project in 2004. The organizers gave the city thinkers almost every conceivable help, for example by organizing meetings, establishing contacts with the media and making visits by car, ship, plane and bicycle possible . All the urban thinkers selected by the association were surprised when they first contacted us on the phone, but spontaneously agreed to participate in the experiment .

The five Flensburg city thinkers from 2004 to 2008

Arno Brandlhuber 2004

The association selected the first urban thinker, the Cologne (now Berlin) architect and university professor Arno Brandlhuber (* 1964), because his office Brandlhuber + values ​​an interdisciplinary exchange with craftsmen, artists, writers, photographers and musicians.

At the beginning of his stay, which began with a public event in the Danish Central Library for South Schleswig , two questions were open to Brandlhuber: "Where or what is the center of Flensburg?" And "What is the landmark in Flensburg?" The audience answered rhetorically intended questions were inconsistent and assumed the center at the historical center of the city at the location of the old Thingplatz ( location ), in the inner fjord or at Südermarkt , the lively trading center in downtown Flensburg . The northern gate , the town hall , the Nikolaikirche , the fjord and the Flensburg harbor were named as landmarks . Thereupon Brandlhuber made it his task in his time as a city thinker to look for and find the center.

In his final report, presented in the old torpedo hall in Sonwik , he first recorded in five thematic sections what he observed during his time as a city thinker: He saw a harmonious "social coexistence" between Germans and Danes and the high unemployment would not be recognizable, however the foreigners in Neustadt would not yet be integrated - despite the high level of civic engagement when it comes to the concerns of the city. Furthermore, the intact and well-frequented “ Holm shopping mile - Grosse Strasse further promoted” and “evaporation of the outskirts” through single-family house areas should be prevented. Brandlhuber criticized the peripheral location of the universities on the Sandberg ( European University and University of Applied Sciences Flensburg ) and named thephenomenta as a model for academic life in the city center. He intensively explored the area and the bank zones around the inner fjord by sailing, flying and hiking and asked the politicians and representatives from the administration who were present: “Why don't they clean up the fjord?” Investors should be more encouraged here, but Not only are the most scenic plots sold, but a master plan for orderly and careful urban development would be necessary . The fjord is " St. Mark's Square " and this is the answer to his opening question where the center is:

"The best place in town is in the middle of the fjord."

- Arno Brandlhuber : Original sound / quote

Gert Kähler 2005

The second city thinker, the Hamburg building historian and architecture critic Gert Kähler (* 1942) studied architecture in Berlin , but was working as a freelance journalist at the time. In retrospect, he defined a city thinker as “someone who, in five days, should recognize the city's deficits and find recipes for healing” . He saw in it “a task between Don quixotry and megalomania” and would be proud if city thinkers could “have their identity card entered like a doctorate ” .

At the first meeting, which took place again in the Danish Central Library, Kähler withdrew from the public's wishes to express their opinion on topics that were topical at the time, such as the planned but unrealized hotel building on the east bank of the Förde, and thus retained his independence. His exploring taken him with an old sailing ship over the water and with a Cessna in flight into the air, involved discussions with the non-party Mayor Klaus Tscheuschner , businessmen and urban planners and also left the nightlife not ignore, because his hotel was located in the traditional red-light district of City at the port.

At the end of the week, Kähler formulated his observations at a presentation in the orchestra rehearsal room of the Schleswig-Holstein Symphony Orchestra on the Museumsberg and set up ten thematic blocks that by and large are also recommended for other cities: In a "city for everyone" is not only to involve the bourgeoisie in planning . He called for a “compact city” and workshops to make the pedestrian zone more attractive. At the same time, he stated that in Flensburg, the "city on the water", the port is the heart of the city and must therefore be preserved. He had an idea of ​​a border museum to present the peaceful border region as a success story. Furthermore, local building culture can be better conveyed in planning processes , to the local press and schools, so that further building can be carried out appropriately and to scale. He noticed the “restrained mood” of the locals and saw the need for a “built impetus” with supraregional significance, as, for example, a private initiative in Hamburg with the Elbphilharmonie had succeeded in doing. A model for urban development is conceivable and he proposed photo competitions with tasks such as “Which is your most beautiful house?” Finally, Kähler drew a comparison with Wismar , Stralsund and Lübeck , all of which are port cities on the Baltic Sea with numerous historical houses, and concluded from this, that Flensburg is also “worth being included in the list of world cultural assets.” He justified this approach with the “unique location as a landscape amphitheater ” , a property that is otherwise hardly to be found in the Baltic Sea region . The Hanseat expressly encouraged the audience:

