In a unique participation and planning process, the City of Düsseldorf wants to revive the “Green Ring” in Düsseldorf, created by the great landscape planner Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe at the beginning of the 19th century, and develop it into a catalyst for urban planning and open space networking in the city. In the “Blaugrünen Ring”, the numerous art and cultural institutions are to be merged to form a holistic experience and culture mile. To this end, the City of Düsseldorf has launched an international open space planning, urban development and artistic competition after intensive citizen participation. The task of the competition is to create a link between the art and cultural sites loosely juxtaposed by post-war planning and to merge the testimonies of garden and urban culture into an art and cultural landscape interwoven with the urban space. The international, visionary, urban planning, open space planning and artistic competition “Blaugrüner Ring” covers an area of about 158 hectares. In the first phase, 60 competition participants are working on developing an overall concept for the Blaugrüner Ring. In a second phase, starting in June 2019, approximately 20 interdisciplinary teams will deepen the overall concept and selected subspaces. The processing stages will be supplemented by a public exhibition and discussion of the interim results. A jury of experts will accompany the process and will judge the winners in December 2019.
In the article “No WerkbundStadt” Uli Hellweg shows the mechanisms of speculation and political helplessness using the example of the failed model project “WerkbundStadt Berlin”. The article led to fierce controversies in the Deutscher Werkbund Berlin, as a result of which Uli Hellweg resigned as Chairman of the Board of the Deutscher Werkbund Berlin. Read article: Keine Werkbundstadt
The Danish architect and urban planner Jan Gehl receives the Julius Posener Prize 2018, which appreciates his worldwide engagement to liveable cities. He developed a very remarkable approach for analyzing and exploring architecture and urban planning in terms of human quality of life. In the last decades of his work, he has examined the structures of spaces like no other, he observed the users behaviour and studied their behavioural patterns, in order to develop cautious proposals for change. These proposals are never about radical solutions, but always about the process of implementing ideas step by step. „Cities for People“ – the title of his book tothe „Grammar of the City“, also published in German in 2015 (“Städte für Menschen”) – has become a lexicon of urban development Download Invitation Download Jury Statement
The Executive Board of the Deutscher Werkbund Berlin regrets the cancellation of the model project by the owners. “The new owners are obviously not prepared to comply with the rules of the target agreement, because we demanded no more and no less,” said chairman Uli Hellweg. “The model character of a Werkbund project must also be reflected in the way in which it deals with each other and in the process design,” said Christiane Thalgott, member of the advisory board. “For the state of Berlin, this calls into question a outstandig urban development project,” continued the former Munich City Councilor.
Press release WerkbundStadt of 31.10.2018
Reports and moderated discussion. Four city planning councillors from three decades report on their planning priorities: Prof. Dr. Christiane Thalgott, City Planning Councillor in Kassel from 1987 to 1992, Uli Hellweg, City Planning Councillor from 1992 to 1996, Bernd Streitberger, City Planning Councillor from 1999 to 2004, Christof Nolda, City Planning Councillor in Kassel since 2012. More
Uli Hellweg reports on his practical work as managing director of development companies in Berlin, Hamburg and Luxembourg as well as on his current consulting activities in the application of urban development measures (SEM). He shows in which cases the SEM fits and discusses questions of practical implementation with the participants.More
The second volume “Urban Energy Transition” edited by Peter Droege is published with a contribution by Uli Hellweg entitled “Renewable Wilhelmsburg – Using the International Building Exhibition to Fight Climate Change”. More
The Bremen House – a model of the future? – Panel discussion with Uli Hellweg, Martin Pampus, Dr. Ben Brix and Prof. Katja Pahl. With the Urban Development Plan for Housing, or STEP Wohnen for short, the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen is setting the framework for a new model of “living” from 2021. What traditions and qualities can one rely on? What are the future requirements and goals? What changes do we have to react to in planning and projects? The input of experts is just as important as the ideas and opinions of the citizens.
Uli Hellweg will give the keynote speech at the specialist event “Raumwerk D”. Düsseldorf plans to develop a spatial structure for the city and its subspaces in a broad-based citizen participation process. Raumwerk D is intended to develop an urban development concept for Düsseldorf at an urban level in a discursive process with the city society.

How does integration in the neighbourhood work? How can the participation of all people be ensured – regardless of origin, age, religion, education or social status? How must living, living and working be designed and connected? To answer these questions, VIVAWEST and RAG Montan Immobilien have initiated the project “Glückauf Nachbarn – Modellquartier Integration”. In a multi-stage innovative process with a theoretical think tank and practical workshop phase, four international, interdisciplinary planning teams developed solutions with a model character for integration-promoting neighbourhood development. These results will be presented for the first time in their entirety at the symposium “Glückauf Nachbarn – Impulse für erfolgreich Integration im Quartier” on 20 June 2018. More