Sachsen-Anhalt

Great interest in the bdla student competition Central Germany on the subject of the sponge city of Quedlinburg.

On Friday, November 5, 2021, the colloquium on the student competition of the bdla regional groups of Central Germany "How can we rebuild our cities in a climate-friendly way?" took place in Quedlinburg City Hall.

Seventy students of landscape architecture from universities in Dresden, Erfurt, Bernburg and Neubrandenburg and their professors took part in the colloquium chaired by landscape architect Prof. Erich Buhmann. The urban planning department of the World Heritage City of Quedlinburg had won the application among municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt for a student competition on the theme of "Sponge City".

Our cities are increasingly affected by climate change. Higher air temperatures, less precipitation, and more heavy rain and flood events will occur more frequently in the coming years. During major rain events, local flooding occurred in the World Heritage city of Quedlinburg. Quedlinburg is therefore looking for ideas and approaches for more resilience in the medieval city.

The competition started on September 1, 2021, and innovative answers are being sought to the question "How can we transform our cities to be more climate-friendly?" The idea is to develop ideas on how principles of the sponge city can be implemented in a stone medieval urban fabric to improve the urban climate. How can stormwater retention, unsealing, infiltration and evaporation be applied in a landmark?

The students, some of whom come from all over the world in international study programs such as those at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, are asked to design solutions for reconnecting the function of the historic canals with a city that can be experienced in a variety of ways and with the World Heritage Site.

During the colloquium, Thomas Malnati, Head of the Department of Building, Urban Development and World Heritage of the World Heritage City, and civil engineer Lars Deuter introduced the situation in Quedlinburg. Landscape architect Catharina Bankert-Hahn from Halle explained the task.

The results will be publicly exhibited in Quedlinburg in early April 2022.

To the competition documents

Since 2009, this competition has been organized alternately by the regional groups of Saxony. Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia in their respective regions.

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