Magdeburger Platz Herford

EDITORIAL

Monofunctional large housing estates of the 1960s and 70s currently represent one of the major fields of work in urban redevelopment. It is characterized by shrinkage and growth processes.

In urban redevelopment, old planning concepts are no longer effective. Integrated approaches to action that combine economic, social, cultural and urban society issues in dialogue-oriented processes are necessary. The basis of such discursive processes is the problem confrontation and the context-related ability of the actors to cooperate. Planners and those affected are confronted with the challenge of interacting cooperatively in the planning process as approximately equal partners. This is unusual for many participants and requires openness and mutual trust.

The Herford city administration was aware that such a discursive process was needed to tackle the redesign of Magdeburger Platz and thus the first measure in the Nordstadt urban redevelopment concept. An interdisciplinary and integrative group of actors from planning, politics, socio-cultural sponsors and the housing industry had already been set up in the form of the steering group in the Bürgertreff Nordstern, which had a great deal of expert knowledge about the neighbourhood. Against this background, the course was set for user participation. The main goal was not to ask for wishes, but to collect residents' knowledge about the problems on the square and in the neighbourhood. In addition, the broadest possible spectrum of users was to be activated through various access options (postcards, youth workshops, planning cafés, etc.).

This documentation describes the main contents of this participation process for Magdeburger Platz, starting with a neighbourhood profile and ending with the final design presentation. The flow chart provides an overview of the individual steps from researching, structuring, analyzing, clustering, and evaluating to prioritizing and drafting. The central question was always: "What kind of place does the Nordstadt need?" Central, however, was always the realization that "change can only succeed if everyone takes some responsibility!" Responsibility for a new square, which through its structure and design supports the initiatives of the stakeholders and can thus become a free space for a good neighbourhood.

Rolf Martin, Wolfgang Schramm
Bremen, 01 June 2009

DISTRICT PROFILE

NORTHERN NORTH CITY
The center of northern North City is dominated by four- to eight-story apartment buildings built in the 1960s/70s. The state of development is relatively basic. The population has declined by 14.4% in recent years. The reason for the exodus of stable households is the ongoing negative development and the poor image of the neighbourhood. All this is expressed in the loss of quality of the supply and public infrastructure, the high proportion of foreigners, the neglected and inhospitable design of public spaces, as well as low quality of stay in the open space.

The building fabric of many of the total 700 housing units has defects and is unattractive. The apartments in Nordstadt are mainly owned by three owners, with the municipal housing association WWS owning the largest housing stock. Other owners are GAGFAH and Wohnungsgenossenschaft-Herford-Stadt eG. The deficiencies relate in particular to the WWS stock. The deficiencies range from defective facades and staircases, inadequate insulation to mould infestation in the apartments. The vacancy rate of the WWS is 14.5% (February 2007).

ANALYSIS
The analysis of the present urban redevelopment concept names a wide variety of negative symptoms in the Nordstadt, which are concentrated in particular on the central 'Quartiersplatz'. These include:

- grocery stores with a high proportion of foreign products
- the limited cycle times for public transport
- 'friction' among square users
- the 'subsidence' of the adjacent residential buildings
- the neglected residential environment at the back of the square
- the monotonous, unattractive design of the space 'Magdeburger Platz'
- noise pollution
- the point high-rise building ('Hungerturm')
- crumbling concrete retaining walls
- vacant shops
- dark and obscure passageways, perceived as fearful spaces

CONSEQUENCES
As a result of the backlog of redevelopment and social segregation, North Town has reached a point where stabilization/enhancement is no longer possible without far-reaching countermeasures that go beyond what has been done in the past. The recommended measures include:

- improvement of the external image,
- structural upgrading and restructuring strategies,
- demolition and new construction,
- residential environment improvement measures,
- integration measures,
- offers for young people,
- mediation procedures and negotiations with institutions.

POSTCARD CAMPAIGN

An activating postcard campaign was carried out to inform the residents of Nordstadt about the planned square conversion and user participation. All households were written to and supplied with postcards via the housing cooperatives' in-house mail. All tenants were asked to contribute their own ideas, to write or draw them on the postcard, and thus also to take part in a competition.

With this campaign and the offer of a prize, residents were also addressed who have no direct spatial relationship to the square. The response rate was approximately 4%. The postcards were written in Turkish, Russian and German, as were the posters, which were displayed at highly frequented locations. The texts were translated by native speaker assistants. They were available for translations throughout the process.

CARD TEXT
"Magdeburger Platz is being rebuilt. Take part. What do you want your Magdeburger Platz to look like?
On 06.02.2009 from 15.30 or on 07.02.2009 from 13.00 you can talk with other residents and the architects about the redesign of the square.
Or send us your idea as a drawing on this card and drop it in the mailbox on Magdeburger Platz. Closing date: 06.02.2009.
All participants will be entered into a prize draw. There are day tickets for the H20 to win.
Anybody can participate! We look forward to your contributions!"

CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS

The first discussions with the local actors quickly made it clear that there was a latent conflict between young users and residents on the square. In addition, there was the fear that the young people could be 'planned away' in a participation process dominated by adults. Therefore, the decision was made early on to hold the first discussion with this group. This initial event, before the public announcement, gave the moderators an insight into the problems of the neighbourhood and gave the children and young people the chance to contribute their ideas. A total of 18 participants, ranging in age from 10 to about 20, took part in an afternoon workshop.

Consciously, the content of this workshop was expanded to include the entire neighborhood, and thus qualities of play and recreation areas in the district and on the square were queried:

1. What areas can be rated as positive and negative in the Nordstadt?
2. What areas can be further developed?
3. What is positive and what is negative on the square?
4. Where are the boundaries of the Nordstadt?

PLANNING CAFÉ

56 people of different age groups took part in the planning café (Friday and Saturday afternoon). In each of the 3-hour workshops, participants completed questionnaires about the square.

The first round asked for complaints. With the second questionnaire, participants analyzed the current square and delineated the planning area. The third questionnaire was used to collect ideas for the new square. Finally, all participants were asked to formulate square rules.
The tasks were set in such a way that the groups of five each had to agree on a limited number of answers. Group discussions, in addition to collecting ideas and analyzing conflicts, also aimed to stimulate a dialogic process of understanding among participants. This should be seen as a transformative process of creative cognition to foster collective knowledge and intelligence, which can also revitalize the group spirit. Conversations combine rational and intuitive knowledge.

ON BUILDING
- Facade design with lighting
- Facades should be brighter
- Deficiencies in apartments and building entrances
- Facades too drab
- Trash cans and collection containers = terrible
- Entrance situation Mix-Markt

To MAGDEBURGER PLATZ
- Traffic calming - priority
- Intersection area must become safe
- Parking in front of the Punch
- Accessibility
- should become more colorful, become more colourful
- colourful surfacing, natural stone paving, uniform paving
- playgrounds will be closed
- there is a lack of a toddler playground nearby
- football play will be banned
- square is drab, grey and has a cold ambience
- there is a lack of plants and flowers
- there is too little light
- we would like the square to be beautifully landscaped!

To the neighborhood in the north city
- "Parallel societies - everyone stays in his world!"
- "In the evening we are afraid - most of us are alone!"
- "We are always to blame - even if it was not us!"
- Action spaces for young people are missing
- Playgrounds for small children are missing
- Insufficient playground offer
- Playground Nagelkamp - slide is missing
- Night rest after 22.00 o'clock is not observed
- Late in the evening there is sometimes a lot of noise on the square
- Loudness on the square.

IDEAS CONFERENCE

In the ideas conference, all the results of the planning café, the 1st workshop and the postcards were sifted, clustered and evaluated.

Ten actors from the Nordstadt, which take essential roles in the neighborhood, were invited. They had qualified themselves, in the workshops by competence and group affiliation. Among them were residents, employees of the city administration, local politicians, representatives of the youth and the Turkish community, employees of both social institutions and the planning landscape architect. At the beginning of the conference, each participant looked through a set of questions from the process: postcards, maps, questionnaires, etc.. Afterwards they collected the available statements qualitatively and quantitatively, discussed and evaluated them in their relation to the Nordstadt.

Some statements, which were not connected with the place reorganization and/or outside of the sphere of influence of the process, were rejected, e.g. missing physicians in the quarter, cycle times of the public transport, limited goods offer in the supermarkets.

All statements, which with socio-cultural and architectural relations to the Nordstadt, were listed in a ranking. From this, tasks for the landscape architect, the city administration, the social institutions and the residents developed.

INTERIM PRESENTATION

There was a full house for the interim presentation. Many North Town residents came to hear what results the workshops had brought and how the landscape architects wanted to develop the new square from them.

NORTH TOWN IS LACKING A LOBBY
After the presentation of the workshop results, especially those of the ideas conference, the architects presented the mission statement for the new plaza: the lobby.
The North City needs a "reception space," such as in a hotel, was a key conclusion of the architects. Their lobby mission statement expresses the requirements for design, functionality and also the principle of use:

- a tasteful facility
- many lounges with different functions (café, lounge, etc.) under one 'roof'
- everyone is a guest
- there is a central point of contact (reception) to which one can turn with questions

The original intention of proposing two alternative mission statements was discarded, since the lobby association brings many results to a nice, common denominator.

LIGHTING STATES FONDS
In the second part of the interim presentation, participants discussed the revealed mission statement and some points that had remained unclear so far.

For example, the decision was made against a fountain in favor of better plaza lighting. All in all, the participants agreed that the youth club and the citizens' meeting place have an important role to play and that their activities should be structurally supported. Comments were made on a number of points, e.g. relying on a transportable stage, planting small trees and leaving the parking spaces in their current locations. There was no majority support for using the garages as a summer terrace. A crossing aid on Magdeburger Straße was missing and still playground equipment. This was once again reinforced in the plenum.

