Centre of the Mannheim-Vogelstang Residential Area
The Mannheim Vogelstang residential area, with 20,000 inhabitants in approximately 4,600 rental apartments and 700 owner-occupied homes on 114 hectares of formerly mostly agricultural land, occupies roughly the same area on which the Dutch general and fortress planner Menne von Coehorn designed Mannheim's city centre (like the similarly aged New York) in a grid pattern, 5 km from Vogelstang. Favorable planning conditions included good transport connections to the city centre (B 38), the Frankfurt-Karlsruhe motorway, workplaces, recreational areas of the Rhine-Neckar region, and the dimensions of the site (100 by 1,400 metres). These factors made it possible to treat the new district as a unified whole, oriented towards the 6-hectare centre. Most apartments are less than 500 metres from this centre, or less than a seven-and-a-half-minute walk. The plan was further refined based on an expert opinion by Prof. Dr. Irle, Mannheim, developed the desired mixed-use residential area from a series of preliminary designs by various architectural groups. In the heart of Vogelstang, residents can shop safely in well-stocked stores. In addition, there are all the other amenities that make a residential area attractive through a wealth of opportunities, thereby creating the vibrancy befitting urban life. The various forms of transportation play a crucial role. A significant amount of delivery traffic is carried out by trucks. The shops require the most direct possible unloading from the vehicle to the warehouse or into the shop itself. Pedestrians are neither endangered by this vehicular traffic, nor is the loading process obstructed by pedestrians. Both traffic zones are dimensioned according to the mode of movement. In particular, sufficient opportunities for transitioning between different modes of transportation are provided; a constant interplay between driving and walking takes place.
