2023-05-14 16:59:55
Et could be so easy if we only lived in virtual worlds. We would tell an artificial intelligence how we imagine public space, and in no time at all we would have a living space in which we felt comfortable. And the very next day we could change everything again.
In reality, however, all change processes are lengthy and full of hurdles. However, artificial intelligence (AI) can help to find solutions: This is one finding of the urban development festival SOUP, which ended in Frankfurt at the weekend. For three days, around 1,500 participants discussed how the quality of life can be improved – and whether we need to reinvent the city.
Architect Matthias Hollwich, who was born in Munich and works in New York, has playfully tried out what a completely invented city that is reminiscent of Frankfurt could look like. His team set the AI programs ChatGPT and Midjourney the task of combining traditional and modern Frankfurt architecture. The result is somewhat crazy-looking designs, such as high-rise buildings with pointed gabled roofs. But Hollwich is serious about using AI in planning – and points to a number of applications that could make work easier for architects. “We can use it to expand our creativity,” he says, and predicts: “Artificial intelligence will either make architects better or make them unemployed.”
Discussed in principle
The city planner Robin Römer experimented with AI in a different context: children could tell the software what they wanted for the design of the Hauptwache. The result, for example, is a landscape with penguins and rhinos. The design of the central city square was part of several program items. Analogue ideas were also presented, such as the multifunctional “Paul” cabinet, which can be used as a kiosk, café or stage and can be quickly moved from one place to another.
But there was also a fundamental discussion about the future of the city center, for which, in the opinion of Rita Roland from the consulting firm PWC, it has long been “five past twelve” in view of the retail crisis. “Something has to happen quickly, Frankfurt has to reinvent itself.” The strategy consultant Thomas Sevcik warned against the idea that a use could become established in the shopping centers that has nothing to do with making money. “Downtowns have always been commercial, that will never change,” he said. However, in the future money will not only be made by selling things. “We will get new offers: commercial culture, commercial health, commercial education.” There will also be neighborhoods that are managed by private companies like shopping centers.
Tobias Sauerbier from the Signa real estate company, which is currently constructing the new building on the site of the former sports arena at the Hauptwache, also sees an opportunity in the withdrawal of the retail trade. You can fill the free space with something new. In order to enable a wide range of offers, however, one must also talk about subsidizing retail trade that cannot pay high rents. Daniel Reichwein from project developer Hines, who is converting the former Esprit building on the Zeil, advocated bringing homes and offices back to the shopping mile. “The city center is not dead,” says consultant Sevcik. “She’s just better than she used to be.”
“Frankfurt will remain a place that attracts people”
This message should be in the spirit of Marcus Gwechenberger, who was nominated as the new head of planning at the Frankfurt SPD party conference on Friday. A few hours earlier, he had presented his basic guidelines for urban development at the festival. He was optimistic: “Frankfurt will remain a place that attracts people.” Gwechenberger not only wants to provide the necessary infrastructure, but also improve the quality of stay. “We want to transform public space and become faster at the same time.”
Architect Kristian Villadsen from the renowned Gehl office in Copenhagen formulated a suggestion as to where Gwechenberger could start: “The ramparts are an underused resource in Frankfurt.” great, but social intelligence is more important for livable cities.”
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