concept

the four pillars of this sustainable model city

Local circular economy is the solution for sustainable urban development. This is where Eco City Wünsdorf comes in – with its four core elements of Campus, Academy, Eco Station and Aesthetics.

The Eco City Wünsdorf is a cellular ecological urban organism that operates as autonomously as possible. Its inhabitants are consumers and producers at the same time, who provide for themselves as much as possible. They use renewable energy, local water and nutrient cycles, cradle-to-cradle technologies for durable and recyclable products, and consistently sustainable mobility solutions.

The Eco City Wünsdorf is above all a campus city, education and training are its foundation. The largest group are apprentices , who live, work and get educated in the field of sustainable urban development. People from crisis areas, Germans, Europeans and international students are testing concepts of sustainable urbanity. Supported by experts, practitioners, NGOs and foundations, Wünsdorf is creating a place of constant exchange with interested parties from the region as well as stakeholders from all over the world. Starting from this model city, more and more cities will function according to the principle of the local circular economy.

campus

campus scetch

Living community

In the green campus city, the distances are short – between places, people and ideas. In Wünsdorf, people from crisis areas, Germans and EU citizens live, learn and work together. The training takes place in the dual system, which also enjoys a good reputation in other countries, because it prepares in the best possible way for all future career challenges – in theory as well as in practice. The practical part of the training includes the construction, operation and maintenance of the Eco City. The theoretical part conveys the necessary foundations for sustainable urban development. Craftsmen from local companies provide the training, experts from companies and project partners or retired professionals support them. The common education and daily life practice create a stable basis for a lively integration process. In researching issues of the campus city, the cultural knowledge of the refugees and their practical life experience in the crisis areas are valuable to develop particularly practical solutions.

The core principles of the campus

On the Eco City campus, ecology is learned and lived at the same time. The new qualities of the sustainable-cellular settlement concept can be proven in daily life. Many areas of daily life are organised cooperatively – community is the basis of a sustainable society.

All apprentices receive training in equal share from specialists from Germany and around the world, in particular global crisis areas. The training takes place in joint learning and working groups that convey theoretical and practical knowledge equally. Always following the maxim of a creative and inspiring coexistence.

The practical part of the training takes place in the self-operated companies of the Eco City, which play a key role in the management of the model city. The apprentices are integrated directly into these companies and acquire the corresponding know-how in their respective training area.

Trainees from different backgrounds live together in groups of up to 20 people with common rooms, individual rooms and family-friendly apartments. With an average duration of training of presumably 3-5 years, the housing groups will be put together so that newcomers and older residents live together.

The different experiences and cultural backgrounds of the apprentices offer optimal conditions to become creative together. Structures that promote community thinking and action create a breeding ground for ideas that combine technical, cultural and needs-based know-how.

eco station

eco city scetch

The eco city´s heart

A novel type of building and without precedence: The interface between new local circular technology and the residents of the eco city. It is the most important functional building in the city – and at the same time its showroom to the world.

All essential energy and material cycles are brought together in the Eco Station. Sun, wind, water, biomass and geothermal energy: In the heart of the eco city, the energy flows are coordinated via an intelligent distribution grid (Smart Grid). Repair shops and laboratories for developing durable products and strengthening local material cycles are just as much a part of the Eco Station as Terra-Preta production, where fertile soil can be produced from waste water, organic municipal waste and charcoal. Greenhouse gas emissions are sent to the connected greenhouses for CO2 fertilization of crops. Aquaponic facilities for fish and vegetable production can also be created here for teaching and business. However, the Eco Station is not only a place of work for trainees and researchers, it is also an information and meeting center for visitors and the public. As a concrete demonstration site, it showcases the metamorphosis of fossil “end of pipe” urban systems to sustainable circulatory systems. Thus, the technical heart chamber of the Eco City also serves as an attractive learning and adventure location that makes the ecological system change vivid, understandable and sensually tangible.

