Freiburg: The emblematic green city

Sebastian Fastenrath; Bérénice Preller

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-77709-2_5

Freiburg: The emblematic green city

Sebastian Fastenrath
, Bérénice Preller

Publications: Contribution to book › Chapter › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

The City of Freiburg in Southern Germany is seen as a model case of urban sustainability in general and green building in particular. It features a high density of research institutions focused on alternative energy, strict sustainability policies including Freiburg’s energy standards, early pioneer projects in green building and large-scale sustainable greenfield and brownfield neighbourhoods. Driven by concerns around renewable energy, local experiments with alternative and green buildings can be traced back to the late 1970s. Freiburg’s green neighbourhoods of Rieselfeld and Vauban have attracted international attention since their development in the 1990s. This chapter discusses these developments within the local context of an alternative milieu characterised by engaged and environmentally conscious citizens, a concentration of support institutions and strong political will. While Freiburg’s green legacy is largely ascribed to bottom-up processes linked to strong narratives of this alternative milieu, Freiburg’s recent greening policies have become more entrepreneurial and outward facing. This marks a shift in Freiburg’s green building transition away from civic initiatives focused on the provision of liveable and sustainable neighbourhoods for the local population towards more top-down initiatives of city branding and competitive positioning at the supra-regional scale that risk neglecting social objectives in favour of economic and environmental dimensions of green building.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Green Building Transitions
Subtitle of host publication	Regional Trajectories of Innovation in Europe, Canada and Australia
Editors	Julia Affolderbach, Christian Schulz
Place of Publication	Cham
Publisher	Springer
Pages	69-98
Number of pages	30
ISBN (Electronic)	978-3-319-77709-2
ISBN (Print)	978-3-319-77708-5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77709-2_5
Publication status	Published - 2018
Externally published	Yes

Publication series

Series	The Urban Book Series
ISSN	2365-757X

Funding

Between 2008 and 2010, the first of four 16-storey building blocks located in Bugginger Straße 50 (Buggi 50) underwent a fundamental facelift and turned into a green flagship project in Freiburg. The 40-year-old building was transformed into the world’s rst retrotted residential high-rise building that meets the strict energy requirements of the passive house standard (City of Freiburg 2010a). The project has been characterised by a high level of technological innovation and experimentation and involved new stakeholder constellations including research institutes. The fact that the FSB is at the hands of the city plays here a key role through its intention to provide a lighthouse project with regard to the city’s policy aims to increase energy efciency and to reduce CO 2 emissions. This is also reflected in the financial support of the project in Weingarten which required important funds covered by a mixture of public funding sources as outlined by respondents from the city (Frei12) and FSB (Frei01). Sources included the FSB, the City of Freiburg, but also federal and state government funds.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

507022 Urban planning
507027 Sustainable urban development
507024 Environmental policy

Keywords

Community involvement
Freiburg
Germany
Green city
Green city branding
Green neighbourhood
Historical trajectory

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-319-77709-2_5

Cite this

@inbook{5a124094d5f0412e80344d7e68f9faab,

title = "Freiburg: The emblematic green city",

abstract = "The City of Freiburg in Southern Germany is seen as a model case of urban sustainability in general and green building in particular. It features a high density of research institutions focused on alternative energy, strict sustainability policies including Freiburg{\textquoteright}s energy standards, early pioneer projects in green building and large-scale sustainable greenfield and brownfield neighbourhoods. Driven by concerns around renewable energy, local experiments with alternative and green buildings can be traced back to the late 1970s. Freiburg{\textquoteright}s green neighbourhoods of Rieselfeld and Vauban have attracted international attention since their development in the 1990s. This chapter discusses these developments within the local context of an alternative milieu characterised by engaged and environmentally conscious citizens, a concentration of support institutions and strong political will. While Freiburg{\textquoteright}s green legacy is largely ascribed to bottom-up processes linked to strong narratives of this alternative milieu, Freiburg{\textquoteright}s recent greening policies have become more entrepreneurial and outward facing. This marks a shift in Freiburg{\textquoteright}s green building transition away from civic initiatives focused on the provision of liveable and sustainable neighbourhoods for the local population towards more top-down initiatives of city branding and competitive positioning at the supra-regional scale that risk neglecting social objectives in favour of economic and environmental dimensions of green building.",

keywords = "Community involvement, Freiburg, Germany, Green city, Green city branding, Green neighbourhood, Historical trajectory",

