NEOCITY: A White Paper for the Innovation and Boom Corridor in Southeast Berlin and Brandenburg

While airport areas in many international cities became extra muros hubs and magnets, particularly for commercial real estate development, Berlin airports and their respective environment maintained a rather modest niche existence over a turn of events and decades.

Things were much more dynamic in Frankfurt and Munich, not to mention Chicago, London, Shenzhen, Paris and Zurich. Here, “development corridors” were created along the inner-city-to-airport axis, which created a whole series of inherently successful spaces; but they also lacked intelligent added value, urbanity and sustainable urban development. Shortly after the opening of the new capital airport, the question now arises: Are Berlin and Brandenburg facing the same dilemma of a dense, yet less urban intermediate city? Or could something exemplary be created here as an alternative?

The region around BER is becoming more and more important economically and it's no exaggeration to say about the southeast of the city: It's booming here! There is also a steady upward trend in the neighboring parts of Brandenburg. Not only in terms of population size and labor market — a disproportionate development can also be seen in the real estate, commercial and office space markets.

However, together with Thomas Sevcik from the “arthesia” think tank, REALACE has come to the conclusion that this area should not be understood as a pure airport axis. Instead, there is a development corridor between Ostkreuz and Neuköllner Hafen and Königs Wusterhausen and Grünheide, for which engines and attractors — such as the scientific city of Adlershof, the Tesla plant and the agglomerations of universities and companies in Oberschöneweide and Wildau — represent important positions. In addition, the unique urban landscape of the Müggelspree also plays a remarkable and therefore remarkable role.

Although a development like this was foreseeable for a long time in the context of the BER opening, there was no characteristic narrative for this special, transnational and very heterogeneous urban space:

With the “NEOCITY” White Paper, we have now closed this gap. The extent to which our initiative fell on fertile ground has been shown not only in the outstanding response from the specialist audience, but also in the fact that the Southeast Innovation “Corridor” — in this wording and with its own passage — was also recently included in the coalition agreement of the new Berlin state government.

The “NEOCITY” described by us is characterized by the following aspects: dynamics, hybrids and application. New functions and content as well as pioneering, directly applied and implemented ideas on mobility, sustainability or knowledge production as well as new ideas in urban planning and urbanity are included. NEOCITY therefore comprises important growth drivers and links them to form intelligent ecosystems without weakening the opportunities of a booming region. Characterized by pronounced heterogeneity, it also allows hybrid forms of working, living and leisure activities as well as special, unusual functions that a metropolis like Berlin will continue to need in the future.

The white paper of the same name therefore deals more intensively with the following modules:

1 FAST CITY/SLOW CITY

NEOCITY is taking city logistics to a pioneering new level. Along the core city airport axis, a space of accelerated dynamism is being created in which new things are quickly tested, rejected or recombined. An intensified range of urban infrastructure is organized by a network of neighborhoods with “15-minute accessibility” of all functions. In contrast, in the unique urban landscape of the Müggelspree, the art and power of slowing down unfold. The accessibility of inherently “slow” places should also be regarded as a focus.

2 NEONEIGHBORHOODS

Today, urbanity must also be created outside the core area of the metropolitan region. The reproduction of yesterday's intermediate city should be avoided. On the other hand, it is important to promote the “successful Berlin model” of the neighborhood, which can create new urban and urban landscape ecosystems. As a decentralized development strategy, the so-called “NEOKIEZE” form NEOCITY's new network. The idea goes beyond traditional residential areas and also defines new logistics locations, modern research and development spaces and more landscape-related locations. The five main characteristics of neighborhoods — seclusion (insularity), manageability, identity creation, mix of uses and network of actors — create a clear program of action for every NEOKIEZ. Understanding the interplay of these factors and their activation is the success of such urban development.

3 NEW HYBRIDS

The image of urbanity and mix of uses is also changing; the change in functions and their interrelationships is blurring conventional borders into new hybrids. These can only take place in the non-European urban structure of NEOCITY without being forced or artificial.

4 NEW FORMS OF VALUE CREATION

As a kind of “intermediate city advanced”, NEOCITY is also the scene and application of new value creation models. Although the strong sectors such as logistics, back offices and the MICE sector (meeting, conference, events, incentives) will also be located in the extensive area surrounding BER airport, they will be enriched by novel and special forms of use and hybrid forms of use. There is particular potential here in the areas of neo-manufacturing and knowledge production. Showrooms, vertical farming, last-mile production and intelligent warehousing combine separate types of use into novel hybrids; new MICE offerings near the airport are combined with prototyping and completely revitalize green and waterfront locations.

In our White Paper, we deliberately refrain from promoting or highlighting a specific selection of industries — it is more likely that the model of a successful location is identified and reapplied: Successful paths are quickly consolidated, growth engines are reinforced or simply doubled and networked expansion is driven forward.

5 APPLIED SCIENCE & DEVELOPMENT

The city's central resource: knowledge. From decelerated thinking rooms to quick places of application. NEOCITY focuses on the development and transfer of knowledge. In the course of this, existing platforms will be reinforced and supplemented by testing and prototyping infrastructures. Similarly, new knowledge centers must be located at the location and complement existing university and research institutions or commercial production cores.

NEOCITY should be nothing less than the start of a movement and the impetus of a holistic discourse about the airport areas of tomorrow. It shows a comprehensive concept for all actors to develop a new and innovative piece of the city; combined with the explicit invitation to take up, interpret and share our ideas. As a white paper, it fills the gap in being able to formulate and share a vision for the development of the “boom corridor” in the southeast of the metropolis. At the same time, it offers the opportunity to share the meta-story of Berlin as a city that is always in development, that is never finished, and to develop together — Berlin and Brandenburg in a network — with motivation.