Fine-grained
In HafenCity many uses, such as accommodation, workplaces and leisure, are combined in a confined area, in other words fine-grained. A conscious decision has been made to avoid spatial separation of such uses.
Glossary
From basements to urbanity: easy-to-understand explanations of the most important technical terms
Glossary A- E
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Exclusive option period
Exclusive option periods for plots (e.g. as a result of a successful investor selection process in HafenCity) are initially applied for by HafenCity Hamburg GmbH and then must be approved by the Land Committee. After its decision, however, the sale of the piece of land does not proceed: instead a exclusive option period begins.
The investor / user has access to the site (on the basis of a exclusive option period agreement with HafenCity Hamburg GmbH) at first just for planning purposes. It can then launch an architectural competition, initiate surveys, calculate added costs on the basis of actual site conditions, prepare its application for permission to build and apply for a building permit. HafenCity Hamburg GmbH, the authorities and the purchaser remain in constant contact during this period. Towards the end of the pre-sale option period the developer and HafenCity negotiate the contract of sale, taking into consideration the specific conditions on the building site and the content of the construction concept.
The advantage for the developer is that it does not have to finance the cost of the land until after the initial process is completed. It also has adequate time in which to optimize the project, secure financing and perhaps even acquire additional users. For its part, the city of Hamburg retains the possibility to intervene during the development phase. It can thus ensure that land use concepts and timetables are kept to and that the quality of the building is ensured through architectural competitions and the eventual building permit. Well-defined phases during the planning coordination procedure guarantee a fast-moving process.
For Hamburg and HafenCity Hamburg GmbH the exclusive option period is a mechanism that safeguards quality both in terms of time and land use: if a developer fails to keep to the terms of the exclusive option period contract, the piece of land concerned can be retrieved without administrative expense. This encourages cooperative behavior - and simultaneously discourages investors from opportunistic strategies. After all, both sides benefit from the pre-sale option period procedure: both the City of Hamburg and the developers minimize risk, costs and delays - and maintain quality.
Glossary F - H
Flood gates
Waterproof doors that are closed when there is a risk of storm surge to protect the areas behind them (e.g. underground parking garages) from flooding.
Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy exploits the difference between air temperature and water or ground temperature (up to 100 meters underground) for ventilation (cooling and heating) of buildings.
Gross floor area (GFA)
Measurement unit to describe the total floor area of all stories of a building. The exterior measurements are what count: areas that cannot be used (e.g. because walls stand on them) are therefore also part of the calculation - contrary to net floor area.
Heat pump
Heat pumps exploit the difference between air temperature and water or ground temperature (up to 100 meters under ground) for ventilation (cooling and heating) of buildings.
Glossary I - M
Kesselhaus
Today the former industrial boiler house (Kesselhaus) dating from 1886/87 that once fired the Speicherstadt functions as the HafenCity InfoCenter. Inside, a scale model eight by four meters (scale 1:500) documents all the changes in the new inner-city district.
Local district heating
A local district-heating network supplies several buildings with thermal energy, but - in contrast to long-distance district heating - just over short distances. Thermal energy is produced in small, decentralized units (such as combined heat and power units, fuel-cells, solar or geothermal plants) instead of in a central power station.
Long-distance district heating
A long-distance district heating network supplies several buildings - or even whole housing estates or parts of town, as well as towns - with thermal energy. Heat generated, e.g. in a central power station, is then routed through pipe systems to end-users.
Main Hamburg dike line
Hamburg’s main dike protects lower-lying areas against flooding. It consists of 7.2 to 9 meter high dikes which provide continuous protection running along a distance of around 100 kilometers. Although the main dike line can be breached, for example by roads, those can be closed by flood gates when there is a risk of storms.
Mean sea level
Mean sea level defines the median level of water in the North Sea. Mean sea level is also the yardstick in Hamburg for the severity of storm surges.
Meander
Meanders are the curving patterns made by a river as it winds its way to the sea. Buildings and pathways that are reminiscent of meanders are therefore described as “meandering” by architects and town planners.
Metropolis
Large or international city. Some definitions describe a metropolis as a city of between one and ten million inhabitants. A megacity is the term - again, depending on the definition - for a city with five, eight or ten million residents.
Metropolitan Region
A densely developed agglomeration with above-average and/or international standing. Metropolitan regions are regarded as engines of economic and social development. In addition to Hamburg itself, the Hamburg Metropolitan Region embraces 14 municipalities in Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. A total of 4.3 million people live and work in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region.
Multi-generational apartment blocks
Buildings in which people from different generations have made a conscious decision to coexist under one roof.
Multi-locality household
Households that occupy several homes for work-related reasons - and therefore have special requirements of their various bases (e.g. good transport links).
Glossary N - R
Pilot project
Pilot projects are used to test resilience and reliability - for instance of newly developed technologies.
Planning principles
Underlying guidelines that apply to planning throughout HafenCity and which therefore influence it to a large extent.
Public appeal
Many ground floor spaces in HafenCity are used for uses with public appeal. Shops, restaurants, cafés, bistros or bars that attract the general public in large numbers have moved into them.
Public rights / Public obligations
In HafenCity, private and public areas are often closely intermeshed. Thus, the public is not only allowed in many private areas at any time of day or night, even wider public use is allowed, such as political, journalistic or cultural activities, and even begging. Those public rights are especially significant in the central Überseequartier.
Rights of way
Many private areas in HafenCity entail so-called rights of way. Building proprietors are obliged to keep such private areas permanently accessible. Passers-by may use them as freely as they do all other public urban spaces.
Roadway elements
Sidewalks, cycling lanes, safety zones, landscaped strips, stopping bays and other areas on both sides of the street, for example green areas.
Glossary S - Z
Shopping mall
Indoor shopping center housing many shops.
Social milieu
Every one of us is influenced to a greater or lesser extent by the social milieus in which we move. A social milieu develops from different influences (e.g. cultural, political, religious or economic), and specific values and points of view always play a part.
Solar thermal plant
Solar thermal plants can make use of the sun’s energy to heat buildings.
Solar thermal power
Solar thermal plants use the sun’s energy to generate heat; in HafenCity this is used, for example, for heating water.
Spa
Health and wellness center, frequently found in hotels or as a stand-alone establishment.
Speicherstadt
Historic warehouse complex built largely in the late 19th century. These listed clinker brick-built buildings cover an area of 25 hectares north of the new HafenCity; together they form the new part of town. Today, the Speicherstadt also boasts museums, eateries and offices.
Sustainability
Sustainability is a description of awareness and care in use of resources to guarantee their availability for the long term.
Topography
Surface of an area with its natural or artificial slopes and inclines. The whole topography of HafenCity has been artificially created, in some areas over the course of centuries.
Urbanity
The metropolitan feel of an urban space. Urbanity basically arises from an appropriate urban structure made up of a variety of land uses in and outside buildings, as well as the presence of a large number of people of different types.