“Put Flensburg on the Unesco World Heritage List . The route is the goal!"

- Gert Kähler : Original sound / quote

Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen 2006

In the third year, the association decided to include Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen (* 1960) as the first female protagonist in the ranks of urban thinkers. The Copenhagen sociologist (now Koldinger again ) impressed the organizers with her political career as a former Danish minister of culture (1998-2001), as an active member of the Folketing (1994 to 2007) and as a competent spokesperson for the left-wing liberal party Det Radikalische Venstre for culture, the environment and Immigration. Gerner Nielsen assured:

"Titlen stadstænker i Flensborg he til date with livs største udmærkelse."

"The title of Flensburg city thinker is the greatest honor of my life so far."

- Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen : Original sound / quote

In front of 100 listeners in the Danish Central Library, the Danish woman revealed what she wanted to fathom in her new role as a city thinker with regard to her affinity for sociography : "Whether all citizens feel equally at home in Flensburg." In conversations that she does not Her key question was: “If you were city thinkers, which initiatives would you propose to improve your city ? ” only with “colleagues” from politics and administration, but also during their explorations with passers-by on the street, in cultural centers and in schools ? "

After a week, Gerner Nielsen flirted in her final lecture in the old post office , which was filled to the last seat, with the idea of ​​changing location and enthused: “The location of the city with the port could make me move here. I would like to live here. ” She underpinned her positive impression of Flensburg in an analytical catalog of 64 food for thought, which was intended to highlight the city's strengths and weaknesses. There is potential to be seen in the role as a competent interface between Germany and Denmark, from which greater benefits should be drawn for bilateral cooperation. The multilingualism and multiculturalism - positive she mentioned the Turkish, Russian, Polish, Italian and Greek language and culture - would contribute to diversity in the business and nightlife. She recognized the lack of future visions in urban planning, social policy and the border region as a weakness and demanded: “Flensburg should see itself as the regional capital for North and South Silesian.” This could “ lay the foundation for the global city of the 21st century” .

Specifically, Gerner Nielsen recommended the construction of a new school in the Neustadt as a “gateway to knowledge to the Neustadt and the world” in an attractive location and with a modern pedagogical concept, and a “Faculty for minority research”, both tailored to the needs of integration. For the Flensburg European University , a merger with the Syddansk Universitet in Sønderborg could be considered, for young people - as in Iceland - the maintenance of green areas, streets and alleys in order to strengthen their sense of responsibility towards the city. The disadvantaged Neustadt requires more initiatives such as the KKI art and culture initiative , a green connection from the Neustadt street to the harbor, less traffic on Harrisleer Straße (now a 30 km / h zone ) and generally better connections to the city. Urgent, they knocked on houses of culture for all establish cultural minorities, such formative à la Deutsches Haus and Flensborghus , and "ordered": "Organize the longest breakfast table in the world, from the train station by the pedestrian zone right up to the new city." , Such an action that will familiarize you with the best of Flensburg's food culture will attract media attention, she promised. By means of a marketing offensive, Danish tourists, new residents and investors were excited about the cheaper rents, lower living costs and the existing Danish language skills . Compared to Denmark, she criticized the lack of influence from architects when it came to new factories and buildings. A closer cooperation between the city and the investors is necessary for aesthetic reasons and requires regulation through democratic initiatives and political guidelines for investors. It should be made clear to the citizens that the politicians decide out of "respect for the political process."

