In addition to ongoing urban-planning projects in Hamburg, such as HafenCity, ‘Leap Across the Elbe’, and the Neue Mitte Altona district centre, the urban spaces in Hamburg’s eastern quarters have become the focus of attention as well: the neighbourhoods of Hammerbrook, Rothenburgsort, Borgfelde, Hamm, Horn, Billbrook and Billstedt with its Mümmelmannsberg quarter hold promising potential for residential development, modern industry and commercial infrastructure as well as the connection between waterfront architecture and landscaping.
Up the Elbe and Bille rivers
These urban construction projects open up opportunities for strong economic growth and a more modern lifestyle in Hamburg’s eastern districts. In 2018, the former Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt (‘Department of Urban Development and the Environment’) and the Hamburg-Mitte district office set up a comprehensive plan for these eastern areas, including the eventual construction of up to 20,000 flats.
The concept aims to combine work opportunities and housing for Hamburg’s urban residents. The plans are exemplified in eleven focus areas.
Development of residential quarters
The existing neighbourhoods will be further developed and supplemented with new residential construction. Newly built flats are intended to relieve the housing market and provide Hamburg's growing population with suitable offers for both current residents and new arrivals moving to the east of Hamburg. Anyone interested can view the construction projects of the upcoming years in the district housing programme (German only) for Hamburg-Mitte.
The objective of this major urban planning project is to create a comfortable, high-quality design for the main axes connecting neighbourhoods in Hamburg’s east to those in the west as well as those in the north to the south. Within the quarters, there will be optimised networking to keep distances short between the residential areas, the neighbourhood centre and parks and green areas. For example, creating new pathways will bring the neighbourhood of Rothenburgsort closer together with the HafenCity quarter.
Extensive investment in the construction, expansion and refurbishment of schools will help create premium centres for education that will be well integrated into residential environments. Due to this cooperation of educational institutions and individual supporters, new district projects will emerge to develop educational programmes and enhance social cohesion in the neighbourhoods.
With the “Zukunftsbild 2030”, a future vision of the Horner Geest urban area is being developed with the participation of district residents and stakeholders in order to show concrete examples of the urban planning process. The Billstedt, Horn and Mümmelmannsberg centres will be enhanced and upgraded by means of private and public investment, which will affect educational and cultural institutions and improve accessibility by bus and train as well as by bike and on foot. For Billstedt-Zentrum, an area in central Billstedt that has recently been designated for redevelopment, there are additional funds from the Integrated Urban District Development programme RISE.
Recreational areas
With their open recreational spaces, the eastern city districts stand to gain from a particularly valuable resource: picturesque riverbanks and canals, parks and greenways. These invaluable qualities need to be rediscovered, interconnected and made accessible.
The central focus points include the development of the Horner Geest landscape axis, which will include a continuous connection for cycle traffic and pedestrians complete with newly planted trees, meadows, playgrounds and recreational areas along the way through the St. Georg, Borgfelde, Hamm, Horn and Billstedt neighbourhoods as well as the development of Alster-Bille-Elbe greenway with a cycling and walking route from Schwanenwik all the way to the Entenwerder Elbpark. The federal government and the City of Hamburg are providing funding for this project as well as for other development in parks, clubs and recreational sports, as well as for social and recreational facilities.
Work and career
Even today, the eastern quarters of Hamburg offer spaces for a wide variety of workplaces ranging from creative start-ups to industrial production. Many new businesses will be attracted to the industrial and commercial areas of Rothenburgsort and Billbrook, helping these quarters become a magnet for modern companies and industry once again.
Supported by the Department of Economy and Innovation (BWI), a long-term project has been launched in cooperation with stakeholders from the business community, and in particular with local businesses.
With the Billebogen urban development company taking over responsibility for development in the Elbbrücken, Neuer Huckepackbahnhof and Billebecken quarters, there will be additional concepts for the development of tomorrow’s urban architectural design all over the Billebogen industrial areas and in the Rothenburgsort neighbourhood.
Future plans
There are other ongoing plans and projects whose designs incorporate many ideas and recommendations from existing concepts. The plans and explanations are set in an overall urban context and are published in the brochure “Stromaufwärts an Elbe und Bille – Wohnen und urbane Produktion in HamburgOst”. In a large public event in the format of an urban workshop (Stadtwerkstatt), the central issues of the HamburgOst development were laid out and discussed. Further civic participation in the city districts takes place continuously on the level of the actual projects.