North Quarter (Aachen)

Nordviertel with the industrial railway siding from Aachen-Rothe Erde station (in the south) to Aachen Nord station in the Grüner Weg industrial park

The north quarter is an urban area of Aachen , which was included in the social city funding program for the decade 2010 to 2019 due to its particularly problematic social structure and its historical industrial settlement as well as the grown working-class quarters . Around 15,500 people live in this quarter and it covers an area of around 300 hectares. It is geographically located between the Grüner Weg in the northwest, the Prager Ring in the northeast on the border with the Haaren district , the motorway and the eastern quarter in the southeast, the Adalbertsteinweg with the adjacent Frankenbergerviertel in the south and the Alleenring and the pass road in the west. The quarter is a heterogeneous part of the city and the result of urban expansion from the middle of the 19th century. It is divided into three sub-areas: the industrial area with the central axis Jülicher Straße, the residential area consisting of the Rehm and Hungary quarters and the Feldstraße, Liebigstraße and Wiesental quarters, and also the Wurmauen around Gut Kalkofen .

Characteristic

Europaplatz - Entrée to the north quarter

Headquarters Waggonfabrik Talbot

Due to its geographical location, Aachen-Nord has long been one of the most heavily frequented gateways to the city of Aachen. In the Middle Ages and in the early modern period, the road connection from Jülich through the Kölntor to Aachen was particularly important for traders and the troops of the Counts of Jülich, and today it is the A 544 motorway feeder from the Aachen motorway junction with the one in the center of the district Europaplatz as the end point. The beating heart of Aachen-Nord is the industrial area on which renowned large companies settled from the early 19th century, some of which either no longer exist or were subject to massive structural change or are still located there. As one of the former largest companies, the Talbot wagon factory set up shop on Jülicher Strasse in 1860 . Since 2014 and after a process of imminent closure, electric vehicles for StreetScooter GmbH have been manufactured there under the new name “Talbot Service GmbH” . As early as 1875 Talbot was connected to the Aachener Industriebahn's rail network and received the new Aachen Nord station , the only terminal station in Aachen. With the exception of the works tracks leading to the Talbot factory, the station and rail connections remained in operation until 1980, which had a decisive influence on the further expansion of the industrial settlements along Jülicher Strasse.

Around the same time as Talbot, the Krantz machine factory, which specializes in textile machines, settled in the immediate vicinity, and in 1992 after the gradual decline of the Aachen cloth industry, it sold its mechanical engineering rights to Deutsche Babcock . Their former headquarters on Jülicher Strasse was then restructured into an industry and service center for all kinds of businesses.

former companies around 1920 (selection)
SPELAG
Garbe, Lahmeyer & Co
Fafnir works
Old slaughterhouse Aachen

Other once successful companies based in the industrial area of the northern quarter were the transport company "Charlier & Scheibler", founded in 1837 on the corner of Jülicher Strasse and Dennewartstrasse, which was transferred to Speditions- und Lagerhaus AG (SPELAG) in 1898 and taken over by Schenker AG in 1932 , as well as the Fafnir works at the end of Jülicher Strasse opposite the Feldstrasse district, which produced from 1897 to 1925, and the “Heinrich Paulus Factory for Iron Constructions” on Liebigstrasse, which produced from 1913 to 1997. In addition, the beverage bottler Aachener Kaiserbrunnen am Nordbahnhof, which existed from 1884 to 2009 , the electrical engineering and transformer plant Garbe, Lahmeyer & Co. on Krantzstrasse, which operated from 1886 to 1993, and the Alte Schlachthof Aachen, operated from 1894 to 2002, on Metzgerstrasse and The Brauer umbrella factory on Lombardenstrasse, which existed from 1928 to 1988, had its headquarters in the industrial area.

Zentis, main plant in Aachen

In addition, in 1917 the confectionery company Zentis and in 1938 the original textile machine factory and today's special factory for splitting and cutting machines “Fecken & Kirfel” relocated their headquarters from downtown Aachen to Jülicher Strasse. In 1967 the Stadtwerke Aachen followed on Lombardenstrasse, in the vicinity of which the "regio iT company for information technology mbh" set up as a municipal area data center, and in 1993 the Aachen Technology Center on Europaplatz. Other new, mostly smaller, companies or start-ups filled in over the decades along Jülicher Strasse and Grüner Weg and existing or created gaps.

