Impetus for the city centre: these 22 creative projects are set to revitalise Hamburg's city centre

The Ministry for Urban Development and Housing is funding pilot projects for an attractive and sustainable Hamburg city centre with around 640,000 euros. A jury of experts selected 22 pilot projects from the 162 project ideas submitted in the first round of applications for the "Ideen finden Stadt" funding programme. The funded projects create innovative meeting spaces, revitalise Hamburg's city centre and promote social participation, cultural diversity and dialogue on topics such as climate change, community and the creative use of public spaces. Several projects are designed specifically for children and young people to give them the opportunity to actively participate in shaping their city. The pilot projects are part of Hamburg's "Hidden potentials - community development of diverse uses for a vibrant and resilient Hamburg city centre" programme and are to be implemented by autumn 2025.

Karen Pein, Senator for Urban Development and Housing: "An attractive and vibrant city centre also thrives on bold and exciting creative formats. That's why we are supporting a total of 22 projects that revitalise Hamburg's city centre and its public spaces and invite people to watch, marvel and participate. The promising approaches range from temporary playgrounds and light installations to creative art performances and participatory dance events. I am particularly pleased with the creative range of formats, all of which aim to try out new uses in the city centre, create opportunities for people to meet and, in many cases, give children and young people the chance to actively participate in shaping their city."

Elke Pahl-Weber, City Centre Coordinator: "Where and when has there ever been an opportunity to promote project proposals from different city centre stakeholders on such a large scale and bring them from idea to reality? It's good that the 2024 call for proposals was able to take place; the fact that such a large number of projects were submitted is far beyond expectations and the fact that we will be able to see a wide variety of projects in action in 2025 is a wonderful step towards greater diversity of use and community development for the city centre! The city centre coordination will offer the opportunity to discuss the pilot projects in its offices and prepare for on-site visits."

Ralf Neubauer, District Head of Hamburg-Mitte: "Hamburg's city centre thrives on its diversity - be it cultural, social or innovative uses. The 22 subsidised pilot projects create new spaces for encounters, creativity and community. A special aspect is that many of these projects actively involve children and young people and give them the opportunity to contribute their ideas and perspectives for the city centre. In this way, we are shaping a city centre that remains attractive and liveable for all generations."

Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft was responsible for the tendering and implementation of the funding programme and the pilot projects, while the city centre coordinator identified the needs in many project discussions. The great interest in the funding programme was already evident in the application phase, during which the city centre coordinator and her team were able to advise numerous applicants. The jury selected a total of 22 projects based on the concreteness of the application and its fit with the objectives of the vision for the city centre currently being developed. The members of the expert jury, chaired by Prof. Katja-Annika Pahl (Fritz Schumacher Society), were city centre coordinator Prof. Elke Pahl-Weber, Tobias Goevert (Department for Urban Development and Housing), Mathias Bach (Trägerverbund Projekt Innenstadt e. V.), Oliver Sträter (Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly), Brigitte Allkemper (City Management Hamburg), Ute Hertling (Hamburg Chamber of Architects), Ali Al-Saadi (AStA of HafenCity University), Tilman Walther (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg) and Robin Höning (enboss GmbH).

The pilot projects are part of the programme package "Hidden Potentials - For a Vibrant and Resilient Hamburg City Centre", which the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing is implementing for the development of Hamburg's city centre as part of the federal programme "Sustainable City Centres". It aims to strengthen the diversity of uses in the city centre and positively shape structural change. At a concrete level, project ideas are initiated, projects are supported and promoted in order to strengthen the diversity of use in practical trials.

In addition to the selected projects, an ongoing submission in the short procedure is possible for projects with a funding requirement of up to 2,500 euros. In the short procedure, the City Centre Coordination, the Ministry for Urban Development and Housing and the Kreativ Gesellschaft usually make a decision on funding within 14 days of receiving the complete application documents. Applications can be submitted until the funds from the programme have been exhausted.

The following projects will be funded as pilot projects:

Hamburger spielGarten
Hauptkirche St. Petri in cooperation with Manufaktur morgen, the Bürgerstiftung and other local residents at Hammaburg-Platz
The "Hamburger spielGarten" transforms a little-used space near the Hauptkirche St. Petri into a green oasis in which an understanding of nature and community can grow. Children and adults work together to create an edible learning landscape where they can experience ecological relationships through planting, harvesting and cooking. The "spielGarten" invites you to move, discover and reflect and offers space for community-building activities. As a consumer-free meeting place and model project for sustainable urban development, it promotes social interaction and creative learning in the heart of Hamburg.

