Urban redevelopment Innere Hustadt, Bochum New blossom for a quarter

With the support of the Urban Redevelopment West program, numerous construction and social projects have been implemented in recent years in the Inner Hustadt - a 60s/70s housing estate near the University of Bochum. Thanks to good cooperation with residents, developers and construction companies, the public and private green spaces were also redesigned according to our plans.
In cooperation with many stakeholders, the following subspaces were redesigned with Danielzik Leuchter:
Hufelandplatz, "Grüne Achse" Backenberg, 4 courtyards of the VBW and the schoolyard of the primary school Hufelandschule.

For the project "Stadtumbau Innere Hustadt" our office was awarded the nrw.landschaftsarchitektur.preis 2016 on 23 June in Düsseldorf. The prize was awarded by the Association of German Landscape Architects (bdla nw). In addition to Danielzik Leuchter, 3 other awards were presented.

The Inner Hustadt was built at the end of the 1960s as a large housing estate according to the guiding principle of "urbanity through density" as a result of the new Ruhr University Bochum. In the then still village-like district of Querenburg, a new district called Hustadt was created on the northern slopes of the Ruhr Valley between the Campus University and the Opel plant. The inner core of the settlement lies exposed on a hill and consists mainly of 4- to 8-storey, but also 11-14-storey buildings with around 1,100 apartments.
When, after around 40 years of settlement history of Hustadt, more and more structural and social problems arose, the city of Bochum reacted to the imbalance and declared the neighbourhood an urban redevelopment area in 2007, where around 3,100 people from over 40 nations now live together. With the support programme Stadtumbau West, it has been possible to date to strengthen a large number of social potentials of the neighbourhood and to bring out the urban qualities again.
In the years 2011 to 2015, the office DANIELZIK LEUCHTER Landschaftsarchitekten was commissioned by the city of Bochum and VBW Bauen und Wohnen GmbH to supervise the planning of the conversion of large parts of the outdoor facilities. Together with developers and residents of the quarter, a common design language was found in a consensual design concept and functionally coherent units for public and private use were created.

The primary design goals were developed in planning workshops moderated by D L:

- Dissolution of unclear building structures,
- Formulation of new urban dominants such as axes, squares and courtyards,
- Improvement of orientation and increase of the sense of security, barrier-free,
- Reorientation of the open space offer to the changed user needs - older but also very young, more colorful, more dynamic!
So the facilities were also actually equipped with more color in materials and planting and more lighting at the express request of local residents. The dissolution of the mixed areas and clear separation of the traffic and footpaths created more safety and higher quality of stay. Where possible, old was combined with new, color instead of uniform gray, brick instead of concrete, mixed perennial planting instead of monochrome evergreen.

The Hustadt as a whole has undergone a complete refresh in recent years.
In addition to the outdoor facilities, the housing association VBW has renovated its buildings and apartments. In addition, numerous social initiatives have been launched to bring community life to the forefront in Hustadt. In addition to the open spaces designed by D L, the office wbp from Bochum has planned and implemented areas: Fountain Square, Playground and "Parcours" at the Hustadt Gate.