Sustainability

Many routes to a sustainable city

Traffic planning for HafenCity is based on a basic concept of sustainability: non-motorized modes of transport and public carriers take precedence in this new part of town

Public transport takes a leading role in infrastructure provision for HafenCity. Routes of bus lines can be changed flexibly to adapt to the latest stage of development (© ELBE&FLUT) Start slideshow

Sustainability, as an ecological and social quality, is one of the most important benchmarks underlying transport planning in HafenCity. Its inner-city, central location and fine-meshed mix of work, leisure and residential uses make it a district of short distances. There are few extended blocks of buildings. Whereas contiguous lines of housing create long roundabout routes in other parts of town, in HafenCity, pedestrians and cyclists can even use private spaces between individual buildings to make their way.

This means that the network of footpaths and cycling trails can be unusually dense. Compared with the sought-after 19th century residential districts of Hamburg, the ratio of footways to roadways in HafenCity is a lot more favorable: pedestrians have two and a half kilometers of pathway more at their disposal here than motorists - in the suburb of Eimsbüttel, for instance, the ratio is 5:4. About 70 per cent of footpaths are segregated from motor traffic and a lot of them run parallel to the water’s edge.

The problem of stationary vehicles has been reduced to a minimum, since the interiors of the flood-secure plinths of buildings are used for underground parking. The avoidance of above-ground parking garages means that the ground surface is a more intensively and carefully used resource. Another major role in the sustainable infrastructure of the new district is taken by public transport services. Its central transport artery, the new U4 underground rapid transit line, will be ready by fall 2012. The section between Jungfernstieg and Überseequartier alone is expected to be used by around 35,000 people a day, which amounts to the equivalent of about 26,000 fewer car journeys every day.

The U4 is complemented by other public local transport services: easily reached to the west and north of HafenCity are the existing Baumwall (U3) und Messberg (U1) underground stations. Meanwhile on the water, HADAG’s number 62 ferry line will be serving Dalmannkai from 2010, with further stops to come. In addition, the various bus lines already operated into HafenCity by Hamburger Hochbahn have an unbeatable advantage, particularly during the construction phase of the new district: their routes can be varied flexibly to suit the latest state of development. Three lines are serving HafenCity so far: services 3, 4 and 6. The next service waiting to start in 2010 is the 212 line, which starts from Altona railroad station. The most innovative service is run by line number 6, which uses pollution-free, fuel-cell-driven buses.

As is happening throughout Hamburg’s inner city, public transport and non-motorized transport are becoming more integrated. The new cycle rental system run by DB AG was launched in summer 2009; in future HafenCity alone will offer four bike stations, the first 24 bikes already can be rented
in front of the Unilever building on Strandkai. This makes it possible to travel comfortably by public transport to HafenCity from other districts or within the Metropolitan Region - and then pick up a bike for the rest of the journey. Plans for "shared space", the introduction of a hydrogen filling station, and the extension of the U4 to the east of HafenCity are also in the pipeline.