Evan Schopke

Fall O9 ILC
Sustainable Community Development and Education

Hamburg Eco-city and Creative Industrial Complex

Hamburg Germany is a European port city
known for paramount sustainable
development. Widely known as the "German
Venice" Hamburg is advancing urban planning
and design, ecologically friendly building, and
sustainability education to become one of the
world's most innovative developing ecocities.
Recently, Hamburg has unveiled a design for a
urban ecocity complex1 that would provide
myriad ecological and social benefits. The three fundamental
cornerstones of sustainability are equity, ecology, and economy
and Hamburg's new ecocity complex hits all three. By embracing
sustainable education in conjunction with strategic ecological and
economic investment Hamburg has brought new force to the idea
of the "creative industrial complex" and the vast potential it
holds. Hamburg is also home to the Hamburg University and to
the unique Hafencity University of Architecture and City
Development which offers a wide variety of interdisciplinary
courses related to eco-city innovation. It is for these reasons
that Hamburg was nominated twice as the official city of the UN
Decade of Education For Sustainable Development2 and the
EU European Green Capital City for 2011.

The creative industrial complex can be defined as the fusion of

educational, expressive, and industrial capacities with in an

1. Hamburg eco-city's sustainable creative-industrial complex

08.24.09Treehugger design and architecture
news: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/hamburgs-ecocity-
creative-industrial_complex.php?dcitc=th_rss
2. UN Decade of Education for Sustainable
developmenthttp://www.unesco.org/en/esd/
integrated and compact environment in order to promote
creativity, ecological stewardship, and cooperative business
activity and growth. The development of the creative industrial
complex happens by three means. First of all, there must be
appropriate infrastructure investment both in sustainable
infrastructure (green roofs, water catchment, compost and
recycling, passive and active solar design ect) as well as
education (demonstration spaces, classrooms, laboratories,
studios). This infrastructure provides the incubation environment
for innovative businesses which will then sustain the viability of
complex as a whole. Having these diverse groups working
together who are dedicated to principals of sustainability in a
compact location creates a unique cultural nexus. This happens
by means of a natural cultural feedback loop when a saturation of
cultural values that promote healthy environmental and social
practices, diversity, and expression ends up reinforcing those
values with into the larger material culture. The other primary
distinguishing feature of the creative industrial complex is the
interaction with the public sphere. Through out the Hamburg
Eco-City Complex there will be numerous educational displays
and galleries educating visitors as to the numerous environmental
technologies employed on site, as well as, the occupants activities
and individual contribution to sustainable practices. This
engagement with the broader public brings education and
innovation into the public realm and inspiration into the private
realm, where firms can then customize designs based on public
feedback and input.

It is this unique cultural intersection that

impacets lasting changes in behavior, ways of
thinking, and material structure. This culture
of sustainability reinforces and furthers the
growth of the technological innovation that the
complex employs. The hamburg ecocity will feature the latest in
green technology and landscaping. The overall lay out
incorporates easily walkable and eye catching environments that
are close to public transportation. Green roofs help to cool the
building and also clean storm water runoff. Energy generation in
the form of wind and solar along with strict efficiency standards
will bring added long term benefits and cost savings. Vertical
landscaping in the form of green walls adds to the aesthetic value
of the building, creates more green landscape, and cools the
buildings further enhancing other energy saving techniques.
Linking residential and commericial spaces with vertical bridges
brings the added flow of people, ideas, and resources through out
the complex. The well known philosopher Michel Focoault once
describe the world as complex web of heterotopias3 or
distinguishably unique spaces that are ever changing and
evolving. The Hamburg ecocity complex is a perfect example of
the sustainable heterotopias needed to maintain ecological
stability into the future.

3. Michel Foucault. Of Other Spaces (1967), Heterotopias