Vauban District

= participatory planning project for a new urban district

Introduction

"In the South of Freiburg, on the former area of a French barrack site, Vauban, a new district is being developed for more than 5,000 inhabitants and 600 jobs. In 1993 the planning for the district started and in 2006, after three development sections, the district (38 hectares) will be completed.

The City of Freiburg has bought the area from the Federal Authorities and paid for this 20,000,000 €. As owner of the Vauban area, the City is responsible for its planning and development. The principle "Learning while Planning" adopted by the city allowed flexibility in reacting to new developments. This allowed an extended citizen participation that went far beyond the legal requirements and enabled citizens to participate even in the planning process. The citizen's association "Forum Vauban e.V." applied to coordinate the participation process and was recognized as its legal body by the City of Freiburg in 1995. From the very beginning, Forum Vauban did not want to restrict itself to merely organizing but also developed own suggestions for the planning and building of the district. Therefore the project was created and implemented together with the City of Freiburg and several other partners."