Sustainable neighbourhood
VAUBAN (Freiburg)
CASE STUDY
Vauban - History
- Vauban is a sustainable neighborhood in the city of Freiburg which is located in the south
western German region -Baden-Württemberg
- Built in 1937/38, as a militaristic German base
- In 1954, the French army took over the military facilities (Vauban barracks), and moved
from Germany only in 1992 (after the peace agreement)
- The aim of the city: the transformation of Vauban in a residential sustainable neighborhood
with high density and heterogeneous population
SUSTAINABLE NEIGHBOURHOOD VAUBAN
“ENERGY PILLAR”
Vauban has achieved a significant reduction in the energy required for heating buildings in three ways.
a) architectural solutions of compact architectural design of 3-4 storey blocks.
b) establishing a low-energy standard, which is legally binding for all
residential structures (65 kWh/m2).
c) advanced "avant-garde" energy techniques
-established the first "passive multi-apartment block" and the first multi-apartment complex with "PlusEnergy
standard"
-more than 200 bulidngs which have standard of "passivne house" (15kWh/m2), "zero energy" or "PlusEnergy"
- cluster of small solar energy cooperatives
SUSTAINABLE NEIGHBOURHOOD VAUBAN
“ENERGY PILLAR”
- Local biomass plant CHP
(80% of the fuel through the trees from nearby forests, 20% from gas supply)
- Biogas – from the “black water"
Vauban neighbourhood community
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN VAUBAN
-methods to stimulate behaviour change
towards sustainable lifestyle-
Vauban neighbourhood community
-implemented methods to stimulate behaviour change towards sustainable lifestyles-
“Baugruppen” (= building cooperatives)
•
with the cooperative concepts have been built most of the structures in Vauban
…also the first “passive multi-dwelling building” in Germany
• role of the municipality: sets (with the consensus of the community in Vauban) the “Low-energy
Housing Construction” standard (65 kWh/m2 ) standard for all the buildings in Vauban
Food cooperatives
• one main Vauban food cooperative »Quartiersladen«,
• several smaller scale autonomous self-managed organic food shop,
• food markets at the main “neighbourhood square” with the collaboration with local
organic food farmers
Vauban neighbourhood community
-implemented methods to stimulate behaviour change towards sustainable lifestyles-
“Forum Vauban” - the community platform
• link between the Vauban community and the municipality of Freiburg
• link between all neighborhood associations and local residents
• has established a kind of mini neighborhood parliament
• in the community center "Haus 37" neighborhood residents, monthly discuss and vote
for community related topics
“Car sharing initiatives”
SUSTAINABLE NEIGHBOURHOOD VAUBAN
SUSTAINABLE URBAN DESIGN ELEMENTS
-
heterogeneous multi-purpose community space “Haus 037”
convergent central square (market)
green spaces, public spaces
road closures, bike trails
clearly defined boundaries of neighbourhoods
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN VAUBAN
-implemented methods to stimulate behaviour change towards sustainable lifestyles-
“Multitude of activities and initiatives that strengthen
the identity of the local community”
• various local association have implemented several initiatives for different target groups
for underprivileged, children, families, elderly people, for people with special needs, etc.
• Organized by neigbourhood central association “Stadtteilverein Vauban” (ex Forum
Vauban)
• Some exmples of initiatives: Vauban Library, Working groups (“Market”, Youth”,
“Transport”, “Environmental protection”, Vaumobil (a mobile information center),
Vauban sports, Cinema, etc
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN VAUBAN
-implemented methods to stimulate behaviour change towards sustainable lifestyles-
Cooperatives of renewable energy sources
• 65 % of energy consumptions in the neighbourhood Vauban derive from the
local “solar plant cooperatives“
•
regular meetings, discussion about the re-investments, maintenance, etc
CO-OWNERSHIP OF SOLAR PANELS is the successful key factor towards
behavioral change towards sustainable lifestyle
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN VAUBAN
-implemented methods to stimulate behaviour change towards sustainable lifestyles-
Co-managing (by the community) the “theme” for the
public spaces
• The municipality let the neighborhood community the decision of how to utilize the
“common public spaces” between the buildings (between their homes)
The result could be a park, a flower garden, a food garden, a “community oven” etc.
Local neighbourhood newspaper Forum Actuel
VAUBAN NEIGHBOURHOOD COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN -implemented methods to stimulate behaviour change towards sustainable lifestyles-
EDUCATION – constant learning processes
• Wulf Daseking (main city planner of Freiburg): “The most important action to conserve
and multiply the “Vauban green principles” is transmitting the values to next
generations”. In the elementary school and nursery of Vauban they have many
sustainable development workshops about conscious lifestyles, recycling, reducing the
consumption etc.
• Forum Vauban organizes (in the community center Haus 037) many seminars,
workshops, community meetings where they inform the resident and discuss about the
topics related to Vauban (recycling, energy consumption, etc.)
•
 role of local newspaper “Vauban Actuel”
VAUBAN NEIGHBOURHOOD COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN -implemented methods to stimulate behaviour change towards sustainable lifestyles-
EDUCATION – constant learning processes
•
towards more informed and sustainable consumer behavior.
Waste Consulting and Teaching: The Freiburg’s waste disposal
management concept of 2008 defines "avoidance before recycling
before depositing" as the future strategy.
Since 1994, Freiburg’s sanitation company (ASF) has been organizing
several initiatives to reduce the amount of waste:
-Eco-Station, courses and guided tours,
-a "Garbage Theatre" for elementary school children,
-competitions and teaching units, such as "Ideas, not Waste" or
"Children and the Agenda 21"
VAUBAN NEIGHBOURHOOD COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN -implemented methods to stimulate behaviour change towards sustainable lifestyles-
Neighborhood Vauban waste managment is under the
“Freiburg waste management scheme”
Freiburg’s incentives for behavior change (for
recycling):
- grants for using textile baby diapers,
- discounts for collective waste disposal schemes
- discounts for people who compost their green waste.
THANK YOU