Rehmviertel 1925

The residential area to the west of the industrial area was only developed with the increasing importance of commercial areas. It was previously considered a marshland and was shaped by the Pau and Wurm waters flowing out of the city as well as by some long-established mills. The real estate speculator Gerhard Rehm , after whom the district is named Rehmviertel, was largely responsible for the development of the area south of Jülicher Strasse in front of Kaiserplatz . In the mid-1860s he bought the area and had numerous high-quality houses built in the style of historicism as well as workers' blocks for industrial workers. In this quarter, some textile mills that have been successful for a long time, such as the “Dechamps & Drouven” (from 1872 to 1970) in Rudolfstraße or “ Wilhelm Peters & Co. ” (from 1924 to 1961) in Ottostraße, established themselves created jobs close to home.At the same time, the Hungarian quarter north of the arterial road and east of the Aachen city garden in the area of the abandoned Robenshof was also prepared as a residential area. In addition, in the 1920s, mainly through the Talbot family, to the north and south of Europaplatz and in the Wiesental area, other larger settlement blocks for factory workers emerged. After the Second World War , the individual living areas and the vacant lots were expanded and compacted by new buildings. The majority of the population in these areas is made up of low or middle income groups with employment subject to social insurance contributions of less than 38% as well as a proportion of foreigners of more than 27% and a higher number of unemployed than the average for the city as a whole.

Gut Kalkofen in the Wurmauen nature reserve

The third area of Aachen-Nord is the worm meadows mentioned in the introduction, which extend from Europaplatz to the local border in Haaren. This is where the centrally located Kalkofen estate is located , an old estate from the 14th century that was converted into a pleasure palace by Johann Joseph Couven around 1750 . In addition, as a larger contiguous green area, the Aachen East Cemetery, which was laid out in a park-like manner in 1803, also belongs geographically to the Aachen-Nord district.

The parish of St. Elisabeth was responsible for the religious concerns of the Catholics in the north quarter until it was profaned in 2011 and since then it has only been St. Martin. Evangelical believers can use the Friedenskirche or, depending on their religious orientation, the free churches of the Vineyard congregation or, since 2008, the Apostolic Community . The Muslim fellow citizens find their religious meeting place in the Shiite- Islamic Abazar Mosque and in the Mansour Mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which opened in 2015 .

Former umbrella factory Brauer, now Ludwig Forum for International Art

In the residential areas, the educational needs are covered by two Catholic primary schools as well as a community secondary school, a secondary school and a municipal special school. In terms of culture, the north quarter was not well stocked for decades and it was not until the 1990s that the Ludwig Forum for International Art moved into the disused Brauer umbrella factory and the Das-Da-Theater and the Star Fish discotheque moved into premises in the vicinity of the former slaughterhouse .

Projects as part of the Socially Integrative City program

After the infrastructure in the northern quarter had deteriorated further at the end of the last millennium and the local large-scale industry faced radical economic changes, this led to a high unemployment rate, especially among young people in the quarter, as a result of which an above-average number of people had to live on social assistance. As a result, the city of Aachen felt compelled to apply for urban development funding for districts with special development needs from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety and the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia , as it was not in a position to do so with its own financial resources. In accordance with the legal requirements, numerous local associations, institutions and companies, the gewoge , the responsible parishes of all denominations, as well as citizens' initiatives and committed individual citizens participate in the planning of the necessary projects to improve living, working and living space in the northern quarter. After the responsible committees had approved the concept of the city of Aachen, an annual budget of € 77,500 is now available from the “Socially Integrative City” fund for the period from 2010 to 2019, although no more than € 10,000 for individual projects with 20% personal contribution may amount. Since then, over 100 individual projects have been implemented, including:

Depot Talstrasse

Expansion of the former ASEAG tram depot in Talstraße to a socio-cultural meeting point and venue for large and small events. From 1925 to 1977, the building served as a large garage for trams and buses and then, until the renovation, as a storage and assembly area for carnival floats. With the inauguration in February 2017 and the commissioning by the city of Aachen's cultural operations, the district office for district conferences, steering and working groups was set up there. Other regional institutions, including the DRK, youth professional aid, the German Child Protection Association and the tenant protection association followed. In addition, the Atelierhaus Aachen e. V., the district library, a youth club and the Hungarian-German Circle of Friends, premises in the depot. The depot has been one of the venues for the international cultural festival across the borders since 2017 .

