Towards a new creative future for Wendland

// TOWARDS A NEW CREATIVE FUTURE FOR WENDLAND

Federica Scaffidi

The FRINGES urban design studio, as the title suggests, focuses on those areas located at the margins, in a peripheral area that need to be valorised. It attends to innovative visions for those settlements that live a progressive weakening, among metropolises and economies getting stronger and attracting more and more young generations. The purpose is to discuss and debate about these territories, and further understand the influences that new creative projects can have on these places and local economies. How to reverse the course? How to make these places more attractive? Why and how to live in Wendland? Starting from these questions, the urban design studio starts rethinking the urban and territorial spaces of the Wendland region. It is a special place where creativity, cultural and natural heritage, social activism and resistance coexist. It is a site where history mixes with new initiatives and projects, where soft power acts for the improvement in local innovation. The emphasis is spatially bound in those spaces where culture and arts can reverse the current situation, where social activities can trace new creative networks and social impacts, where local actors, practitioners and policy-makers are changing the places and people’s perceptions. Beside the aforementioned argumentations, the studio aims to debate about the future of Wendland, the impact of the vision of a common habitat, making new values, enhancing the existing local resources and cultural heritage (intangible and tangible), creating new job opportunities and promoting the spatial development.

In order to achieve these objectives, the studio observes and studies many international experiences and best practices of creative and social innovative renaissance, such as the “Bollenti Spiriti” regional programme of Puglia (Italy), the Edinburg Fringes Festival (U.K.), the “albergo diffuso” of Sextantio (Italy), the reactivation of the saltworks of Salinas de Añana (Spain) and Periferica of Mazara del Vallo. From the research and exploration phase the studio examines these experiences and try to understand if a similar future is possible in this remote German territory. In order to display new pathways of spatial changes, the studio adopts qualitative and quantitative methods, with exploratory surveys, unstructured interviews to local actors, socio-economic and demographic analysis, and context mapping (local infrastructures, water system, urban settlements and natural spaces). The new scenarios and visions aim: 1) to improve the quality of the living spaces; 2) to enhance the cultural heritage and the handicraft; 3) to valorise the creative scene, starting from the “Kulturelle Landpartie” and creating new possibilities and events during the year; 4) to develop the neglected sites and define new connections and networks for the UNESCO sites of “Rundlings”; 5) to make this region accessible and attractive for young people and new visitors and workers. The DIE KUNSTLINGE project (Betancur, del Cura) has contemporary art at the core of the scene, defining a programme that spreads around the region many cultural and artistic activities. The “Rundlings” inspire this creative “invasion”, creating places to live for young people - especially artists and craftsmen - the “Kunstlings”. Thanks to the interactions with the communities, the project aims to reveal the local desires and passions for the place, and to seek the development of new ideas and innovative solutions for the urban and territorial areas. The INTRODUCTION