A school year in the city centre
Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Waldorfpädagogik Hamburg e. V.
The city centre is changing. School is changing. The pilot project "A school year in the city centre" shows how the transformation of both areas can be combined in a valuable way - a previously untapped potential that becomes visible and tangible through innovative learning formats. Sixth form students from Hamburg's Waldorf schools bring school and vitality to the heart of the city with projects, unusual forms of teaching and a great deal of creativity, thereby helping to shape social interaction in the urban environment.

Pop Up Mini Children'sCity
Patriotische Gesellschaft von 1765 e. V.
The "Pop Up Mini Children's City" project gives children and young people more visibility in Hamburg's city centre and offers them a free space to actively participate in urban planning. In a temporary urban planning office, children develop ideas for the future of the city, learn about democratic processes through play and explore Hamburg's city centre. The project promotes personal responsibility, social justice and creative solutions and demonstrates the potential of child participation in urban planning.

I want to see two sea lions hugging each other - three would be better, of course. (freely adapted from Dilek Mayatürk)
Ina Römling, Torben Körschkes, Charlotte Pfeifer, Pascal Fuhlbrügge, Annika Dorau
The Mönckebergbrunnen was a meeting place for subcultural movements from the 1960s to the 1980s. The project takes this location as a starting point to reflect on a culturally diverse city centre. Over the course of two weeks, the site will be used for installations, performances and literature.

KRASS City
Kunstwerk e. V.
The KRASS CITY project conquers Hamburg's city centre with young Hamburg hip hop artists. In various dance/performance/music formats, they develop an urban performance that brings the core of HIP HOP to the streets of Hamburg: community, respect, talent, inspiration.

Pop-Up Living - Hidden living space potential
Vonwegenleer, Architekturkollektiv
The "Pop-Up Living" project explores the potential of vacant office buildings in Hamburg's city centre for temporary residential use. The aim is to revitalise the city centre, create living space and test the permissibility and reversible architecture. The city centre becomes a real-world laboratory.

Profiling and implementation of measures in the Opera/Colonnaden neighbourhood
Stadtmanufaktur GmbH
The aim of the project is to raise the profile of the Opera/Colonnaden neighbourhood and highlight its special features. In addition, the Colonnaden e. V. association is to be supported in the implementation of measures until the planned Business Improvement District (BID) is established. The planned activities include an open-air gallery and events in the urban space.

Nimm Platz - Eine lange Tafel für die Hamburger Innenstadt
NASCH Kollektiv e. V.
A warm summer evening in Hamburg's city centre: a long table in a public space where people can come together, chat and enjoy regional, seasonal delicacies. The Nasch Kollektiv would like to set up such a table several times a year at different locations in the city centre to enable a shared culinary experience and promote low-threshold access to plant-based, seasonal cuisine. The menu will be developed in creative phases, based on research into regional and climate-related changes in the availability of fruit and vegetables. In addition to the culinary experience, the aim is also to break down barriers between social groups and to propose and test new utilisation concepts for public spaces.

Miniplex Hamburg
Michael Böhler, Tina Henkel, Julia zur Lippe
"Miniplex" is a real-life laboratory that serves to revitalise Hamburg's city centre at night. A temporary cinema installation is being created in the pedestrian zone from Spitalerstraße to Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz. After closing time, visitors can enjoy films in hammocks under a covered walkway. The installation is powered exclusively by solar energy. During the day, it serves as a walkway and offers protection from the sun and rain. Miniplex enables a low-threshold cultural experience without the pressure to consume and is intended to revitalise urban open spaces.

KLIMASTRÖME - Everything flows together!
KLIMASTRÖME[studio playces with KinderKinder e. V.]
During two weeks in the Hamburg summer holidays, artists, scientists and children and young people aged 6 to 14 will work on projects on the topic of climate change and accessibility to water at five different locations in Hamburg. During a festive water parade, the creative, playful and critical visions of the participants flow together on the Alster and send a strong signal for environmental education, nature conservation and inner-city networking through interdisciplinary cooperation.

