Why is the productive city worthwhile?

The concept of the ‘productive city’ is becoming increasingly relevant against the backdrop of various crises, most recently the pandemic. These events have highlighted the vulnerability of globalised supply chains and the dependence on distant production locations.

The establishment of mixed-use structures as envisaged in the New Leipzig Charter and thus the integration of manufacturing industry has an impact on the changing requirements for overlapping spaces for living, infrastructure and work.

The effects on urban structural, social, economic and ecological aspects of the phenomenon of the productive city are examined in the publication ‘New spaces for the productive city’ by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development from spring 2024. In response to the question of whether there is a renaissance of urban production, four fields are identified, on the basis of which trends and drivers are discussed. Under the heading of technology and digitalisation, the automation of production processes and the associated lower-emission and smaller-scale production are mentioned, which also implies a reduction in dependence on global supply chains and thus a promotion of local production. In addition, regional production and value chains play an important role in an economy and society that is increasingly geared towards ecological transformation through sustainability and sufficiency. This also includes the realisation that a service society also needs crafts and production, which favours the promotion of vibrant, multifunctional urban districts.

The IBA'27 StadtRegion Stuttgart is also pursuing the “productive urban region” approach. The widely discussed concept combines dense, liveable and mixed-use neighbourhoods in which people live, work and spend their leisure time, but in which low-emission industry and urban agriculture also have their place.

The issue of production also includes topics such as the future of city centres and the more diverse use of railway stations and their surroundings as places of encounter. After all, what will make city centres attractive in the future? Where does urban society meet, how can spaces be used differently and better? Many areas in the Stuttgart city region can now reinvent themselves. Production is returning to the city, industrial sites are becoming new urban building blocks.

The IBA'27 project “Productive Urban Quarter Winnenden” shows how this can work, planning a dense neighbourhood in which commercial and residential areas overlap to save space. The winning design by JOTT architecture and urbanism is based on differentiated building clusters. Noise-intensive commercial uses are arranged around commercial courtyards in the centre of the block, while flats, a daycare centre and a townhouse are oriented towards the outside. Thanks to a neighbourhood garage, community life takes place along car-free streets in public squares and communal areas.

However, a productive city can also mean small-scale urban agriculture that supplies the city with high-quality food and increases climate adaptation and biodiversity. In the IBA'27 project “AGRICULTURE meets MANUFACTURING” in Fellbach, agricultural production areas meet the city's largest industrial estate. From the question of buildings and locations for the industrial production methods of the future to securing urban agriculture and thus the local and sustainable production of food, an overarching vision for the area is being developed in a broad dialogue between the stakeholders. By the IBA'27 presentation year in 2027, a model for sustainable urban production that can also be transferred to other locations can emerge from the existing buildings.