Dike Park Elbe Island Future perspectives for the flood-adapted design of Hamburg's urban coastline

The project, developed as part of the IBA Hamburg, shows forward-looking approaches to the design of flood protection facilities as attractive and versatile components of the urban landscape.

The Hamburg Elbe island with the districts of Wilhelmsburg and Veddel is the largest inhabited river island in Europe. This special feature requires the development of future-oriented strategies for flood protection. The dyke park combines the demand for safety with new possibilities to experience the island landscape. Flood protection facilities such as dikes and terps characterise the image of the Elbe island. Their importance will continue to increase in the future with the predicted rise in sea level and the expected risk of storm surges, but the striving for the greatest possible safety has its price: over the centuries, dike structures have developed from versatile landscape elements into highly specialised technical infrastructures. Their use is only possible to a limited extent due to the high safety requirements. Where will this development lead?

The dike park project addresses this question. The "Elbe Island Dike Park" study is an interdisciplinary and interagency communication and development project of the IBA Hamburg International Building Exhibition. The project serves as a motor to think about new spatial qualities for the urban society in connection with flood protection. The aim is to show new possibilities
how the unique location of the island in the Elbe can be grasped and experienced while remaining a safe living space. Components of the project included
the preparation of a feasibility study, the implementation of IBA laboratories, excursions and workshops, and the development of a touring exhibition. The dyke booth opened in 2013 on the Götjensort seawall cottage explains the functional relationships between the dyke, seawall, dyke foreland and dyke hinterland in connection with the adjacent "Kreetsand" pilot project, which is currently under construction. In Spreehafen as well as on Veddel, the development of the dike park is to be tackled first in the course of the next dike raising. With this in mind, the Spreehafen dyke will be developed as a multifunctional leisure strip and as a viewing promenade.