Expansion and design of public space through contemporary redesign, modern street furniture and new urban greening. The redesign of the industrialized Jülicher Strasse as a safe and at the same time more attractive traffic artery is also being tackled. In addition, improved access options with safe and barrier-free crossings and a more stable path quality as well as the planting of trees and bushes and the setting up of quiet zones are planned for the premium path to and along the Wurm, the implementation of which is to begin in 2019.

Improvements in the living environment and structural upgrading of the individual quarters through needs-based new construction and closing gaps. Furthermore, restoration and energy-saving renovation of the residential buildings from the Wilhelminian era, including facade and greening programs. All playgrounds in Aachen North, like most of the schoolyards, will be redesigned and safer and equipped with modern play equipment. One focus of the planning was the so-called “play line”, which was completed in 2015 and between the Ludwig Forum park, the Ungarnplatz and the Stadtgarten, which is so far unique of its kind in Aachen.

In the meanwhile completed measures for the Rehmviertel, the focus was in particular on the redesign and beautification of Rehmplatz, Wenzel- and Oberplatz as safe starting points for neighborhood maintenance , communication, games and sports and street parties
The measures in the Burggrafenstrasse district are the core renovation and expansion of the listed "Talbot settlement" according to modern standards, as well as isolated new construction measures and improved infrastructure, for example through new underground car parks. These changes take place under the aspect of state-subsidized social housing and will be completed in 2018
In the Feldstrasse and Liebigstrasse district, the funding measures focused on improving the quality of life in the Martinsplatz area as a central meeting point and on upgrading the “Kirchbäumchen” adventure playground as a multifunctional play and exercise location. While the work around Martinsplatz was completed in April 2018, the repairs to the "little church tree" will continue into 2019.
In the area of the Wiesental district, the large allotment gardens there, as well as the green spaces and playgrounds on the Wurmauen, benefit from the “Socially Integrative City” funding. In addition, gewoge plans to modernize its holdings there in the long term and to develop fallow land

In addition to the numerous individual projects, numerous long-term projects have also been launched, some of which will continue to exist outside the funding period and some of them will be sponsored by municipal authorities, church institutions, private sponsors and social and charitable associations. These include:

Neighborhood meetings, mothers' cafés, advice and orientation for young parents, etc.
District newspaper , theater and film projects, art and culture offers for everyone in the Ludwig-Forum and in the quarters as well as art fairs such as the comic book that takes place every two years , as well as outstanding special events such as the Criminale in 2019 .
Business development Aachen-Nord, language courses, specialist training, etc.

The nationwide “Schlaun Competition” for students and young professionals from the fields of architecture, civil engineering as well as urban development and landscape planning took place in 2016/2017 with the support of NRW.Bank, with the motto “Aachen North 2030 ”. Here, work was presented and awarded, which should show solutions for the entire Aachen-Nord quarter and which can be taken up by the responsible authorities in the city of Aachen. At the same time, the city of Aachen commissioned a study on the "location and market analysis of commercial areas Aachen-Nord" from the Kadawittfeldarchitektur architectural office and in cooperation with the machine tool laboratory (WZL) of the RWTH Aachen , focusing on long-term planning for the Structural change in the industrial area between Jülicher Straße and Grüner Weg as well as the redesign of the local infrastructure beyond the funding period of the Socially Integrative City project.

As part of these plans and programs, in a first step, for example, the conversion of the halls of the former transformer manufacturer Garbe & Lahmeyer and the machine manufacturer Krantz under the name "Krantz Center for Industry and Service" for small businesses were largely rebuilt and rented and the slaughterhouse buildings were converted into office space Renovated and rededicated for service companies or for events. For the next few years, a modern renovation of the Grüner Weg with a better use of the commercial area there, which is connected to the large areas of Talbot, Krantz, Zentis and Schlachthof up to the municipal gas tanks, has already been approved.