Climate-neutral energy supply and intelligent mobility in the city center

The Düren Innovation Quarter uses a 5th generation heating network that uses water as an energy carrier and enables the simultaneous production of heating and cooling. Since the demand for heating and cooling varies throughout the year, the ground is used as a seasonal storage facility, which can be supplemented by other storage technologies such as aquifer heat storage, water and ice storage. The very low system temperatures allow the integration of many different heating and cooling sources, such as solar thermal systems, waste heat recovery from wastewater, or even hydrogen-fueled combined heat and power plants.

The quarter's own renewable energy generation is carried out with the help of photovoltaics, which are integrated into roof, facade and open spaces. These are combined with systems for power generation from geothermal energy, wind power and hydrogen technologies to meet the energy requirements for building use, the supply and disposal infrastructure and the solutions for intelligent and sustainable mobility in the Quarter. Energy transparency, which is ensured by central energy monitoring and an energy management system, also plays an important role in optimal energy-related neighborhood operation.

The mobility concept, which focuses on people, links the largely car-free Innovation Quarter both to the main train station in Dueren and to the city center, making the location attractive locally, regionally and nationally for residents and companies alike. The diverse range of transportation options prioritizes non-motorized traffic, connects the neighborhood directly with the city center, and ranges from a central pedestrian and bicycle promenade to optimized public transportation integration and shared and smart mobility options.

In the holistic urban mobility system of the neighborhood, the Mobility Hub connects central nodes at which micro hubs are to be created for the seamless integration of the various modes of transport in the transportation network. In this way, the different mobility needs of road users:inside the first and last mile are met as optimally as possible, while at the same time facilitating the "switch" to environmentally friendly, low-emission and sustainable means of transport. As a growing concept, it also integrates offers such as bike and car sharing with infrastructure for electric mobility and other forms of propulsion. The offer of charging stations for electric vehicles with "vehicle-to-grid" and the pre-equipment for bidirectional loading and unloading also enable environmentally friendly delivery traffic and sustainable neighborhood logistics.

The innovative development process in Düren shows that a key success factor for sustainable urban development concepts is to focus on people and their needs. The combination of participatory process, climate-friendly and regenerative technologies, social and circular-economic orientation, and intelligent mobility make the "Smart Circular Quarter" groundbreaking as an innovative approach to future-oriented and sustainable urban planning that can be flexibly adapted to the current and future needs of citizens and businesses.