The Chair of International Urbanism has the pleasure to cooperate with IBA´27 (International Building Exhibition in Stuttgart / Internationale Bauausstellung 2027 StadtRegion Stuttgart) in a number of projects. This includes a common interest in the improvement of the liveability of the Neckar River Valley area, as suggested by the WECHSEL research project (2017-2019) and the IBA27 topic „The Neckar River as a Liveable Space“ [Neckar als Lebensraum].
Taking the opportunity of the publicaton by our Chair and the City of Stuttgart of the urban concept study Stuttgart am Neckar (2021) (https://international-urbanism.de/media/urban-concept-stuttgart-am-neckar-2021/), IBA27 has organized a Neckar River Bike Tour as informal press conference on 27 April 2022.
Along with Andreas Hofer, the IBA´27 Artistic Director, further IBA´27 team members such as Hannah Pinell and Tobias Schiller, and with Frieder Hartung, formerly of the Department of Urban Development of the City of Stuttgart, WECHSEL collegue and co-author of Stuttgart am Neckar, Dan Teodorovici has joined in discussions on the future of the Neckar River with journalists such as Kai Holoch of Stuttgarter Zeitung / Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Peter Schwab of Staatsanzeiger Baden-Württemberg, as well as Dietrich Heißenbüttel and Joachim E. Röttgers of Kontext.
The bike tour started with the viewpoint on the hill top at the Rosenstein Natural History Museum, continued at Neckar Island, Berg Pedestrian Bridge (Berger Steg), and Neckar Käpt’n River Boat Station at Mercedes-Benz Museum, and concluded at Lindenschulviertel.
Discussions evolved around the current character of the Stuttgart Neckar River Valley as a variation on the theme of the „in-between city“ [Zwischenstadt], and the idea of advocating the development of the Neckar Valley in terms of an “austere beauty” that does not negate fractures (such as industrial or infrastructural realities) but incorporates them and translates them into qualities of a productive and at the same time liveable “in-between city“.
Newspaper and journal articles
Dietrich Heißenbüttel, IBA’27: Neckarufer. Am Wasser gebaut. In: KONTEXT: Wochenzeitung, No. 579, Stuttgart, 4 May 2022.
Kai Holoch, Chancen für herbe Neckarschönheit. Mit vielen Partnern arbeitet die IBA ’27 an einer langfristigen Strategie, um die Flusslandschaft aufzuwerten und erlebbarer zu machen. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung No. 103, p. 18, 5 May 2022.
Peter Schwab, Bis der Neckar in Stuttgart zur „herben Schönheit“ wird, braucht es noch Zeit.
Topic Stadt am Fluss. In: Staatsanzeiger Baden-Württemberg, 6 May 2022.
A subsequent interview with Dan Teodorovici was partly incorporated into an article by journalist Michael Sudahl, Der Fluss als urbaner Lebensraum. In: VDI Nachrichten, Online News No. 5789819019, 6 July 2022.
https://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/technik/bau/der-fluss-als-urbaner-lebensraum/
