On a former military base, 2,000 homes house 4,700 residents. It's designed to be an equally appealing alternative to suburban relocation for young families who want a good place to raise their kids. A number of planning criteria have created an atmosphere that incentivizes residents to bike or walk instead of drive. For one thing, a parking space costs $23,000USD, while an annual tram pass is free. To put into perspective the result of this costly arrangement, an article in the Christian Science Monitor tells us that just 150 in every 1,000 Vauban inhabitants owns a car, "compared with 430 per 1,000 inhabitants in Freiburg proper. In contrast, the US average is 640 household vehicles per 1,000 residents."
From its first stages of planning, in the early 90s when the Vauban army based closed, the development was intended to be a beacon of ecological living, and a haven for younger generations in a country with an aging demographic. (According to CSM, one-third of Vauban residents are under age eighteen -- a sharp contrast to the age distribution across Germany.)
In 1998, Freiburg bought land from the German government and worked with Delleske's group to lay out a master plan for the area, keeping in mind the ecological, social, economic, and cultural goals of reducing energy levels while creating healthier air and a solid infrastructure for young families. Rather than handing the area to a real estate developer, the city let small homeowner cooperatives design and build their homes from scratch.
This distributed approach to the establishment of Vauban lent itself to a harmonious melding of grassroots community interests and government influence. A citizen's association was formed and legally recognized in 1995, and was actively involved in the planning and implementation of the district design.
In addition to encouraging car-free living, Vauban subscribed to principles of green building for the neighborhood homes. According to this abstract of the project:
- All houses are built at least with improved low energy standard (65 kWh/m2a, calculated similar to the Swiss SIA 380/1 standard) plus at least 100 units with "passive house" (15 kWh/m2a) or "plus energy" standard (houses which produce more energy than they need, another 100 plus energy houses are planned).
- A highly efficient co-generation plant (CHP) operating on wood-chips is operating since 2002 and connected to the district's heating grid.
- Solar collectors (about 450 m2 until 2000) and photovoltaics (about 1200 m2 until 2000) will be common "ornaments" on the district's roofs.
Finally, in an effort to encourage social interaction and community engagement, the citizen association (Forum Vauban) "gives voice to the people's needs and supports their initiatives, invents innovative ecological and social concepts and sets up a communication and participation structure including meetings, workshops, a three-monthly district news magazine, publications on special issues and internet-presentations."
It's early on the Vauban's life, but like BedZED, this development appears to be a model for modern, urban, ecological living -- the sort that even a green-shy househunter would want, simply for its style, proximity and livability.
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/005639.html