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14 purpose is to reactivate these sites and make a great impact on the local economy and affect the socio-cultural dimension. Starting from the artistic event of “Kulturelle Landpartie”, the main aim is to define a programme of initiatives that link the main cultural event to those local initiatives already existing during the year and new ones. The “Kunstling” will be the place in where the artistic events will take place, aiming to define a new form of leaving, spread in the territory. Therefore, the idea is to create a network of “Kunstlings” spread around Wendland and to locate them in a strategic position. The prototype is a hexagonal building of two floors where open spaces, vegetations and artistic studios coexist. The central area is characterised by the presence of trees, overturning the traditional configuration of the “Rundling” - with an open and empty space in the middle – to which the “Kunstling” is inspired. The patio is the place for performative arts, where around are the ateliers for artists, other working rooms, all connected with the common areas, creating a unique and open space. Furthermore, the project proposes different models of “Kunstlings”, 10 are the villages scattered into the region. The “Expohouse” typology is mainly focused on the exposition, whereas the “Greenhouse” is more focused on the local food and the “Flat.K” presents spaces for multifunctional activities. Therefore, the project aims to create culture spotlights with the main ambition to promote culture into the whole Wendland region. The ANALOG project (Nieschulze) focuses on the reactivation of three neglected sites, military places of the green belt. The general objective is to preserve and redevelop these historical places creating new services and functions for visitors and local communities. These sites are focused on new forms of living, working, teaching, building, gardening and studying, creating innovation in Architecture and Urbanism, in Art-Design-Craft and Ecological-Agriculture. The project proposes many solutions for these places, the village of the Neu Tramm is rethought as an eco-village with a sustainable community and space, where to live, work, socialise, produce fresh food and creates a new form of economy. The second place, Woltersdorf, is more oriented to the art and cultural dimension, and it wants to transform this neglected site in an international cultural creative economy tank. A community of artists, craftsmen and designers, where to teach and learn in a collaborative and innovative space, with ateliers, studios and apartments for visitors. The third place is the Power Station Tower Thurau, a former military area which main function are focused in research and technology. The projects imagine a future collaboration with the Universities, with architects and engineers, developing interdisciplinary research projects. These projects reveal the importance to reactivate cultural sites and expertise aiming to attract new inhabitants and visitors. Furthermore, this affect the spatial area, with new interventions and design facilities that can attract people to live the site. In the same direction is oriented the project WENDLAND - AS BUSY AS A BEE (Ruff) that aims to reactivate a former line, in order to improve the local mobility and create new working spaces. The idea is to encourage remote work, in a remote area of Germany. Along the former line that connected Dannenberg to Salzwedel, the project suggests to introduce new train stations and working spaces, where people can work and meet, the BEEHIVES. The main ambition of the project is to create new networks able to intensify the “human flows” and create the conditions to activate innovative

economies. These working spaces are spread in the region nearby some villages, reachable within 15 minutes by bike. There are three sizes of the working spaces depending on the number of people, there is small, medium and large size. The idea is to create a creative network all over the region thanks to the so-called “Honeycombs”, that connect railway stations, working spaces and villages. These spaces are common habitats for people that live and visit the villages, and they can be also used for workshops, meetings and events. All these hubs are connected and accessible by bikes, cars and trains, improving the transports and infrastructural system. Another project that focuses on mobility and connections is NEW WENDLAND VISION (Rui). This project aims to use the river as an infrastructure, designing bike paths along it. The main idea is to define a network among the main cities like Hitzacker, Lüchow and Wurstrow, where the main ports are located and to create many pears along the Elbe river, with other facilities around. The cell stations are places in which people can meet or spend time to the library or to the gym, it also encourages the use of electric energy and sustainable transports giving the possibility to charge their electric cars. Therefore, The Elbe River, that connects Hamburg to other big cities, becomes a place of innovative projects, the location for the new redevelopment of the region and a the same time a touristic area able to provide services and attract people. With the ambition to promote a cultural site and incentivise the tourism, starting from the qualities of the local resources and abilities, there is the RUNDLINGSWEG project (Smid). It focuses on the UNESCO heritage site, the “Rundlings”, a place historically important for its toponymy, physical structure, functions, connection with the local territory and for the communitarian aspect. The purpose is to create a unique network that emphasize the qualities of the sites and enhance the existing activities of each village. The idea is to define a brand that mark this territory, activating its economy and improving its ability to attract new people and future inhabitants. The 19 villages are scattered in the regional area, in the southwest of Lüchow, this geographic location helps to imagine a cultural network connected to other villages and towns. To valorise and strength this structure, the project proposes to create new round trips and paths, promoting ecology and culture, and an entry point, where the info point, the café, the parking area and the administrative office are located. The entry point is created in a modular way that can connect each element in series and it has a free space behind the main buildings, that welcome visitors and tourists. In conclusion, all the projects aim to valorise the cultural assets of the Wendland region, starting from the intangible and tangible patrimony, enhancing the underused and neglected areas with new activities and connections, improving the quality of life and the urban-rural space, attracting the new generations and creating better conditions for the current inhabitants. The mission of the FRINGES urban design studio is to envision new design scenarios and possible future development projects able to contrast the risk of abandonment of the local resources, the decrease in population, especially from the young generation and it strives to be an activator of social innovative interventions that strengthen the local identity, the common habitats and the vision of a Wendland’s community. INTRODUCTION

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