STUDY #10: ANALYSING VAUBAN, GERMANY

TYPOLOGY: new neighbourhood in the German city of Freiburg

#10
VAUBAN
well-being

As a sustainably new-built city neighbourhood

in Freiburg Germany, Vauban shows a very
strong position in ecological and infrastructural
as well as some community terms.
Due to its character as a city district Vauban
has focused less on food and biosphere.
 FACTS ABOUT VAUBAN, GERMANY

SUSTAINABLE CITY DISTRICT

Typology: Sustainable City District

Climate zone: Central European temperate
Population base: very young; 1/3 of all inhabitants are younger than 18 (end
2007), with young children representing the biggest group. Vauban counts as
one of the areas with most children in Germany.

Density: city-like dense; 11,660 inhabitants/km2

Marked Area: 41 hectares
Built portion: very high, similar to inner city centres

GDP /Capita: 35,800 Freiburg 2006 (average Germany: 32,000)

Location: Freiburg, Germany
4km south of city centre
47 59 N, 7 49 E
Type: New, sustainably built city model district
Status: Developed from mid-1990s on a site of
abandoned army barracks
Initiator: Forum Vauban, which emerged from
people living informally on the site
CLEAR VILLAGE 2010
Main source of income: main contribution to GDP comes from services
sector (78%), a minor part from industrial activities (21%)
Population: 4,781 (end 2007); in total 2,000 flats for up to 5,000 people
Employment: 600 jobs in Vauban, high commuter rate to Freiburg City
Political: Freiburg itself is led by a Green and Christian Democratic coalition
with a mayor from the Green party. Within Vauban, Forum Vauban is one of
the most important political players, even pushing the mayor of Freiburg to
fight for their interests and to go further in radical green initiatives.
RELATIVE POSITIONING

There are three graphics on this page that depict The second analysis depicts the
Vaubans position relative to all case studies
2. Community Involvement
communitarian setting of the
conducted within the first phase of the observed places; on one hand if the
CLEAR VILLAGE Observatory. MASDAR
Bo01
Private/household
urban planning design focuses on
communal living or traditional individual
BedZed

Arcosanti
Torri Superiori
households, on the other hand if the
Vauban
Crystal Waters community is spiritually driven or more
secular.
1. Technological Position Secular Spiritual

The community process in Vauban is

Artosilla
High-tech Auroville
MASDAR

Eden Project
Bo01
BedZed Tamera
Findhorn
seen to be secularly driven, while the
urban design shows a good mixture of
Arcosanti

Findhorn

Vauban communal facilities next to household

living entities.
Christiania
Communal

Rural Tamera
Urban
Crystal Waters

Torri Superiori
Auroville

3. Type of Development Process The third depiction is about the urban

Artosilla
Christiania development process itself. It clarifies if
Low-tech Retro-fit
Torri Superiori
it is led by the community with a strong
Artosilla emphasis on participatory self-planning
or by a developer that might take
Christiania

The first analysis shows the technological setting in

participation into account. Furthermore
which the place is embedded, if the settlement is
it shows if the planning process aims
rural or urban and if the built environment can be
at new built environment or a retro-
understood as more high- than low tech. Developer led
Tamera
Community led

fitting process.
Vauban can be located as a non-central urban
Due to its history, Vauban focused much
space that puts an emphasis on technological
Findhorn Auroville

Vauban
on new buildings, the development
solutions for sustainable living whereas it is not Eden Project
Arcosanti

process was largely led by the

BedZed
Bo01 Crystal Waters

as high-tech oriented as for example Bedzed. An MASDAR

New build
community itself.
opposite position of Vauban can be found in rural &
low tech positioned Artosilla.
 ORIGINS & PROGRESS

Revitalisation of abandoned army barracks area

Establishing a proper livelihood opportunity
Remapping traffic concept for car-free living

Vision Experience
As the City of Freiburg moved forward with plans to The site was sold in individual plots to a wide variety of types of buyer - some
develop the area as a city district, Forum Vauban applied to commercial developers, some co-operative groups and co-housing groups -
coordinate the participatory planning process that the city to ensure a diverse neighbourhood in both social and architectural terms. At
was obliged to undergo. It pursued the idea of developing the same time the plan for the district ensured that around issues of energy
the site in an eco-friendly way, and through collaboration efficiency,
between the Forum and the city Council a plan was traffic, construction and social interaction a common set of principles and
developed. standards was adhered to. By 2001 there were already 2,000 residents.
The project aimed to create a city district in a cooperative,
participatory way whilst meeting social, ecological, economic
and cultur al requirements.
Development highlights include the establishing of public
parks, connected both to public space improvements and
just as much to biodiversity enhancement through the
agricultural principles of permaculture.
Apart from the interconnectedness of the diverse initiatives,
the essential facet of this plan is to engage the community
as much as possible, which will create resilience and Participation
empower every person involved. The wider and deeper the Typical for Vauban is the model of advanced civic participation. A citizens
participation from the community , the more spill-off effects association founded in 1994, Forum Vauban, plays a key role in managing
we will have throughout the various initiatives as well as over the district in a participatory way and in liaising with the City of Freiburg
time. whilst introducing ecologically-alternative solutions into the urban
CLEAR VILLAGE 2010

planning process. The approach to developing Vauban has been highly

participatory.
AREAS OF ACHIEVEMENT

housing mobility
public

pedestrian routes
car-free housing environ
high density

sign
passive

culture
buildings traffic

envir

urg
buil

distance de

ities
retr

Freib
onm
ding

ets
loc

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& plus-

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ted

r-f
dm
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ce
living suppor

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af
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rvi
ectio
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l effic