FREE TIME USE AT THE BUTTERSEE
Not all needs can be realized on the square. It was clear at the outset of the process that there must be an alternative location to accommodate functions that could not be accommodated on the new plaza. The Buttersee site can be that place. It can play an important role as a residential open space in the neighborhood.
All agreed with the idea of building play and recreational sports facilities, for youth, there. Participants pointed out that more social control was needed, however, if children played there. Young people criticised the standard of the football pitch, which did not meet the requirements. Under no circumstances, however, should the playgrounds in the neighbourhood be dismantled just because the Buttersee green corridor would be upgraded. Everyone agreed on this point.

FAZIT

The term 'lobby' refers to a large reception or lobby, usually in a hotel or theatre. It is used for the stay and communication of the audience. The theatre lobby is the social place of seeing and being seen. Magdeburger-Platz can take on this function for the northern part of the city. It can become the place of neighborhood gathering.

FAZIT 1 - FREE SPACE FOR SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE
A conclusion of the user participation is that Magdeburger Square should be the place of gathering for the residents of North Town. This goal is in connection with the social institutions active on site and the square design should optimally support their activities and help to organize previously conflicting demands in a compatible way. The offer of the social facilities is to be expanded in order to intensify the
use of the square by new groups. In this way, in the medium term, more points of contact can be created for the integration of previously non-present residents in the neighbourhood.

FAZIT 2 - FREE SPACE FOR GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD
The desire for a good neighbourhood involves all groups of residents. Neighbourly coexistence includes, in addition to the private dwelling, a public place where neighbourliness is lived on everyday and special occasions in order to establish contacts, enter into "negotiations" together and thereby have an integrating effect. Whether for everyday shopping in the Mix-Markt, the annual Nordstadt-Fest or the use of socio-cultural offers of the Punchs and the Bürgertreff - the new square should support the initiatives of the actors through its structure and design.

FAZIT 3 - FREE SPACE FOR DIFFERENCES
Due to the different leisure behaviour (employed vs. unemployed) and generational affiliation (seniors vs. young people), the use of the square will not be free of conflict in the future. Foreseeable controversies will be regulated by 'square rules'. Playing football is to be prohibited, the night's rest is to be observed and barbecues are not permitted on the pitch. Compliance with these rules can only be achieved through supportive social measures. At the same time, this offers further opportunities (also in the form of conflicts) to work on the topic of 'good neighbourliness' in a mediatory manner.

Individual use conflicts are to be solved by the fact that new areas in the quarter are opened, so the butter lake. This offers sufficient space for games of movement and emission-causing culturally conditioned practices (barbecues).

DESIGN PRESENTATION

At the Nordstadtfest, the architects presented their design for the redesign of Magdeburger Platz. As part of the stage program, the planners presented their ideas to the festival audience. Afterwards, all interested Nordstädt could examine plans and sketches at the small stand of the planning office.

Whether for the crossing of Magdeburger Straße, the reconstruction of the roundabout and Nagelskamp or the playground equipment and trees, all details of the design were explained in direct conversation. The response to the draft was consistently positive.

All questions, however, could not be clarified until the final presentation. In the preceding individual discussions with the city administration and the housing cooperatives, above all with the WWS, the basic agreement was obtained for many pending questions. However, concrete statements on the facade design or the renovation of the canopies remained open.

Both points were taken up, like also the change of the turning place Nagelskamp and the associated revaluation of the house entrance No. 21 into the extended measure catalog. The architect's office has been commissioned with the design of these areas. The work on this is to be integrated into the construction measure.


The new square will be divided into three thematic-functional areas from 2010: at the same level as Magdeburger Strasse, the 'Magdeburger Platz', between houses No. 17 and 25, the 'Nordstern-Terrasse' and the 'Punch Lounge' as a separate outdoor area in front of the Punch.

The 'Magdeburger Platz' is separated from the road traffic and parking spaces by a forecourt, functions such as bus stop, telephone and mailbox are bundled here.

The installation of floor-to-ceiling windows at Bürgertreff and at Punch ensure the terrace and open space use of the facilities. Roll-out awnings further support the café or lounge ambiance. The old canopy will be demolished due to dilapidation. Instead, new canopies are to be installed at points on buildings 17, 19, 23 and 25.

A multi-level staircase connects Magdeburger Platz with the Nordstern terrace. The convenient ramp in front of the 'Punch Lounge', opens up the mix market for customers and wheelchair users.
The 'Punch Lounge' and the front garden at house No. 17 will receive an enclosing wall with parapet or fence. The decorative greenery of the garden will be maintained by the residents of the house. Four small pieces of play equipment will provide opportunities for children under the age of 10 to teeter and do some climbing. The new square will have seven pole lights, which will illuminate the square well in winter.

PRESSES

back to overview

1. EDITORIAL
2. DISTRICT PROFILE
3. POSTCARD CAMPAIGN
4. CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS
5. PLANNING CAFÉ
6. IDEAS CONFERENCE
7. INTERIM PRESENTATION
8. FAZIT
9. DESIGN PRESENTATION
10. PRESSES