Udo Wachtveitl 2007

The fourth urban thinker in the series was the Munich actor, voice actor, director and screenwriter Udo Wachtveitl (* 1958), known as detective chief inspector Leitmayr in the ARD crime series Tatort , attracted the association's attention as a columnist in the architecture magazine Baumeister , in which his cheerful and thought-provoking column Wachtveitl's investigations delighted the professional world, although, as the Upper Bavarian warned the club members, they “are not dealing with a proven specialist” .

The crime scene inspector got a first impression of Flensburg when he drove from the B 199 into Schleswiger Straße , which he documented with the help of a camcorder . The interchangeable industrial architecture at the entrance to the city left a bland aftertaste at Wachtveitl, which only changed in the city center when driving past the German House and turned into expressions of grace when he approached the twinkling lights in the fjord on that December evening and was able to inspire the maritime urban landscape : He was “surprised how pretty Flensburg is.” Using the microphones of numerous journalists present who were curious about his interaction with the people and their architecture, he jokingly announced at the start of a press conference that he “loved to use Lego even as a child built “ . In his opinion, it was a “wonderful experiment” and, in the opinion of the Hamburger Abendblatt, “a memorable crime scene”. He was curious to see what Flensburg had to say, announced a "small technical talk" with the head of the local homicide commission , wanted to talk to actors and new residents and otherwise let himself be drifted. The city dweller does not feel alien in Flensburg, as he revealed in an interview with the taz , what he suspected in the increasingly similar appearance of the cities.

On the evening in the Danish Central Library, Wachtveitl was amazed at the unusually large participation of the people of Flensburg in the city's construction and attributed this to the flaring up opinions on the Nordertor extension and the redesign of the pedestrian zone. In addition to the preservation of old buildings, he paid tribute to the “cute remnants of port prostitution” and gave the advice “to put the touching Oluf-Samson-Gang under monument protection.” From an opponent of the new hotel building on the east bank of the fjord, the demolition of an old quay shed was imminent, he did not allow himself to be “dragged into the camp”, but instead, like his predecessors, kept an independent opinion open.

At the end of his "term of office" as a city thinker, Wachtveitl announced in the fully occupied Alte Post:

"Flensburg is a city full of signs and wonders, what a wealth!"

- Udo Wachtveitl : Original sound / quote

The South German was impressed by the stories that the locals told him, by the friendliness and information he found, and “saw in it the real social capital that the citizens give themselves as a city.” For his field research, the 49- year-old city thinker, who initially thought he was “in a big action by the hidden camera ” , two experiments: First, he asked about gold leaf on the spar , rarely asked in this country, whereupon passers-by recommended a specialist shop on Friesische Strasse . Wachtveitl therefore came to the conclusion that something special is very common for Flensburgers. For his second experiment, he pretended to be a 72-year-old who was in love with nature, had no regular income and was looking for a permanent home. For his request, he faked two letters of the same content and sent them to the municipal authorities of Passau and Flensburg. While the request to the Passau residents remained unanswered, an employee responsible for this in the Fördestadt testified that “everyone was admitted to Flensburg”. To sum up, he suggested “initiating an image change” aside from “ Plopp , Punkt and Beate ”. It is important to combat light and noise pollution . For example, “in midsummer, the city should have its public lights switched off for a week”, because “this way, the night could also be restored to its rights at times. In another week, the city should stop playing music in all public and semi-public spaces. ” In addition, for example, with silica gel that stores heat in winter, the city can play a “ pioneering role in new energy technology ” . In the end, the actor appealed to the audience to build a greenhouse at the Hafenspitze , for which he would be happy to act as a patron , and at the same time warned: "Do not build everything up, but leave some things as they are!"

Henri Bava 2008

For the time being the last city thinker, the association chose the native French Henri Bava (* 1957), a Karlsruhe landscape architect accompanied by his colleague Lisa Diedrich, internationally renowned and active all over the world. In the run-up to this, Bava was of the opinion that "many think that [he] is only excited about big tasks in exotic countries," and admitted: "But for me this is much more unusual."

