Common Infrastructures in Neighbourhood Development for the Common Good

An investigation into the potential and barriers to the implementation of "shared infrastructure".

Gemeinschaftsraum im Neubauquartier „WagnisART“ der Genossenschaft wagnis eG, München; Foto: Friedrich May (2018)

Project status:

finalised

Period:

31/12/2020 – 30/03/2023

Type:

Research project

Profile:

Digital Space – Data, Interaction, Knowledge

Built Space – Design, Construction, Preservation

Social Space – Education, Participation, Community

Organisational Unit:

Cooperation partners:

EBZ Business School, Bochum (Prov. FH) InWIS Forschung & Beratug GmbH

Project participants:

Torsten Bölting Manuel Lutz André Ortiz Michael Prytula

Many new urban neighbourhoods are characterised by shared infrastructures. These "common infrastructures" are structural, spatial, technical and social structures that are used jointly and thus increase the quality of use of new urban neighbourhoods (BBSR 2018, 2019). The added value of such infrastructures lies in the saving of resources, the strengthening of neighbourly coexistence and the creation of new sources of income. They therefore contribute to sustainable and resilient neighbourhood development that is geared towards the common good.
In addition to community-oriented players in the housing industry such as cooperatives, private and municipal companies are also committed to developing common infrastructures in neighbourhoods. For many housing companies, however, it remains unclear which infrastructures make sense and can be financed in which context.
The research project investigates the potential and obstacles to the realisation of these infrastructures. Based on a survey of these infrastructures in German urban neighbourhoods that have been built since 2010, the added value of shared infrastructures in cost-benefit ratios for housing developers will be determined with a focus on the role of private actors using 4-6 case studies.
The comparative study of community- and public welfare-oriented as well as investor-led housing companies is intended to show which motives are decisive for planning and realisation, how costs and benefits are determined, which factors influence the decision for joint infrastructures and which financing strategies prove successful. As a result, a systematic processing of the research results should provide practice-relevant orientation and action knowledge for project developers, municipalities and urban development funding for the economic implementation of new infrastructures of the common in the neighbourhood.
References:
BBSR (ed.) (2018): Common good. Consequences for planning? Information on spatial development, Issue 5, Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development, Bonn
BBSR (ed.) (2019): Housing policy for the common good. Foundations and other public welfare-oriented actors: Fields of action, potentials and good examples. Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development, Bonn