A milestone on the road to the “CoLiving Campus” City and TU sign cooperation agreement

As part of the “CoLiving Campus” project, a new kind of science quarter is to be developed on the North Campus of TU Braunschweig on Bienroder Weg, in cooperation with the City of Braunschweig. The aim is to create a community-oriented, mixed-use development comprising buildings and open spaces that offers space for accommodation, research, learning and working, as well as for relaxation and leisure.

Today, Friday 28 August, another milestone has been reached on the path to realising the “CO_LIVING CAMPUS”: Mayor Dr Thorsten Kornblum and TU President Prof Angela Ittel, in the presence of Lower Saxony’s Minister for Science and Culture, Falko Mohrs, have signed a cooperation agreement which sets out the fundamental commitment of all partners to press ahead with the project planning for the CO_LIVING CAMPUS and, in particular, with the urban land-use planning.

Minister Falko Mohrs congratulated the city on this further milestone towards the realisation of the CoLiving Campus: “With the CoLiving Campus, a science quarter is being created in Braunschweig that will set new standards for the interaction between the university and urban society. It is a real-world laboratory for the future, in which new forms of learning, research, working and living together will be tested. The fact that the city and TU Braunschweig are pursuing this path together, with broad public participation, makes the CoLiving Campus a special project for the future of Braunschweig and the whole of Lower Saxony.”

Dr Thorsten Kornblum, Lord Mayor of the City of Braunschweig: “I am delighted that we have today put our ongoing collaboration on a contractual footing. With the ‘CO_LIVING CAMPUS’, TU Braunschweig and the city are jointly bringing science and urban society together in a forward-looking way. My special thanks go to the State of Lower Saxony, which is supporting our project and thereby enabling TU Braunschweig and the City of Braunschweig to further develop the North Campus site into a collaborative science quarter – a place that combines living, learning, research and work. In this way, our city of science is enriched by a quarter that makes science visible and tangible in a whole new way. At the same time, a place is emerging that, even in its development phase, prioritises exchange and participation, thereby demonstrating how science and urban society can shape the future together.”

President of TU Braunschweig Prof. Dr Angela Ittel emphasised: “For us at TU Braunschweig, it is essential to bring science, urban society and city life in our region closer together. With the CO_LIVING Campus, we are putting precisely this into practice, thereby strengthening our scientific ecosystem and Braunschweig as a location. Here, science does not take place on an academic island, but within an ecosystem comprising science, business, politics, culture and society. The fact that people from the university and the wider community have contributed their ideas right from the start also gives the project a clearly democratic dimension. With today’s cooperation agreement, we are laying the foundations to now take this shared vision into the next planning phase. I would like to thank Minister Falko Mohrs and the Ministry of Science and Culture for their support, Mayor Kornblum for the excellent cooperation, and all those involved for their vision and its implementation.”

The draft plan by NUWELA Office for Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture and Studio Sebastian Klawiter forms the basis for the urban development plan. This is now to be fleshed out in more detail. According to their concept, North Campus is to open up and bring together accommodation, the urban landscape, social community, as well as teaching and research.

To this end, a connection to the Ringgleis to the south, as well as links to Bienroder Weg and the East Campus, are to be created. Furthermore, the existing green spaces and open spaces along the Ringgleis are to be enhanced. The focus on public use at the eastern end of the axis is intended to link the two campus areas both functionally and spatially.

Before the local development plan process can begin, the current draft must be further refined and revised. This will involve, amongst other things, determining how the boundaries of the areas to be exchanged are to be defined. Furthermore, the jury’s comments will be incorporated, for example, regarding rainwater infiltration, the mobility concept and the planned use of the area around the central campus square. The next steps in the local development planning process will then be initiated.

The draft by NUWELA Office for Urban Design and Landscape Architecture and Studio Sebastian Klawiter was preceded in 2023 and 2024 by a three-stage participation and planning process comprising CO_NFERENZ, CO_WORKSHOP and CO_WETTBEWERB. At the CO_NFERENZ, members of civil society and local initiatives, students and staff from TU Braunschweig, as well as representatives from politics, the city administration, the media and the business community, contributed a total of 546 ideas and suggestions; in the subsequent CO_WORKSHOP, 46 participants from the wider community and TU Braunschweig developed recommendations. These were compiled in a report, which was reviewed with the participants, and ultimately formed the basis of the competition brief. The design developed by NUWELA Office for Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture and Studio Sebastian Klawiter, in collaboration with students, incorporates these outcomes of the process. It was ultimately awarded first prize.

Further information on the CoLiving Campus project can be found at www.coliving-campus.de.