MANNHEIM CALL FOR IDEAS

PROJECT SPACE 2012 'ACTIVATING URBAN VOIDS'

WHERE DO WE WANT TO GO? - RETHINKING THE FUTURE OF MANNHEIM

Introduction

While most parts of the city had been destroyed during WW II, Mannheim, with approximatly 300'000 inhabitants is today the economic and cultural centre of the metropolitan area of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis. In 1971 the city reached its historical maximum of 333'000 inhabitants.
Since several years the city of Mannheim is building up a reputation as a creative city  beyond regional borders with projects such as the Musikpark and the Pop-Akademie.

Since the end of WW II some of the major facilities of the american troops and the NATO are based in Mannheim. With up to 25.000 people the US-community has become an inherent part of the city for more than 60 years.  

All of the 9 military bases will be dismissed till the end of 2015. Almost all of the areas will be reverted to the FRG. Alltogether more than 510 ha, partly close to the city centre but to most parts in the periphery,  will be free for new uses. Besides the demand of new and affordable housing space, there is a request for new open spaces and local recreation areas. (For further information on the conversion areas check the link to the Weissbuch-Konversion in the link section). 

Tasks

Against this background the ProjecSpace Mannheim is dealing with the planability of areas of such a scale, their impact on the city as a whole and the possibilities and opportunities for the city, the citizens and the region. The task of this Project Space is to find innovative proposals for urban development and planning strategies, including and enabling  the citizens to design and improve conditions in their city. With a total amount of more than 500 ha of new land the opportunity is given to think Mannheim in a complete new and different way. 
From the perspective between planning, self-organisation and enabling questions shall be raised and answered concerning alternative planning strategies, social urban planning and general visions for the future of Mannheim.

Call for ideas

Wonderland invites teams from around Europe to submit independant ideas and radical concepts to find new ways for including citizens in the planning proces and to depict alternative approaches in urban planning.
Together with local and international architecture teams, wonderland enables you to discuss the current situation and to find new strategies and ways of planning.
Your ideas should give an impulse to the local situation and help ignite a debate while generating transferable concepts. Crucial questions, which might help inspire you in finding a new and unique vision are as follows:

• What citizen groups one should think of including in the first phases of such a process?

• How can self-organisation become a viable part in the urban planning process

• What kind of concepts promise a fertile way of combining participation, selforganisation and top-down processes?

In 2012, Project Spaces will continue to follow the goal of finding sustainable and social development strategies through on-site workshops, lectures and open public discussions, leading to practices in new and effective cross-border co-operation throughout Europe. Participants will have the chance of presenting their visions to an interested audience consisting of citizens, real estate representatives, landlords, potential users, and representatives of municipalities, architects, and representatives of education as well as of research centres.

Submission

Send us your idea referring to this topic in form of 3 DIN_a3 panels (one significant image, diagramms, conceptual drawings, etc.) and a written description (max. 2.000 characters) per e-mail to our competition[at]wonderland.cx e-mail account. A jury formed by wonderland board members and co-operation partners will select the 3 - 5 most interesting ideas for this Project Space.
During the Workshop the teams will focus on one of the areas and adapt their concepts according to the additional informations received during the lectures and the workshop to sharpen their approaches and suggested processes.
The winners will be supported with adequate travel compensation. The kick-off lecture and the final presentation are public events, to which representatives of local and international media will be invited. Workshop results will be published on the web and in wonderland's publications, such as the annual report. Participants will also receive the unique opportunity of becoming a wonderland member for the next two years for free and benefit from our services.

Interested? Please register on www.wonderland.cx and submit your entry by e-mail as soon as possible. The deadline for submissions is the 7th July 2012.

Timetable 

7th July 2012: Deadline for submission
August 2012: Announcement of competition results
September/October 2012: Workshop in Mannheim

Interesting links

http://www.mannheim.de/konversion
http://www.konversion-in-mannheim.de
http://www.mannheim.de/sites/default/files/page/21952/weissbuch.pdf
http://www.mannheim2020.de/

Map of the area 

For further information please contact

projectspace[at]wonderland.cx

registration for the call

Information on the co-organizing team in Mannheim

Superwonder group took part to the Project Space Paris-Saint Denis 2011, looking into aspects of Social Coherence.

The superwondergroup was founded by Frane Bettac, Leo Grosswendt and Wulf Kramer in 2010. The fields of interest ranges from issues such as participation and low-budget interventions to small scale temporary use projects,  implementing them between architecture, art and urban planning. Undisciplined in thought and interested in open outcome procedures, we play with design possibilities in both public and private spaces, exploring our own possibilities and limitations.

MANNHEIM MAP with project areas

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