Halle-Silberhöhe

Silberhöhe district of Halle (Saale)
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Coordinates	51 ° 26 ′ 34 "  N , 11 ° 58 ′ 15"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 26 ′ 34 "  N , 11 ° 58 ′ 15"  E.
Residents	12,432 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Postcodes	06128, 06132
prefix	0345

View over the Rattmannsdorfer See to the Silberhöhe

The mouth of the White Elster in the Saale below the Silberhöhe

Water playground

The Silberhöhe is a district in the southern district of Halle (Saale) . The independent district, little connected to the rest of the city, is characterized by prefabricated buildings that were erected there from the late 1970s to meet the housing needs of employees in large companies, especially in the chemical industry (e.g. the BUNA and LEUNA combines ) cover. The confluence of the White Elster and the Saale is located on the southern edge of the district .

Emergence

Construction started in 1979. In 1982 the Silberhöhe was connected to the tram network of VEB Verkehrsbetriebe Halle (since June 16, 1990 Hallesche Verkehrs-AG ). The Silberhöhe is divided into residential complexes or construction phases. The tallest buildings were two 22-story high-rise buildings that have since been demolished. Contrary to the planning for Halle-Neustadt , there was no urban development model such as “the socialist city” as a basis, rather it was primarily about the generation of living space to solve the housing shortage in the GDR .

Urban redevelopment

At the time of reunification , 39,000 people lived in 15,000 apartments in the district. The population decline in the new federal states has left its mark on Halle, especially on the prefabricated housing estates. The formerly coveted apartments have become unattractive in many places because they have to compete with modernized old buildings. In 2008 about 14,000 people lived in the Silberhöhe, which corresponds to less than 36% of the level in 1990. Forecasts from the Integrated Urban Development Concept predicted around 9,600 residents for 2015, which, with an average number of people per household of 1.95, corresponds to around 5,600 residential units that will then still be occupied.

In addition, an ongoing process of social segregation can be observed in the district . The vacancy rate is increasing steadily. Therefore, starting in 2002 (first demolition of a block of flats by the housing association “Frohe Zukunft”), residential buildings, schools and day-care centers were dismantled . In total, around a third of the apartments (around 4,500) are planned for demolition.

As part of the urban redevelopment process, the model for a forest town was developed for the Silberhöhe district. With the aim of renaturation , a naturally growing urban forest is to be created by planting deciduous trees on large-scale demolition areas.

The establishment of the “Socially Integrative City” program from 1998 onwards was an essential step towards renewal; The city of Halle succeeded in contributing its two large housing estates to state funding and, in particular, in initiating a committed renovation concept for Silberhöhe. Cultural upgrading and, above all, the large-scale demolition now characterize the development of this district that has come to the fore. As early as 1999, in connection with the restructuring at Silberhöhe, the district office was set up by the area management and the city of Halle (Saale). It takes on an important function as a link in the networking of various projects and initiatives. Changing exhibitions and events as well as the art project "Spur der Steine" take place here. In the meantime, the Silberhöhe is known nationwide as a concept and image due to the conscious combination of art and demolition. In addition to the “Spur der Steine” project, the detailed artistic representation of the Silberhöhe through film and image sequences within the “Shrinking Cities” exhibition should be mentioned as an example from the Halle-Leipzig region.

The district itself is fundamentally changing its face due to the ongoing demolition of the skyscrapers and the reformulation of public space. The first eleven floors with a total of 464 apartments disappeared between 1999 and 2002. According to the agreed concept, over 7,200 apartments are to be dismantled by the six housing companies involved by the end of the decade. When the exposed areas are re-used, the “urban forestation”, evidently based on the concept of Joseph Beuys, is put into practice by young green planners. An area of ​​3.6 hectares is being reforested and a deciduous forest is being created in the middle of the inhabited quarter: alder, sycamore and sycamore maple, ash and sessile oak will be called the future inhabitants of the Silberhöhe, surrounded by hazelnut, honeysuckle, dogwood, hawthorn and wild rose. Around 20,000 trees are systematically settled at this location; almost a tree for every previous resident.

Development of the population

After the population of the silver level declined sharply in the 1990s, the trend continued through the early 2010s, but slowed down sharply until then (see graph). The population of the residential area has stagnated for several years.

Source :

• Population of the city of Halle (Saale) 1992–1997,
• Halle in figures, official statistics of the city of Halle (Saale) from 2000 to 2019.

Media and art

DIGGING CITY 2005

The Silberhöhe was the subject of a Dutch documentary by Britta Hosman (2005, 30 minutes) and a short film by Clemens von Wedemeyer (2003, 10 minutes).

The artist Dagmar Schmidt recreated the living environment in the surrounding buildings at the end of the 20th century in the foundation walls of a demolished apartment block. The furniture in the work of art labeled “GRABUNGSSTAEDTE” is also made of concrete. In 2006 the artist was the first woman to receive the “ mfi Art in Architecture Prize ” for the work of art .

traffic

The Halle-Silberhöhe stop on the Halle – Kassel railway line is located on the northern edge of the district and is served every half hour by the S7 Hauptbahnhof – Nietleben S-Bahn in Central Germany . In addition, the route of the Halle (Saale) tram runs through the district in a north-south direction , on which two lines each run every 15 minutes. In view of the stable population development, the offer should not be restricted in the long term.

literature

• Ronald Kunze: vitalization and demolition. For cultural enhancement in urban redevelopment; in: Tobias Pfeifer (ed.), pp. 30–34, Halle (Saale) 2005
• Tobias Pfeifer (ed.): Trace of the stones. Project report. Halle (Saale) 2005
• Robert Schlotter: Halle-Silberhöhe; Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2009 ( ISBN 978-3-89812-663-2 )

Web links

Commons : Silberhöhe (Halle)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• www.silberhoehe.de
• Federal Social City funding program
• Waldstadt Silberhöhe
• VR visualization of the forest city

Individual evidence

1. ^ City of Halle (Saale), Statistics and Elections Department: Population of the City of Halle (Saale) 1992-1997 . Published on CD in 1998, available online at: https://halle.de .
2. ^ City of Halle (Saale), Department of Residential Affairs: Halle in Numbers . (online) from the years 2000 to 2019.
3. ↑ Oliver Müller-Lorey: Shrinkage scenarios did not occur: Silberhöhe retains two tram lines . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . December 6, 2017 ( mz-web.de [accessed March 29, 2018]).