Ludwigshafen-Pfingstweide

Pentecostal willow coat of arms

The Pfingstweide is a district of the Oppau district of the independent city of Ludwigshafen am Rhein in Rhineland-Palatinate . The Pfingstweide was built at the end of the 1960s as a satellite town on a vacant site in the city north of the Edigheim district .

history

The origins of the Pentecostal pasture go back to a cattle pasture that was repeatedly flooded by the nearby Rhine and therefore was not usable for agriculture except as a cattle pasture. This pasture, which belonged to the Edigheim district, was used by the Edigheim farmers for their cattle after Whitsun, hence the name Pfingstweide. Only after the Frankenthal Canal and the Rhine regulation by Johann Gottfried Tulla were completed in 1826 did the situation of the Pentecostal willow improve.

After the Second World War there was a housing shortage due to the constant influx of people to Ludwigshafen. The city council therefore decided to build a large housing estate in the Pfingstweide. The first development plan was drawn up in 1965, and the decision to develop the building was made in March 1966 with reference to the extensive expansion of BASF . Housing construction began in 1967 as a joint project by GAG Ludwigshafen and LUWOGE , the two housing associations of the city of Ludwigshafen and BASF AG, which took on the planning and focus of the development.

The Frankfurt architect Albert Speer junior was commissioned to plan the building project. He planned four-storey residential buildings, nine-storey point houses and staggered chain houses of seven storeys in the outskirts and up to seventeen storeys in the center of the Pfingstweide. Single-family houses were built on the edge of the Pfingstweide. Overall, the Pentecostal willow gives the impression of a pyramid shape.

After the city council approved Speer's planning, construction began on September 1, 1967, and the then Lord Mayor Werner Ludwig broke ground. The first apartments were quickly built, a primary school, two churches with kindergartens and day-care centers were completed, as was a shopping center. Around 1200 apartments were built in the Pfingstweide by 1970 and around 2800 apartments by 1980. A few years after the settlement, a lively club life and a good social structure had developed.

In the 80s, the social structure of the district deteriorated, the planner of the Pentecostal pasture Albert Speer later described the project on the green meadow as a mistake. Therefore, in the 1990s, the city developed a strategy together with the citizens and the housing companies to increase the attractiveness of the Pentecostal willow. Under the motto “Our Pentecostal pasture should become more attractive”, structural measures were developed and implemented in the years 1996–2002. GAG and LUWOGE invested EUR 25 million. The motto “Future Life - Pentecostal Willow” then led to further measures in 2003, the various projects of which were implemented by working groups. In 2005 there were 6548 inhabitants in the Pfingstweide, in 2010 there were 6185 inhabitants.

In 2006 LUWOGE began to evaluate its building stock. The result of the reassessment resulted in the decision to demolish part of the building. In addition, it was decided to modernize individual buildings, which were converted into a so-called “zero heating cost house” using the latest technology. The “House Noah”, which represents a concept for age-appropriate living, is also planned.

The areas freed by the demolition are to be rebuilt by a private investor, the residents of the Pfingstweide were able to express their wishes regarding the development at a citizens' meeting. On the wish list was z. B. a medical center and the expansion of the existing shopping center. Some of these suggestions were put into practice, for example a medical center and a supermarket have been built right next to the shopping center since 2010. Part of the area that was freed by the demolition is still free today.