IBA Stadt­um­bau

From 2002 to 2010, IBAIBA Internationale Bauausstellung Stadtumbau (Urban Renewal) in Saxony-Anhalt sought answers to the population decline in Eastern Germany. Saxony-Anhalt’s small and medium-sized cities in particular wanted to set a new course in urban development in response to the dempographic decline. IBA Stadtumbau was the first IBA to span an entire federal state.

Under the direction of Omar Akbar, Rüdiger Schulz (until 2008) and Philipp Oswalt (since 2009), planners and architects experimented with new urban renewal tools in 19 cities. They developed model projects for urban development through demographic change, social cohesion and economic transformation. The aim of IBA Stadtumbau was to develop special practical expertise at state, municipal and civic levels. It focused on development options for stagnating cities under the heading “Less is Future”.

An important objective of the work was to advise and support the participating cities in developing and implementing their ideas. IBA’s instruments included public activities for motivating civic participation: walking tours of the city, building site inspections, valedictions of buildings and other temporary or permanent artistic and architectural elements in the urban space. For this purpose, new financing methods, land management, land use planning and participation concepts were developed. The network of the 19 IBA cities became an important platform for sharing experiences and ideas.

The IBA Stadtumbau 2010 was a project of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, carried out jointly by the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and the state development corporation SALEGSALEG Sachsen-Anhaltinische Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft Sachsen-Anhaltischen Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft mbh. The projects were largely financed from the urban development programme “Stadtumbau Ost” (Urban Redevelopment East) of the federal and state governments.