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Living in green environs, without stress from traffic noise or waste gases, without fear and sorrow, if your children go down the street to play ...
carfree street in Falkenried-Terraces in Hamburg; 2005 (photo: © M. Heller) ... this dream of a lot of families should come true in Berlin, a city where nearly the half of all households possess no car ! So this was good enough reason for us to start planning the Carfree Quarter at the Panke in Berlin-Mitte, the central district of Berlin, near Brandenburger Tor & Reichstag, at Chausseestraße (northward extension of Friedrichstraße). The selected plot, called Stadium of the World Youth (Stadion der Weltjugend), provides space for nearly 800 residential units on ~13 Hektar (130000 m2), and has excellent connections to different public traffic systems: Best preliminary conditions for a life in green, silent and safe environs !
Unfortunately, all of a sudden in October 2003 the project was threatened by the announced move of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany`s secret service, from Munich to Berlin. Now the decision for the move is done, against all our`s and the district`s resistance. Read more about the details of BND vs Carfree Quarter here. We provide a brief description and a very short description about our project. Further details are only in German available: all about the urban design, the elements of the mobility concept, how potential residents get involved or why carfree living in Berlin is a market gap - we collected statistical data of some hundred registered households for that project.
Beside that hindered large Carfree Quarter at the Panke started another - but much smaller - carfree development in the same district Berlin-Mitte in January 2007: The project StrelitzerGardens will be realised in the middle of a block at Strelitzer Straße on the former Berlin Wall Strip. The urban masterplan contains 16 townhouses with small gardens around a narraw path which is only accessable for pedestrians and cyclists. Parking places are not provided, so it is 100% carfree. The next metro station, several shops and supermarkets are in a walkable distance of 300 meters. All 16 properties were sold very fast. It seems nobody knows, but since some years Berlin`s Building Law Code allows zero parking places for new residential units (BauOBln §50), so this still singulary legislation in Germany is a very good preliminary condition for carfree projects. You all should copy this legislation ... We are in search of a suitable site for a large carfree quarter, with min. 4 hectares in the central districts of Berlin, and there are several ones in discussion. If you want to live carfree in Berlin, you can register already.
There have been - and are still - other attempts to establish carfree living: In Berlin-Treptow (district in the south-east of Berlin) is a little project called "Life-dream/-room Johannisthal" (Lebens(t)raum Johannisthal) realised. It has an ecological, car-reduced concept with some interesting common facilities. Further households for the third site`s segment are welcome to participate. Another carfree project in Berlin-Treptow is planned for ~50 households, called "Gardencity Falkenberg" (Gartenstadt Falkenberg). The site`s developer is also the site`s owner, so due to Berlin`s advanced §50 this project cannot be hindered for legal or political reasons. The Working Group is checking new sites for their potential for carfree living, hoping to present some new possibilities soon. Berlin also gives a little overview over optically carfree quarters, built with ecological details and / or inner carfree zones (optically carfree means, traffic and parking is only allowed outside at the edge or underground). And it presents some existing pedestrian areas (Fußgängerzonen), also those planned, demanded or still in discussion.
The lists in the chapter Worldwide help to find carfree projects and carfree initiatives, also carfree islands, cities with large pedestrian areas and other carfree vacation destinations: in Berlin, Germany and foreign countries (world wide). In all these lists you will find a lot of links and subtitles also.
So if you cannot live carfree - carfree holiday is already possible! In Berlin, Germany and foreign countries exists a carfree network; in this chapter you find lists of carfree days, advocate groups in Berlin for environment, mobility & transportation, Local Agenda 21, and others. There are a few english links in it, some parts are undertitled in english also, look for the flag .
Autofrei Wohnen is a member of World Carfree Network:
 Theorie is about our exhibition Carfree Life In Europe and links the international carfree conferences (provides subtitles and links). Also the introduction page has subtitles and helps to find carfree essayes in the internet, most in German, some very long, but there are a lot of links, too.
The chapter contains also pages about the different models & types of carfree living (definitions) and its advantages. A useful help for initiating new carfree projects might be the criterias for the selection of a potential carfree site & the local situation, and the experiences of realised carfree quarters & projects (translations under construction). If you need informations or have questions, also if you want to support with translations (this would be great !), don`t hesitate to contact us: |
January 20, 2009
diese Seite auf deutsch note: only links lead to english pages
NEWS: April 19, 2007: New pages in chapter > Worldwide > realised carfree projects in Germany:
Freiburg: Vauban Hamburg: Falkenried-Terraces Hamburg: Saarlandstreet Cologne: Nippes / Stellwerk60 Munich: in Messestadt Riem Muenster: Weissenburg Settlement March 29, 2005: Federal Government confirms again the move of its Federal Secret Service BND from Munich to Berlin-Mitte - that hinders the planned Carfree Quarter At The Panke on the same site. CARFREE PROJECTS: ... realised / under construction: Cologne: Stellwerk60, carfree quarter with 400-450 residential units in C.-Nippes under construction. The first 130 carfree households moved in: to the project description (contains engl. summary) Berlin: Lifedream Johannisthal - car-reduced housing in Berlin-Treptow on former airport Johannisthal ... under construction: Berlin: StrelitzerGardens - carfree housing in Berlin-Mitte on former Berlin Wall Strip ... planned: Berlin: Garden City Falkenberg, carfree living in Berlin-Treptow: project brief description ... realisation hindered 2003/6: Carfree Quarter At The Panke on former Stadium Of The World Youth at Chausseestraße very short description
project brief description
more about the Carfree Quarter At The Panke: wooden model 
larger position in environs 
city map cutout the site at Chausseestraße: Stadium of the World Youth 
larger more photographs Carfree Urban Masterplan 
January 2002 larger more plans exhibition: Carfree Life In Europe
Berlin-Mitte larger (Gallery at sujet.design) |
