Productive Update

Team Point of View

A long-term strategy to transform the centre of Zwickau into a productive urban environment.
2030 - Future Mobility – Based on its tradition as a car city, Zwickau becomes a real scale lab for e-mobility and autonomous driving. This lighthouse project is the root for a fundamental change of the city.
2040 - Urban space at human scale – By implementing new typologies of working, dwelling and urban production, the centre of Zwickau becomes alive and heterogeneous again. The structure of dominant prefabricated buildings will be reduced but not erased to create permeability towards the river.
2050 - City and nature in symbiosis – Integrating productive green systems into the urban fabric improves the quality of life and contributes to climate resilient urban environments.

Jury Point of View

The authors propose three steps of transformation in the period of time from 2030 to 2050: transforming the existing district of multi-storey residential buildings, forming new districts, and creating new housing typologies. This results in the structural and functional restructuring of the project area. The theme of “productivity” is largely limited to “green productivity” in the form of an urban farm in place of the current car park, the creation of green spaces, and roof greening for local food production as well as the use of solar energy. The realisations of a productive mixed-use strip along Kathrinenstrasse are designed quite generally.