More City in the City

With the Magistralen 2040+ masterplan, Hamburg is focusing on compact and sustainable urban development along the main transport axes. These arterial roads are not just transport arteries, but also offer enormous potential for housing, workplaces and social infrastructure. Around 160 kilometres of urban space stretch along these roads, in which densification, new green spaces and improved traffic management are planned. 61.8 kilometres of the Magistral network are already lined with green and open spaces, which are to be further upgraded and networked. The aim is to further develop these areas in a targeted manner in order to enable short distances, mixed uses and a higher quality of stay.

As early as 1919, Fritz Schumacher, the senior building director at the time, outlined the urban development along these axes in his spring plan. The International Building Forum 2019 brought the topic back into focus. The masterplan builds on this and defines twelve central arterial roads, including eight north of the Elbe, two in Harburg, Ring 2 and the connecting axis across the Elbe islands. These streets are city entrances, neighbourhood centres and traffic areas at the same time, but in many places they are underdeveloped and underused.

The city is pursuing several development goals with the masterplan. The main thoroughfares are to become lively and diverse spaces in which living, working and leisure come closer together. At the same time, they are to serve as focal areas for internal development in order to utilise existing areas more efficiently and create new living space. Mobility also plays a central role. The masterplan focuses on sustainable mobility areas with better transport links and a stronger focus on sustainable forms of transport. In addition, climate-adapted spaces are to be created that increase the quality of stay with new green spaces, open spaces and improved infrastructure. This is particularly relevant as 71 per cent of major roads are already regularly affected by heat, with temperatures exceeding 31 degrees in summer.

Hamburg's main traffic arteries are already the subject of many urban plans, including the mobility transition strategy, the landscape programme and the city centre concept. The Magistralen masterplan brings together these approaches and creates a common vision for future projects. Around 550,000 Hamburg residents live near the Magistralen and many more work there. The development of these important urban spaces therefore requires close cooperation between various specialist authorities and districts in order to establish the Magistralen as vibrant, functional and climate-resilient urban neighbourhoods in the long term.