author = "Sebastian Fastenrath and B{\'e}r{\'e}nice Preller",

note = "Funding Information: Between 2008 and 2010, the first of four 16-storey building blocks located in Bugginger Stra{\ss}e 50 (Buggi 50) underwent a fundamental facelift and turned into a green flagship project in Freiburg. The 40-year-old building was transformed into the world{\textquoteright}s rst retrotted residential high-rise building that meets the strict energy requirements of the passive house standard (City of Freiburg 2010a). The project has been characterised by a high level of technological innovation and experimentation and involved new stakeholder constellations including research institutes. The fact that the FSB is at the hands of the city plays here a key role through its intention to provide a lighthouse project with regard to the city{\textquoteright}s policy aims to increase energy efciency and to reduce CO 2 emissions. This is also reflected in the financial support of the project in Weingarten which required important funds covered by a mixture of public funding sources as outlined by respondents from the city (Frei12) and FSB (Frei01). Sources included the FSB, the City of Freiburg, but also federal and state government funds. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1007/978-3-319-77709-2\_5",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-3-319-77708-5",

series = "The Urban Book Series",

publisher = "Springer",

pages = "69--98",

editor = "Julia Affolderbach and Christian Schulz",

booktitle = "Green Building Transitions",

}

TY - CHAP

T1 - Freiburg

T2 - The emblematic green city

AU - Fastenrath, Sebastian

AU - Preller, Bérénice

N1 - Funding Information: Between 2008 and 2010, the first of four 16-storey building blocks located in Bugginger Straße 50 (Buggi 50) underwent a fundamental facelift and turned into a green flagship project in Freiburg. The 40-year-old building was transformed into the world’s rst retrotted residential high-rise building that meets the strict energy requirements of the passive house standard (City of Freiburg 2010a). The project has been characterised by a high level of technological innovation and experimentation and involved new stakeholder constellations including research institutes. The fact that the FSB is at the hands of the city plays here a key role through its intention to provide a lighthouse project with regard to the city’s policy aims to increase energy efciency and to reduce CO 2 emissions. This is also reflected in the financial support of the project in Weingarten which required important funds covered by a mixture of public funding sources as outlined by respondents from the city (Frei12) and FSB (Frei01). Sources included the FSB, the City of Freiburg, but also federal and state government funds. Publisher Copyright: © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - The City of Freiburg in Southern Germany is seen as a model case of urban sustainability in general and green building in particular. It features a high density of research institutions focused on alternative energy, strict sustainability policies including Freiburg’s energy standards, early pioneer projects in green building and large-scale sustainable greenfield and brownfield neighbourhoods. Driven by concerns around renewable energy, local experiments with alternative and green buildings can be traced back to the late 1970s. Freiburg’s green neighbourhoods of Rieselfeld and Vauban have attracted international attention since their development in the 1990s. This chapter discusses these developments within the local context of an alternative milieu characterised by engaged and environmentally conscious citizens, a concentration of support institutions and strong political will. While Freiburg’s green legacy is largely ascribed to bottom-up processes linked to strong narratives of this alternative milieu, Freiburg’s recent greening policies have become more entrepreneurial and outward facing. This marks a shift in Freiburg’s green building transition away from civic initiatives focused on the provision of liveable and sustainable neighbourhoods for the local population towards more top-down initiatives of city branding and competitive positioning at the supra-regional scale that risk neglecting social objectives in favour of economic and environmental dimensions of green building.

AB - The City of Freiburg in Southern Germany is seen as a model case of urban sustainability in general and green building in particular. It features a high density of research institutions focused on alternative energy, strict sustainability policies including Freiburg’s energy standards, early pioneer projects in green building and large-scale sustainable greenfield and brownfield neighbourhoods. Driven by concerns around renewable energy, local experiments with alternative and green buildings can be traced back to the late 1970s. Freiburg’s green neighbourhoods of Rieselfeld and Vauban have attracted international attention since their development in the 1990s. This chapter discusses these developments within the local context of an alternative milieu characterised by engaged and environmentally conscious citizens, a concentration of support institutions and strong political will. While Freiburg’s green legacy is largely ascribed to bottom-up processes linked to strong narratives of this alternative milieu, Freiburg’s recent greening policies have become more entrepreneurial and outward facing. This marks a shift in Freiburg’s green building transition away from civic initiatives focused on the provision of liveable and sustainable neighbourhoods for the local population towards more top-down initiatives of city branding and competitive positioning at the supra-regional scale that risk neglecting social objectives in favour of economic and environmental dimensions of green building.

KW - Community involvement

KW - Freiburg

KW - Germany

KW - Green city

KW - Green city branding

KW - Green neighbourhood

KW - Historical trajectory

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85057976215

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-77709-2_5

DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-77709-2_5

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:85057976215

SN - 978-3-319-77708-5

T3 - The Urban Book Series

SP - 69

EP - 98

BT - Green Building Transitions

A2 - Affolderbach, Julia

A2 - Schulz, Christian

PB - Springer

CY - Cham

ER -

Freiburg: The emblematic green city

Abstract

Publication series

Funding

UN SDGs

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this