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culture

Bau
ru
energy

energy
un

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uld

se
uele
minimum

ds

us
m

car
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m
st g
gh

l
ing

conn

gy
ho
Va

grup
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iency
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ng ub ea

low ouse
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ua

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ild
h

houses

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%
al tra ne
m

70
kin n e b
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education
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re
de
rga
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water Water, Waste & Energy
du ic -e ro
na str gy hyd ting
com
mu ion nd cat di ner a r ves support of high density of population
nit y sc e er h es
lifel wor ho architecture wat t se
rvic
energy-efficient buildings
ong ksho ol rain e n
lear p s & infrastructure gem
ning ana
Buerg
erbau wate
rm ecologically sound energy provision
d
ed foo
co-visio produc
n of cha
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community
co-implement init #10 natural
food Eco-Building
iatives social dimension
communit y spirit & community
VAUBAN
environment
permaculture cultivation low energy standard buildings
well-being
recreational activities
culinary tradition
passive and plus-energy buildings
compo
sport faci
lities
waste
mana
geme
st district cogeneration woodchip plant
nt pr
rvice ogram
health local hea
lth se economy recy
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s
waste
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& governance prog
ram Community Participation
ard f li bio
gs
t and ali
t yo div
ers pe
rm
highly participatory development
livin qu ity acu
ion
/ en ltu strong group Forum Vauban
age

ha re
ct
al a e

a e nc
ng
ion erag

isf em
specialist organisation Buergerbau
ver

t ha pu
ic plan

sa c gr bl en
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well-being al t biosphere
wo ps

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livi ur
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car-free and parking-space free streets

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of

low-distance urban design

pla
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Ph
art

participatory

climate
base

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networks
tram link into Freiburg city centre
om
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inc

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SME

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economic
governance
capacity civic participation
society
 ACHIEVEMENTS IN COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLE

Design & Lifestyle

Forum Vauban conducted its initial participatory process leading to
the urban design and playing an ongoing role in engaging residents
in shaping their district. Innovative ecological and social ideas were
shared and debated through this process; residents needs and
concerns raised. Meetings, workshops, newsletters and internet
communication were used to enable the co-creative process.

In addition, many of the building projects have been carried out by

Baugruppen (building groups), groups of prospective residents, who
have self-organised to manage their own construction processes.
They were benefiting both from greater participation possibilities
as well as lower building costs. Next to Baugruppen, there are
alternative ways of living together in place, developed by co-
operatives and co-housing groups.

Community Participation
The Vauban development approach has been highly participatory.
The community interest group, Forum Vauban, conducted its initial
participatory process which led to the district design. Since then,
Forum Vauban has still been playing an ongoing role in engaging
inhabitants: innovative ecological and social ideas are being shared
and debated, community needs and concerns raised, development
CLEAR VILLAGE 2010

projects defined. A specialist organisation, the Buergerbau (Citizens

Building Stock Corporation) is able to support citizen groups in
carrying out these collective projects.
ACHIEVEMENTS IN INFRASTRUCTURES

Water, Waste and Energy

The development supports a high density of population, living
in energy efficient buildings with environmentally sound energy
provision, waste and water management services, and a car-free
environment with plenty of green spaces.

Eco-Building
Vauban embraces eco-building with a strong focus on solar energy
integration in the built environment.
Across the whole district all new buildings are being designed to
meet a standard for energy efficiency that exceeds the common
German environmental standard. New buildings in Vauban meet
about twice the efficiency of a standard new-build and four times
that of older houses. In addition, the area includes a number of
passive houses that do not need conventional heating at all but
make use of passive solar panels, heat recovery systems and gains
from human activity to maintain a reasonable internal temperature.
42 passive houses were built in phase one of the three-phase
development process, a further 50 in phase two. Ten plus-energy
houses were also built by an investor: these are houses which
produce more energy than they require.
Where additional energy is required it is produced by central solar
systems and the districts cogeneration woodchip plant, which is
connected to the Vauban heating grid.
Transportation
One of the main features of Vauban is its car-free streets.
The primary mode of transport within the area is on foot or by bicycle
and the urban planning deliberately seeks to keep density high and
community anchor points in overlapping zones, e.g. the school,
kindergartens, markets, businesses, food co-ops and recreation areas.
The district is also planned to fully utilise the connectivity with Freiburg
city centre.
Car-free living is encouraged through careful planning of the public
space, where infrastructural spaces between buildings are not merely
seen as parking spaces. By 2009 around 70% of households chose to
live without a car, a figure which has increased throughout the life of
Vauban so far. Freiburg city has an active car club and the biggest hub
of its members, some 2,500 of them, are resident in Vauban.

*Information, pictures and visualisations sourced mainly from online information, see www.vauban.de for further details.