Three stages of cooperation in substance
 
1. Preliminary stage: New Housing in an Industrial Village . a spontaneous approach and first bridging
 
Commencement of cooperation: 1992, Charrette Vockerode
Basis:
 
   a) Long-term project of Bauhaus Industrial Garden Realm (see Stadtbauwelt 110/1991, Propositions of the 1990 Workshop)
 
   b) Teaching Program Town and Suburban Design at the School of Architecture, method of charette, principles of the later New Urbanism (fixed in the Charta since 1993).
 
Substantial foundations: Further urban development of the existing structures, avoidance of sprawl by the erection of ambitious living areas within the estates, integration of cultural historical facilities as a basis for the shaping of a future-oriented region after the end of the era of old Industry.
 
Project: Industrial Village Vockerode in the historic Garden Realm - symbolic place of the Industrial Garden Realm (local approach)
Without knowing the discussions about the foundation of the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Charta of NU under preparation in the US already, these approaches played a certain role during the design activities - in an unconstrained way, they corresponded with the substantial principles of the Industrial Garden Realm. Without pressing the architectonical designing of the proposals for the building-up of Vockerode into a compulsory shape ("modern Bauhaus architecture"), an urban approach was achieved for the development of this prototype of the conversion of an industrial village in a listed landscape to an attractive place of housing, culture and work, which brings design innovations into the region, but integrates them in a very compatible way and nevertheless adds a recognizable novelty - just as the "attitude" of the enlightened ruler and modernizer Prince Franz 200 years ago. The development plan covers all criteria which were later included in the Charta of NU: it is an typical example of NU! For the development of the project Vockerode in the Industrial Garden Realm, the result had an indirect effect only, no direct activities followed.
 
2. Arrangement: Reconvention of an old industrial area in the sense of the CNU Charta
- first effects
 
Continuation of cooperation 1995 : Charette Bitterfeld
 
Basis and subject foundations: see in 1.
 
Project:
Conversion of the Southern Area of the Industrial Park Bitterfeld-Wolfen to an urban housing and business area which brings together the existing towns Bitterfeld and Wolfen (regional approach centering on the reconvention of old industrial areas).
 
The focal points of the charette were the southern part of the Chemical Park Bitterfeld with the design cores Torbogenstrasse (former Power Plant South), connection to the northern areas (with the estate of the former dwelling house of W. Rathenau) as well as the conversion of the fallow areas in the Chemical Park to mixed areas.
Yet the Charta of NU issued in the year 1993 did not play a direct role in this case either. The task clearly differed from the usual tasks of the university, housing, the development of settlements and the renewal of inner cities. The conversion of old industrial areas plays a minor role in the Charta of CNU. The more remarkable is the result: the master plan represents a synthesis of the ideas for the long-term conversion of the mono-structural area to a mixed urban area as a "joint" between the existing towns. The idea of a "Film Park", a landscape garden, which interweaves the different parts like a chain of pearls (Charta vocabulary "corridor"), is one of the approaches which characterized the further discussions in the region. But also the ideas of a "Museum of the Future" at Torbogenstrasse ("Venice in Bitterfeld") attracted attention, as they were innovative interpretations of the development of the existing state of building-up for industrial objects.
 
Decisive was however the effect of the master plan as a whole: It formed the basis for the planning workshop established by the municipalities and the district administration which was moderated by the Bauhaus and which developed a comprehensive master plan for the whole area in 1996. The latter was awarded the European Planners' Prize in 1998. It includes principles in a regional charta (code), which were decided upon by the towns, as are formulated in the CNU Charta, without any explicit reference to it. The correspondence between the planning instruments and the method becomes obvious: planning workshop - charrette, master plan, code of rules.
 
3. Interweaving: Redevelopment of the suburban region
 
Continuation and extension of cooperation in 1998 by the participation of the School of Architecture in the newly founded Bauhaus Kolleg (course of lectures), attendance in the CNU Congress at Denver (1998, commencement of continuous, institutionalized contacts to CNU, further attendance in the conferences at Milwaukee and Portland), translation of the Charta into German and first scientific publications in Germany about CNU (Die Alte Stadt 4/98 and Stadtbauwelt 12/2000) as well as participation in the first CNU Awards Program 2000/2001.
 
Basis: Extension of the subject foundations and the discussion of the "culture of movements" in urban construction and regional development after the CNU Congress at Denver (for the first time presentation of the Industrial Garden Realm in the USA).
 
Project: "Beyond the Sprawl" Redevelopment of the whole suburban district of Bitterfeld-Wolfen . with the components
 
- renewal of the industrial fallow land Film Factory Wolfen,
- conversion of fallow housing estates in the near of the town center,
- reurbanization of the large periphery housing estate in slab construction, and
- development of a fallow mining area to a neighborhood estate in the near
  of the town center
 
By implementing the task to contribute to the reconvention of the "sprawl", a further step was made for the interweaving of the design objectives of the two institutions. Although the suburbanization in Germany has not reached the level of the one in the USA, and although it cannot be directly compared to it from the social point of view, it is just the industrial landscape which undergoes a radical industrial change, which is strongly fragmenting, that is characterized by especially rapid sprawl. The typology of design tasks (and the intended interweaving of the different assignments) was generated with an explicit reference to the CNU Charta and the differentiation of the Program Industrial Garden Realm in guiding projects as the master plan of 1996 and their implementation in the frame of EXPO 2000, as well as the substantial reinforcement of the initial propositions (compare the book Industrielles Gartenreich, Dessau 1996).
 
The contributions of the Kolleg (not only the US contributions but also the ones of universities from Brazil, Munich and Berlin) resulted in the formulation of the approach in the partial region Bitterfeld-Wolfen: Foundation of a new town out of the previous districts (not only a communal combination but qualitative integration as reurbanization). This process is still ongoing and is systematically followed up by the local actors.
 
By the new orientation of the Bauhaus in 1999, the appointment of the new director, the radical turning away from the previous way with the termination of the international cooperation along the urban reform projects and the interrelated topics of urbanization (Industrial Garden Realm and suburbanization), this development process met its abrupt institutional end - at the Dessau Bauhaus. But the discourse was continued by new carriers. The "Regional Forum" undertook the continuation of the process as the regional carrier. It is also managing the participation of the region in the national competition "Regions of the Future", which was initiated in preparation of the World Conference "URBAN 21" in the summer of 2000 at Berlin. The region Industrial Garden Realm was awarded a second prize in this competition!. The cooperation with Miami University strongly supported the achievement of this result. The reform efforts start to pay off. I consider my guest professorship at the School of Architecture 1999/2000 as an expression of this joint work during the past ten years. At this point, I like to thank all the people involved!
 
In preparation of the CNU Award 2000, the next step towards the spatial overall interweaving of the individual projects and plans for partial areas was made in the REGIONAL PLAN Industrial Garden Realm "between history and future", with the design maxim "regional garden". This plan is a collage of the renewal projects, their cultural-historical foundations and spatial-design connections along corridors, paths and networks. It is the expression of an application as well as of a specific interpretation of the CNU Charta. It also includes the critical reflection made above all during the translation and discussion of the Charta, as e.g. questions of the gated community, the too high portion of new buildings when compared to renewal, the small portions of the conversion of old industrial areas ("brownfields") or to a too small architectonic plurality of high-quality design.