Technological aspects

Energy / Smart Grid
Self-sufficiency from local and renewable energy sources, connection with electro-mobility and the energy components of water and material cycles

Water and nutrient cycles
Production of valuable soil from wastewater and organic municipal waste for local food production with Terra Preta technology

Local food production
Production of 80 per cent of vegetable, fruit and herbal supplies on own garden land and in greenhouses; presentation, tasting and marketing the products in restaurants at the eco station

Cradle-to-Cradle
Design demonstration and workshops f or the 5R Strategy: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Renew

Social aspects

Adventure and learning destination promoting system change to locally networked circular technology, circular economy and new ecological design

Publicly accessible to residents, visitors, Apprentices – focused on life-long learning

Events, workshops, exhibitions – market place for local and regional products, for ideas and services on the way to a sustainable society

Experience of holistic design: for the senses, the mind, the heart, for a sense of play

aesthetics

no sustainability without beauty

Aesthetics is the recipe for success of nature -together with the pursuit of wholeness and harmony it forms the language of sustainability.

All sustainable cultures have been characterized by the search for beauty. Admiration, respect and appreciation of aesthetics and artistic creation were always among the most important elements of understanding of people with different language and origin. Aesthetics is therefore among the constituent building blocks of the Eco City.

An intercultural center offers space for independent or guided cultural activities such as music, dance, theater and free artistic activity. Based on the sustainable maxims of sharing and reuse, spaces, materials and instruments are provided for free use for everyone. The artistic outputs of intercultural activities shape the design of the campus city, its buildings, areas and facilities.

A second focus of the center is on helping to manage traumatic experiences of people from crisis regions with art therapy offers. Creativity can help them to find and express access to their inner world, which is often not expressible with words. Public events and projects are expanding cultural offerings into neighboring rural areas.

One can only understand the wholeness of the world through the experience of beauty

Aesthetics is immanent in nature and culture

From the first cave paintings, the simplest loam and straw huts, the earliest places of worship, to the art and design of the present: aesthetics is a biological basic human need and a basic pattern of human civilization and cultural history.

international academy

Impulse for the world

The international academy is the laboratory and mouthpiece of the Eco City and its findings on peace, integration and sustainability. From here, the establishment of a global network of Eco Cities is initiated.

The scientific work of the international academy explores the links between climate change and wars as the cause of migration. In addition, in close collaboration with Eco City and the campus, the Academy is developing strategies for the ecological re-colonization of devastated crisis regions. Proven models are then shared from Wünsdorf into the world – especially where they are most needed – in areas that are particularly affected by climate change or wars. International organizations can open up their own branches, also cooperation partners, visiting scientists, doctoral candidates and interns find their home on the grounds of the Academy. Leading players from politics, business and science support the work of the Academy. As partners and multipliers, they spread the message of peace, integration and ecological urban development both in the region and into the crisis areas.

Sharing knowledge and insights

What is developed and tested in Wünsdorf should not stay there: in exchange with the world, new ideas are discussed, good things are improved and established concepts shared and further developed. The impulse can form a movement, the concept becomes a prototype and the Eco City becomes a network.

impact

local

Local integration

Organized as a self-sufficient settlement, Eco City is no longer dependent on the external supply of energy and the disposal of waste. New, post-fossil lifestyles and urban models and the transformation of cities into networked circular systems are to be tested and taught in the Eco City. It will be 100% self-sufficient in energy. 80% of the demand for food will also be produced locally.

regional

regional impact

Ecological model region Berlin-Brandenburg

Eco City Wünsdorf initiates sustainable growth effects and value creation for many local industries. Its strong attraction for companies, start-ups and investors revitalises the region and opens up new perspectives.

global

Global network
The international academy is the laboratory and mouthpiece of Eco City, a platform for its concepts of peace, integration and sustainability. From here, the establishment of a global network of Campus Eco Cities is initiated. Proven solution models are then carried out from Wünsdorf into the world – above all where they are most urgently needed: in the areas particularly affected by climate change or wars.

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