INGOLSTADT- On a Maelstrom into a challenged Future
master thesis | summer term 2022 | University of Copenhagen
The rapid global economic expansion and growth-driven mindset have significantly impacted Ingolstadt, a city shaped by its role as the headquarters of Audi. The economic pressures placed on the city have led to an overemphasis on development, often at the expense of nature and the neglect of broader societal needs. This has made Ingolstadt particularly vulnerable to emerging challenges associated with climate change, including more frequent heavy rainfall and rising annual temperatures.
This thesis investigates how site-specific urban planning can address these intertwined social and environmental issues. By exploring multiple scales, the study aims to identify opportunities for creating synergies between the city and its natural environment, proposing resilient solutions that balance economic pressures with the need for sustainability and social well-being.
-Only by (re)integrating the genius loci into the city, informed by the underlying structure of the landscape and the synergies between the built environment and human and non-human actors, can a resilient ecological and social environment be developed.-
Hypothesis
ECOLOGICAL. The water cycle in the city should be improved to support the existing flood protection, making the city more resilient towards climate change and an unpredictable future.
SOCIAL. The goals of the design are to enhance the identification with the city and its environment, improving acceptance and understanding of environmental issues while fostering a desire for more environmentally sensitive interventions.
Zoom in: Waterways
Transport| Delay
Green-blue infrastructure, creek running through city district: this Design zoom in elaborates how a new public space can look like in the meeting point of the creek Schutter and the Danube
SCHUTTER. Of all the branches of the Danube, the Schutter was the most important for Ingolstadt‘s development. It ran the city‘s mills and the city‘s millers and tanners built their prosperity on its foundation. In the early 1970s it was diverted into the Künettigraben and in the 1990s the last part of the stream was vaulted. The old-established inhabitants of Ingolstadt still dream of its reopening. This could improve the city‘s quality of life as well as its ecological and hydrological qualities. The Schutter ran in the old town along the edge of the high terraces and flowed into the Danube at the new castle. (Stadt Ingolstadt & Kunze, 2000)
‘If you plan for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places.’
William H. Whyte (1980)
wlcome
INTERVENTIONS. The vision for the Schutterplaza is to provide Ingolstadt with a large, public, dynamic and livley gathering place. It will thus become a key interchange area and space for special events and forum for all kind of activities; from temporary to everyday life activities.
Cars
The Removing of cars will enable a new public space for Ingolstadt.
Schutter
By opening the Schutter Ingolstadt will be given back a characteristic feature. The stream will provide not only the plaza with a special atmosphere, it will link the whole city back to its fluvial and mideval history. Like the overall new infrastructure acts as a backbone for recreational development.I ts acts as a backbone for the the Plaza.
Levels
The square needs to be levveled out to optimise accessibility and link the old town with the danube. Therfore soil gets removed at where Schutter and Danube meet and moved to the altitude between city and the new Schutterplatz.
Street Layout
The street layout of Schloßlände needs to be upgraded to a shared space by reducing driving lane size for cars. This will calm the traffic, noise levels and improve the spaces recreational value.
Usages
Providing the space with infrastructure for new uses to invite more people and make it a livley space