Kid Koala's Public Space Invaders
KAMPNAGELINTERNATIONALE KULTURFABRIK GMBH
With Public Space Invaders, Canadian DJ, author and theatre maker Kid Koala is bringing a temporary art arcade to Hamburg's city centre, inspired by arcades of the 70s and 80s. As part of the Kampnagel International Summer Festival, workshops and performances beyond market-based consumerism will take place there. The festival will conclude with a street parade that will turn the city centre into a stage for urban culture.

CHOIR OF LEAVES (AT)
Julia Nordholz
The project comprises a sound installation that makes the communication of trees audible. Visitors listen to the 'conversations' of the trees via loudspeakers or mobile devices. Benches between trees in various city centre locations invite visitors to linger.

Editorial workshop
LU'UM
The project is based on a fictitious neighbourhood - with its own mobile editorial workshop. It records and processes what is hidden in the urban space of the city centre. An issue of the magazine is published regularly in the form of a collage of what is available and what is not.

Rolling Good Times
Eng Kai Er and Jana Irle
"Rolling Good Times" is a series of dance classes for inline/scooter and roller skaters. Once a month in summer, the dancers meet at the roller skating rink in Planten un Blomen. The programme includes warming up together, movement games and learning choreographies to popular feel-good songs.

StrassenTEILHABE - art, culture and dialogue for an inclusive public space
StrassenBLUES e. V.
The "StrassenTEILHABE" project connects lonely, homeless and poor people with passers-by through community art in Hamburg. Using simple art forms such as mosaics, collages and street painting, it creates space for dialogue and enables lonely people to re-establish social contacts through postcards and eye-to-eye exchanges.

PLAZA MOBILE
N55/ Till Wolfer -- in cooperation with asdfg / Philipp Loeper, umschichten / Lukasz Lendzinski and Dr Yvonne Siegmund
A mobile plaza travels through the city. In its luggage are many tools to redesign the city. It visits dead places, restages their hidden potential and brings them back to life. We temporarily experience extraordinary situations that show us what the liveable city of tomorrow can be like.

The Kunstmeile Hamburg becomes an art trail
Kunstmeile Hamburg GbR
The Kunstmeile Hamburg invites artists to make temporary use of its flagpoles in the city centre. The Kunstmeile thus becomes an outdoor art trail that is intended to appeal to an art-loving public as well as passers-by.

URBAN LIFE MAKERS - migrant businesses for a vibrant city centre
Arbeitsgemeinschaft selbständiger Migranten e. V.
The project aims to raise the potential of local migrant entrepreneurs for the revitalisation of Hamburg's city centre, make it visible and integrate it into the city centre's development processes. URBAN LIFE MAKERS aims to increase participation, create networks and contribute to community building

Playdate Hamburg
OTTO WULFF Placemaking GmbH
Playdate Hamburg aims to make Hamburg's city centre a more liveable place for everyone, especially for families with child-friendly facilities. There is currently a lack of attractive play facilities in the city centre. The concept is to create a temporary playground with high-quality play equipment made from containers from the Port of Hamburg, produced by KuKuk Box. With the support of the Hamburg-Mitte district authority, a play area will be realised for up to six months at Mönckebergbrunnen or at alternative locations. The utilisation will be documented to illustrate the potential for long-term play opportunities.

"Sean Scully. Stories"
Bucerius Kunst Forum gemeinnützige GmbH
As part of the exhibition Sean Scully. Stories exhibition, the Bucerius Kunst Forum will be installing three large-format sculptures by the artist on the Alter Wall in summer 2025, transforming the public space into a place for everyone to experience art, pause for a moment and come together.

PERIOD - Paint the Town Red
Period Collective
"PERIOD" is a pilot project that raises awareness of period poverty and opens up toilets. We hand out hygiene products and generate attention with artistic posters.we design a map for the city centre: where can I find toilets, free pads and tampons?

Lieblingslicht
Ulrike Brandi Licht Lichtplanung und Leuchtenentwicklung GmbH
Light installations about atmosphere and feelings about the city centre: The "Lieblingslicht" project investigates how light changes public spaces in Hamburg's city centre. Light influences the ambience and contributes to orientation and safety. Young people actively help to shape the city centre and develop a stronger sense of identification. The project uses vacant shop spaces for interactive light installations and thus opens up a new approach to urban design that can also be transferred to other parts of the city.