Karlsruhe Neighbourhood Association - Urban development versus climate comfort | Umweltbundesamt

Background and Goals

The Karlsruhe Neighbourhood Association is made up of four towns and seven boroughs and covers the majority of the core area of the Karlsruhe urban region. The association's area is home to around 460,000 people. The region is one of the areas with the most stable populations in Germany and, according to current forecasts, should see a population increase of 2-5% by 2025.

The Karlsruhe area is one of the warmest regions in Germany. Thanks to its topographical location in the Upper Rhine Trough, it generally experiences high temperatures and particularly frequent and sustained hot periods, which make overheating of the urban area a key problem. Considering its high population density, the region is therefore one of the conurbations in Germany most severely affected by climate.

On the other hand, increasing settlement pressure on town centre land can be identified in the Neighbourhood Association, particularly as land preservation and urban development are central areas of activity in sustainable urban development against a backdrop of climate protection.

Objectives: The Karlsruhe Neighbourhood Association ran a model project to study the conflict of objectives between redensification in town centres and current and future heat stress in individual districts. The key objective was to create a "future proof" urban planning method that makes sense from a climate and ecological perspective and takes account of climate change issues.

To achieve this, the spatial structure was analysed along with the climatic and ecological burden, taking account of global climate change issues. The aim was to prevent climate changes caused by redensification from creating additional areas with climatic problems and/or an intensification of the problems experienced in the existing districts.

The main project objectives were:

•  Drawing up planning strategies for urban development, taking account of climate change,
•  Analysis of possible structural town centre development in terms of its local climate and ecological impact at a district level,
•  Providing planning recommendations to prevent or reduce climate burdens,
•  Production of a climate function map for the current situation and future climate scenarios.

Based on a comprehensive climate analysis, the model project was implemented using a three-stage modular process. Initially, regional climate models for different time periods were aggregated and combined to create a climate function map. Based on this, and taking account of current impacts, local areas of activity were identified. In a subsequent iterative process, areas were selected for more detailed analysis, to develop targeted green and urban planning measures specifically for the districts in that area. Finally, the results were evaluated, in order to draw up strategic recommendations for town and municipal planning.

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