Berlin as we know it – with its centres, residential quarters, and suburbs – marks its 100th anniversary in 2020. A reason to celebrate, but also a spur to think about the future development of the region. After years of stagnation, dynamism is returning to the Berlin-Brandenburg region: population growth, new flows of commuters and goods, new quarters and housing developments, a new rail map, a radically new airport arrangement, and a growing public transport system. Berlin is a metropolis, its integrated hinterland extending far beyond its administrative boundaries. What we need now is a broad public debate ranging from sustainable planning of growth across the region as a whole to the specific role of individual neighbourhoods within the growing metropolis. Both politicians and representatives of business and civil society have repeatedly called for such a debate, and with good reason.
How can we shape the future city? The Architekten- und Ingenieur-Verein zu Berlin aims to fertilise the debate by organising a two-phase International Urban Design Ideas Competition for Berlin-Brandenburg 2070, coinciding with this year’s 100th anniversary of the founding of (Greater) Berlin.
The main objective of the International Urban Design Ideas Competition for Berlin-Brandenburg 2070 is not to create a completely different, new metropolitan region beside or within the space occupied by the existing one, but to develop and improve the existing framework by building on its special strengths, features, and peculiarities. With a fundamentally outstanding transport network, diversity of centres, housing stock of above- average quality, and comparative lack of urban sprawl in its hinterland, the metropolitan region possesses ideal preconditions for future development. These need to be identified, maintained, developed, and improved. Achieving sustainable development means bringing together past and future in an integrated approach.
