Essay: The Quarter – Building Block of the Future

© Volatus CC BY-SA 4.0
© Philippe Guignard
© Reinhard Zimmermann
© Michael Freisager
© Jakob Schoof
© BUGA2019 GmbH/ Jürgen Häffner
© Bavaria Luftbild Verlags GmbH
© BUGA 2019 GmbH
© BUGA 2019 GmbH

In the last 30 years, many cities have reinvented their industrial, infrastructural and traffic areas. Although these sometimes spectacular projects are much discussed, no one is talking about the fact that, after a long crisis in urban planning, a new discipline is emerging – the urban quarter. This dense and loud mess hated by modernity. And that’s a best-case scenario. Because of course the opposite still exists: grim city centres with European Quarters and back-office deserts, where uninspired capital piles up in high-rise buildings. Often they are little more than sterile service ghettos with a few expensive boutiques and chain restaurants.