Building as an art form, as a symbol of modernity and social event. Cityscapes develop and await their revival. The radius grows larger: An entire region is reformed, with landscapes which return a human dimension and face. And new perspectives of the city as a place worth living in and a future metropolis.
IBA Hamburg
Designs for the Future of Metropolis
Situation
The setting: Hamburg - the island called Wilhelmsburg in the river Elbe, as well as the Veddel and the Harburg inner harbor. More than any other location in Hamburg Wilhelmsburg is defined by contrasts. Only seven minutes of public transportation from the Hamburg Central Station industry, city and harbor meet marshland, natural reserve and the water. Many traffic lines cross this IBA- area of 28 km2, where people of more than 40 nations live together. Here the conflicts and chances of globalization come together - more than at any other place in the Hamburg region.
Topics
At these fractures the IBA creates new rooms for the latitude and the opportunities of the metropolis. Here contrasts and tensions of the urban society may outlive their friction force in a positive way – so that the metropolis remains a place worth living full of innovations for everybody.
The metropolis – being the intersection of international cultures and global production, place of latitude and opportunities as well as of contrasts and tensions. Here the urgent questions of our time are concentrated. The IBA Hamburg looks for exemplary answers to these questions – with respect to urban planning, to urban economy as well as to social and cultural co-existence in the metropolis. Solutions are quested which give impulses for the planning and building culture.
The IBA Hamburg asks central questions of the development of the metropolis. By built examples, social and cultural projects, events, dialogues and publications the IBA looks for the future of the metropolis along three aspects:
The IBA Hamburg shows what benefit the international urban society - the cosmopolis – gives to the metropolis.
The IBA Hamburg shows how urban planning transforms the “inner urban fringes” – the metrozones – into singular and attractive areas.
With its focus “The City in Climate Change” the vision of a metropolis that opposes the climate change becomes reality.
Structure
A new urban treaty motivates civil engagement.
To bundle the forces of the metropolis the IBA Hamburg introduced a real new approach: the IBA – Convention. For the first time in the history of building exhibitions the protagonists decided together with the city of Hamburg on a kind of urban treaty containing specific aims. A board of trustees consisting of six international scientists secures the excellence of the IBA projects. The Board of Civil Participation accompanies the process, acts as a multiplier and provides the necessary down-to-earth state.
