Baukultur Report 2024/25: Infrastructures
Sometimes they characterise the space, sometimes they are invisible, but they are always fundamental to our coexistence: Infrastructures form the basis for a functioning society. Maintaining, remodelling and developing them is one of the most important challenges of our time.
With the Baukultur Report 2024/25 ‘Infrastructures’, the Federal Foundation of Baukultur addresses the question of how the necessary transformation towards resilient, climate-friendly, socially integrative and well-designed infrastructure buildings and spaces can succeed.
Infrastructures form the basis for supply and disposal, mobility and transport in our society. They have a significant impact on people's quality of life. The report emphasizes that the neglect of these important structures in recent decades has led to a considerable backlog of renovation work, particularly on roads, bridges, schools and hospitals. It is not only the recent events surrounding the collapse of the Carola Bridge in Dresden that show that investment and new approaches are urgently needed to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.
Infrastructures characterise spaces ... it does matter what it looks like.
The Baukultur Report examines the topic of infrastructure from different perspectives. In addition to a historical review and structural and process-related aspects, the focus topics ‘Infrastructure as a basis for life’, ‘Mobility infrastructures’ and ‘Processes and structures’ present fields of action, approaches to solutions and good examples.
Against this backdrop, the Baukultur Report formulates clear recommendations for action, to meet these challenges and ensure the future viability of Baukultur.
The three overarching core messages of the Baukultur Report 2024/25 are as follows and are presented below:
- Secure infrastructures and expand them with the common good in mind!
- People are at the centre of mobility infrastructures!
- Make Baukultur the guiding principle for efficient processes in planning and construction!
‘Secure infrastructures and expand them for the common good!’
Efficient infrastructures that are accessible to all form the basis of our coexistence. As public goods, they must go beyond their core function and create added value for the common good and the environment through new services.
‘People are at the centre of mobility infrastructures!’
Mobility is a basic human need and freedom of movement is a fundamental right of our society. Transport infrastructures enable mobility for everyone: on land, on water and in the air. Urban, regional and landscape planning, transport and engineering create the conditions for this and shape transport routes, urban and landscape spaces in our environment. This is a great responsibility.
‘Make building culture the guiding principle of efficient processes in planning and construction!’
Building culture is also process culture. In addition to good design, adherence to costs and deadlines is required. A structured planning process that provides information on all parameters and good construction organization can motivate all project participants and bring them closer to project success.