2/6/13 – Freiburg, Germany

Sadly and with regret I must say that I had written/typed previously some extensive notes about how I feel about Freiburg and what our class discussion was about and those notes have since been lost and

I cannot find them anywhere…

Oh well, I must digress…

I will do my best to make up for this tragedy with my memory – although it might not do the previous notes justice.

– Anyways – 

To start things off, I have a newfound love for Freiburg after this lecture. It is one of the most amazing green places in the world, in my opinion. After this lecture I even posted on my Facebook status that I was moving there, haha. People's responses were kind of funny. But I ended up explaining that I probably won't move there, as much as I want to, but that it was one of the "greenest cities in the world."

In class, we briefly talked about the Heliotrope in Freiburg. This building is amazing. It is designed by the German architect Rolf Disch and it is extremely environmentally friendly. Check out these pics (in case you are interested).

So this building is basically net zero. Net zero means that it gives back as much energy to the electricity grid as it consumes. Oh, wait. It is actually the first building in the world to create MORE energy than it uses. WOW. That is amazing! Even more amazing is that the building physically rotates to optimize it’s solar panel collection from the sun’s energy. It has a grey-water system and even its own composting system set up, as well. 

This is really a great example of harvesting natural capital.

I really like this quote from class, as well, “We have a collective responsibility to reduce our fossil fuel usage and causes of climate change – for public health in and outside of the house.”

So now class gets even more exciting the plusenergy House and other amazing developments in Freiburg. It utilizes solar energy. Check out the video for this house below.

It's in German, but there are subtitles :)

There are just so many amazing things going on in Freiburg I have to share all of them that I learned about and am excited about. I love that they have a policy set up that requires that no rain/storm water can be let into storm drains; it has to be utilized, somehow. We really need that kind of policy set up in the United States – it is another transition strategy towards harvesting the natural capital of a region, which I am learning more and more of as I come to class.

I really like how quality of life is what guides design – children and families are the focus. This clearly shows how this place has thrived as ‘one of the greenest cities in the world’ with an amazing rate of people living there, riding public transit, riding bikes, and utilizing solar energy and other forms of renewable ‘green’ energy. Their policy that requires that the only way they can develop residential and other areas is that there has to be transit infrastructure developed first is astonishing. It kind of reminds me of Portland, Oregon’s Urban Growth Boundary they have set up to increase density while, at the same time, decrease the effects of sprawl. What a great idea! I love it and it makes total sense!

In the video they referenced that you saving money on utilities is an investment when you are paying higher rent – you are just investing your money elsewhere.

Freiburg is about the community.

All of the stuff happening in Freiburg gets me excited about the potential I have as an architecture major and an urban planning minor. I really love that they have extreme access to public transportation – primarily a light rail line – large access to bike paths with roads that restrict the automobile and give freedom to the bike, how closely knit developments are making them accessible to amenities and daily necessities. All of it, very accurately portrayed in the video, is very exciting and it really makes me want to move there and live there.