| Regensburg (Germany) Topic 4: Street Life |
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Design of Streets and Squares The Project, the Stage and its Artists The City The old town of Regensburg is an ensemble of historic monuments occupying an important position in Europe. The structure of the early middle-ages development with its narrow alleys has been well preserved. The Patrician castles with their Italian-like ancient towers are unique north of the Alps. It is clearly visible, that the legion camp of the Romans "Castra Re-gina" represents the basis of the city. The old town of Regensburg contains several wonder-ful monuments of sacral and profane architecture and also a variety of simple tradesmens', fishermens' and town houses. Thanks to this heterogeneous structure of the architecture, we encounter a harmonious medieval townscape today. The geographical and historic centre of Regensburg is the old part of the town with 14,000 residents providing 20,000 jobs on an area of 120 hectares. Retail trade can mainly be found there, occupying an area of 90,000 m², and there is a great deal of service industry as well. The old town is a large cultural centre for the region with its theatres, museums and numer-ous festivals and events. The status as a cultural city and the function as a magnet for tour-ism underline the importance of town planning for the old town in the city landscape. Street Life The conscious preservation of historic monuments and buildings, together with the atmos-phere of a 2000-years-old city, reveals the beauty and importance of the old town which will be further developed into a lively centre of the city. Design of Streets and Squares There was a competition in 1982 for the restructuring of streets and squares in the old town. Accordingly, new models for town planning were developed:
In the 1980's initial steps were taken for traffic calming before thought was given to a new design for streets and squares in the old town. Even then, one was able to see possibilities for the old town without through traffic and large parking areas. Thus, most streets in the old town, mainly residential, but also shopping areas, were changed to footpaths and cycleways. This area is only accessible for traffic at walking speed if , e.g., residents parking their cars or for the delivery of goods. Town planners continued with the traffic calming in 1991 and extended the areas concerned. With the completion of the southern by-pass of the old town at the end of 1994, it was possible to extend the traffic calming to parts of the city which were still burdened with traffic problems. Public Areas Demand Continuous Town Planning The townscape is very much influenced by high quality and individual design of the streets and squares. The projects in the historic old town are excellent examples for other parts of the city. The aim is to transfer the present standard of the old town, which is very high, to the surrounding areas. This has already been accomplished with the new look of the "Kumpfmühler Market Square" Over and above that the city seized the opportunity to develop a high standard of town plan-ning through further competitions. In the future, competitions will still be the basis of the de-velopment of essential projects. Since 1998 an independent committee has been providing expert advice on the outstanding projects of the city concerning architecture and town planning. The committee has a very positive influence on the building contractors and architects and especially on the style of planning. To fit the requirements of public areas, town planning has to be flexible. There are new frame conditions through the competition between shopping malls, shopping streets and new mar-kets on the internet. Today, there are numerous events in public spaces, and advertising as well as the introduction of various shops play an important role. Therefore, certain laws were introduced to provide guidelines for advertisements, market stalls, and the presentation of goods. Resumè • Geschichte der Stadt Regensburg. • Denkmalpflege in Regensburg. • Fundort Regensburg. Archäologische Topographie der Stadt Regensburg.
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The old town of Regensburg during "The Festival of the Bavarians" in 2000.
New development of streets and squares
Tourist information Am Protzenweiher: Idea: Urban Planning Department, blueprint: Pfab-Rothmeier (Regensburg), finished in 2000.
Newly designed bank of the river Danube. Urban Planning Department, Otto Körner (to execute the plan), Günter Mauermann (artistic stonemason), finished in 1988.
New design of Neupfarrplatz. First layout: Urban Planning Department, blueprint-, detail- and execution-planning: Architects A2 Lehner-Robold (Regensburg), finished in 2000.
The square in front |
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