For two days in october Halle (Saale) served as a host for a scene of international exchange.
On October the 14th and 15th 2024, the conference ‘Modern Housing Postwar - Cities of Tomorrow?’ took place at the Lichthaus in Halle. The event was organized as part of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) and conceptualized as an ETOM NEB-Lab milestone conference. With regard to this year's anniversary ‘60 years of Halle-Neustadt’, the focus of the meeting was on trans-European insights into the developments undertaken and perspectives gained for the transformation of large-scale post-war housing estates.The focus was particularly on Central and Eastern Europe with a special focus on the German-Polish dialogue.
The first panel of the conference was opened by the German Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Construction, Klara Geywitz. All contributions revolved around issues of urban transformation and the importance of collaborative planning processes. One of the speakers was SALEG Managing Director, Dr. Mario Kremling. He elaborated on the potentials of urban heritage from the post-war era and its large housing projects for which Halle-Neustadt is just one example. Apart from its value as a place of urban heritage with significant impact, the former socialist model city, that was planned and built in the 1960s for 100,000 people, has the potential to be developed sustainably and in accordance with the criteria of the New European Bauhaus - Sustainable, Beautiful and Together, so Dr. Kremling. Exemplary for the use of participation in building transformation processes, the large housing estates, ‘Halle-Silberhöhe’ and ‘Wittenberg-West’ are fine examples. Urban renewal succeeds precisely, where residents are actively involved and a sense of community develops, Dr. Kremling pointed out.
The ‘Community Office’, a project on the edge of Halle Neustadt, follows this request: During the excursion to Halle-Neustadt, offered during the conference, Mr. Ulrich Möbius reports on the approach to transform the former Stasi headquarters and tax office building into a place for creative work and life.
This project is a good example for the joint effort by the city administration and local residents. The second day of the conference was devoted to the ‘Contemporary | Domains of Activism’ section and addressed the potential of civil society engagement in the transformation of urban space. Projects from Warsaw, Bucharest and Tirana demonstrated how bundled civil society engagement can support urban development from below. These discussions culminated in the final section ‘Agencies of Tomorrow’, which drew a connection to the future: How can we develop sustainable solutions for the challenges of tomorrow, based on the experiences of post-war modernism? Here, the Lithuanian architect Ruta Leitanaite used a comparative study to show how important critical examination and an attitude towards post-war legacy is.
The NEB_NETZWERKBÜRO took the opportunity at the conference in Halle to present itself as a network partner and inform about the state initiative #NeueBauhäusler in order to establish international contacts.
ETOM is a European Triennial of Modernism project (European Triennial of Modernism = ETOM)
More Information:
https://www.triennale-der-moderne.de/en/
TOGETHER!
On a new sense of community
Dr. Mario Kremling, Managing Director of the Saxony-Anhalt State Development Company SALEG and the Competence Center for Urban Renewal
Statement on the ETOM conference ‘Modern Housing Postwar – Cities of Tomorrow?’ on October the 14th and 15th 2024 in Halle (Saale) Oktober 2024 in Halle (Saale)
[…] The settlements of urban modernity openly reveal the social challenges of our present time, the most central one of which is: Social cohesion. This demand applies in this urban context of settlement architecture to a large extent and in rather special way. The reason is: On the one hand, today we live in a society in which every person is valuable and in demand of their own initiative, self-responsibility and creative participation for the shaping of our communities. On the other hand, there is a lack of enthusiasm, which is needed for self-activation and self-efficiency in the immediate living environment, especially in large housing estates, for a variety of reasons. This is a reflection of socio-economic problems in Germany as well. That is why supporting these processes needs to be part of the political agenda. Over the whole spectrum of society, community-, and district-development from below requires promotion and support. […] Complex and creative solutions need to allow enough space and freedom for hands-on personal engagement and efficiency on an individual level. This is the only way to ensure that residents are actively involved. […] If to transform the settlements that were born from a totally different social vision into lively, adaptable and resilient neighborhoods is a common goal for now and in the future, then this activation of local appropriation processes is precisely what is needed. A very special interest applies to the development of the settlements in Saxony-Anhalt for this reason. There is a good chance that all three of the NEB goals will be realized in the settlements of urban modernism. Let's argue about the ways to get there! #NeueBauhäusler […]"