On the get-to-know evening, again in the Danish Central Library, this time the focus was not on controversies about major projects. Rather, the landscape architect presented the work of his office and put forward the thesis “that you first have to establish a physical relationship to the place in order to grasp its complexity.” During the five-day exploration, the two devoted themselves entirely to the topography and the fjord landscape. Sightseeing flights, car rides and long walks were undertaken, maps were viewed and, among other things, places, atmospheres, plants and facades were photographed. Particular attention was paid to the former " Parcours deswassers" , the mill stream valley at the level of Carlisle Park , in which the mill ponds were once located.

In its final report before 200 spectators in the upper floor of the Phänomenta Bava divided his evocative images in six "layers of experience": Horizonte, topography, history, course of the water course of motorists and course of pedestrians. Flensburg's horizons with waves, wooden bollards, ship masts, pavement on the quay wall and the house facades on the bank result in "an unmistakable picture" in his opinion. He found it "nice how you followed the topography: the large buildings above and the small ones below." Water, “ but with a look at the history found that the railway embankment represented a barrier to the fjord and between the east and west side, which did not exist in the 16th or 18th century. The course of the water should be matched by exposing the Schwarzenbach, Lautrupsbach and Mühlenstrom as far as the fjord. Following the course of the motorists and the traffic lane between the Deutsches Haus and the Hafenspitze, the embankment blocks the view of the eastern old town, the Johannisviertel . From an unusual perspective, Bava and Diedrich experienced a course for pedestrians, which allows a view of the eastern and western old town from the practically disused railway line of the Flensburg port railway , but shields the fjord at the fork. Based on the knowledge gained, Bava drew up two proposals: First, the track bed on the railway embankment, known as the “Stadtdenkerdamm”, should be replaced by a footpath. Such a promenade would create a free space zone parallel to the exposed mill stream. Via a staircase or a ramp from Helenenallee you can walk past the Flensburg central bus station to the square at the Hafenspitze, which includes sanding down the railway embankment to the harbor dam and dismantling the railway bridges. His second proposal was to create a grandstand with stairs to the water at the tip of the harbor and to build a maritime museum east of it. Bava underlined the uniqueness of the site for him

"... the place at the Fördespitze, the place where the opposite of the fjord connects and the water merges with the land, the most important place in the Flensburg urban landscape."

- Henri Bava : Original sound / quote

aftermath

Effects are difficult to demonstrate, but urban thinkers have been referred to in public discussions. They supposedly influenced individual urban development projects, such as Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen with her “fireworks of ideas” in Neustadt or the Flensburg Climate Pact , a “platform for joint climate protection-related action”, which may be based on Udo Wachtveitl's suggestions for the pioneering role of Flensburg in terms of energy technology and for a greenhouse .

Four years after the project, in November 2012, the Flensburger Baukultur eV association published the German-Danish book Die Flensburger Stadtdenker ( Danish: Stadstænkerne i Flensborg ) in cooperation with the Society for Flensburger Stadtgeschichte , with the support of the Chamber of Architects and Engineers Schleswig-Holstein and the Federation of German Builders, Architects and Engineers . A new edition of the project was not planned at the time, but the club's chairman Bernd Köster considered hiring film directors or musicians for a second season.

The project was copied in 2014 in the city of Paderborn , where the Berlin architectural historian and urbanist Turit Fröbe set out with her students to see the city from a new perspective.

