Due to the extraordinary growth in employment, the city of Wolfsburg is faced with the challenge of developing new, sustainable concepts and approaches for integrated urban development. Increasing economic and population growth increases energy and land consumption in the city, causes local environmental pollution and leads to land use conflicts.
The following key questions need to be answered:
What future issues can be identified in the area of action of housing?
How do people want to live in Wolfsburg in the future? What demands will be placed on living space, the living environment and infrastructure?
What interfaces exist with other areas of life and accompanying elements of services of general interest and how should these be further developed?
In order to meet these challenges, the city of Wolfsburg has worked with civil society and academic stakeholders to develop visions for housing in Wolfsburg in the 2030+ time horizon. In particular, ways were to be found to involve citizens more closely in future development processes in order to increase social acceptance of necessary innovations and at the same time generate a variety of ideas based on the visions for housing on how cities can shape sustainable development. An overarching goal of the project was to verify the central challenges on the local housing market, establish interfaces with other areas of life and formulate corresponding recommendations for action for Wolfsburg's future development in the area of housing.
In two workshops lasting several hours, key points of future urban development in the field of housing were discussed and further developed in relation to the city of Wolfsburg. Firstly, the demand-oriented requirements and wishes for future housing development and accompanying elements (e.g. mobility, social and digital infrastructure, education, integration) were to be identified in accordance with the tasks. Secondly, cooperation between administration, the private sector and science was to be promoted in order to process and manage integrated tasks and support the transfer of knowledge between the institutions. Accordingly, the target group of the first workshop was the citizens of Wolfsburg and new residents. In the second workshop, the results of the citizens' workshop were discussed and further developed with the participation of representatives from administration, the private sector and academia.
Through the participation of the various stakeholders, potentials were made visible, innovative and little-tried possibilities for the sustainable design and use of urban space were uncovered and translated into concrete, viable recommendations for action.