All Things Urban

Garden City Falkenberg - 20th century Ecotopia More than 100 years ago, the colourful and cooperative-run Garden City Falkenberg by architect Bruno Taut has anticipated the contemporary discourse on social and environmental sustainability. When 19th century industrialisation led to rapid urbanisation and a dramatic housing scarcity in Berlin, the city government counteracted through a series of reformist housing projects. Gartenstadt Falkenberg was one of them and promised an urban alternative to precarious living conditions, sanitary problems and social tensions. In this walking tour, we discover the architectural characteristics of Gartenstadt Falkenberg as a UNESCO World Heritage site and discuss the social visions that underlie Bruno Taut’s urban and typological planning paradigms: air, sun, community, and subsistence for all inhabitants; Including urban gardening, micro-agriculture and goats in the back yards. Up until today, those aspects of sustainability have remained crucial in the discourse on contemporary housing and urban development. Hence, we will use Falkenberg as an example to reflect on contemporary possibilities for sustainable urban development and housing typologies.

Everyone who is interested in urban life and the city.

POLIGONAL organizes exploratory scholar-led tours for city aficionados and architecture lovers through the city of Berlin.