literature

  • Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . New views of the all too familiar / Nyt syn på det så velkendte. Ed .: Flensburger Baukultur eV (=  Small series of the Society for Flensburg City History . Volume 39 ). 1st edition. Flensburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-925856-69-3 (in German and Danish).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Bernd Köster: City thinkers for Flensburg - Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. pp. 7–15
  2. ^ "Strong ideas" from active Flensburg citizens. In: Flensburger Tageblatt . August 31, 2009, accessed December 30, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Stefanie Helbig: Udo Wachtveitl, Munich crime scene commissioner: The Flensburg city thinker. In: taz.de . September 28, 2007, accessed December 30, 2014 .
  4. ↑ a b Stadtdenker is shy of light: crime scene inspector looking for clues in Flensburg. In: The world . December 17, 2007, accessed December 30, 2014 .
  5. ↑ a b c d Bernd Köster: Arno Brandlhuber 2004 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. pp. 16-29.
  6. ↑ a b See quote from Bernd Köster: Arno Brandlhuber 2004 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 19.
  7. ↑ See quote from Bernd Köster: Arno Brandlhuber 2004 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 23.
  8. ↑ See quote from Bernd Köster: Arno Brandlhuber 2004 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 28.
  9. ↑ a b c Heiner Petrowitz: Gert Kähler 2005 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. pp. 30-41
  10. ↑ a b c d Cf. quote from Gert Kähler: When the ship circles the last cape: How I became a Flensburg city thinker - and why city thinking is much better than city writing. In: The time . March 2, 2006, accessed December 30, 2014 .
  11. ↑ a b c See quote from Heiner Petrowitz: Gert Kähler 2005 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 37
  12. ↑ a b c d e Bertram Frick: Gerner Nielsen 2006 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. pp. 42-57
  13. ↑ a b See quote from Bertram Frick: Gerner Nielsen 2006 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 44.
  14. ↑ See quote from Bertram Frick: Gerner Nielsen 2006 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 45.
  15. ↑ a b See quote from Bertram Frick: Gerner Nielsen 2006 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. pp. 47-49.
  16. ↑ See quote from Bertram Frick: Gerner Nielsen 2006 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 52.
  17. ↑ a b c d e f Uwe Appold: Udo Wachtveitl 2007 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. pp. 58-71
  18. ↑ See quote from Uwe Appold: Udo Wachtveitl 2007 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 60
  19. ↑ a b "I was surprised how pretty Flensburg is" . In: The daily newspaper . December 11, 2007, p. 23 .
  20. ↑ See quote from Uwe Appold: Udo Wachtveitl 2007 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 62
  21. ↑ Udo Wachtveitl: The northernmost city brings Munich's TV inspector: Flensburg - a memorable crime scene. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . December 11, 2007, accessed January 5, 2015 .
  22. ↑ See quote from Uwe Appold: Udo Wachtveitl 2007 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 65
  23. ↑ a b See quotation from Uwe Appold: Udo Wachtveitl 2007 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 66
  24. ↑ a b c See quote from Uwe Appold: Udo Wachtveitl 2007 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 68
  25. ↑ See quote from Uwe Appold: Udo Wachtveitl 2007 . In Bernd Köster (Red.): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 70
  26. ↑ a b c d e Martin Kessler: Henri Bava 2008 . In Bernd Köster (Red): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. pp. 72-91.
  27. ↑ See quote from Martin Kessler: Henri Bava 2008 . In Bernd Köster (Red): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 74.
  28. ↑ a b See quote from Martin Kessler: Henri Bava 2008 . In Bernd Köster (Red): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 76.
  29. ↑ See quote from Martin Kessler: Henri Bava 2008 . In Bernd Köster (Red): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 80.
  30. ↑ Joachim Pohl: Stadtdenker: Denker dam and open port tip. In: Flensburger Tageblatt . November 24, 2008, accessed December 30, 2014 .
  31. ↑ See quote from Martin Kessler: Henri Bava 2008 . In Bernd Köster (Red): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 90.
  32. ↑ Klimapakt Flensburg eV Accessed on January 5, 2015 .
  33. ↑ a b c Joachim Pohl: Flensburg: A book for the five city thinkers. In: Flensburger Tageblatt . November 20, 2012, accessed December 30, 2014 .
  34. ^ Tilla Rebsdorf: De fem bytænkere kommer på tryk. In: Flensborg Avis . November 19, 2012, accessed December 30, 2014 (Danish).
  35. ↑ Bernd Köster (Red): The Flensburger Stadtdenker / Stadstænkerne i Flensborg . Flensburg 2012. p. 4
  36. ↑ Joachim Pohl: Guest performance: A city thinker reports. In: Flensburger Tageblatt . April 10, 2014, accessed December 30, 2014 .