Stadtgestaltung für eine inklusive Stadtmitte Darmstadt

Der Artikel beschäftigt sich mit der Zugänglichkeit und Nutzbarkeit des Luisenplatzes für Menschen mit Mobilitäts- und Seheinschränkungen. In einer Sequenz mit drei Etappen – dem Hinkommen mit dem öffentlichen Verkehr; dem Reinkommen durch Orientierung und Bewegung auf dem Luisenplatz; und dem Ankommen in die umliegenden Gebäude – werden Problemstellen aufgezeigt und Lösungsansätze im Sinne des Access for All vorgestellt. Dem Text liegen Analysen und Entwürfe zu Grunde, die von Studierenden des Fachbereich Architektur der Technischen Universität Darmstadt im Wintersemester 2016/17 im Rahmen des städtebaulichen Entwurfs Lui rennt! Stadtgestaltung für eine inklusive Stadtmitte Darmstadts entwickelt wurden

PREHealth: Designing health into urban green and blue infrastructures – The need for action in planning, policies, and research. National Report Germany.

Only 46% of adults and 27% of children and adolescents in Germany reach minimum standards of physical activity (PA) suggested by the World Health Organisation throughout the week. While there is growing evidence that the built environment relates to physical activity on a population level, it remains unclear, how these mechanics work on a more specific level: what potentials are there to encourage citizens with very different motivations and needs to use local green and blue open spaces in a healthier way? This report gives an overview of three different health-related behaviours (active recreation, active travel and social interaction) in relation to urban green and blue spaces in Germany. Based on literature review and expert interviews, the results show that the German population is not sufficiently physically active. Those who are appear to be active mostly in open spaces and for recreational purposes; this trend is confirmed in the city of Darmstadt. Furthermore, this report offers an overview of policies regarding health and open spaces in Germany and in the city of Darmstadt. For that, special attention is paid to the different socio-economic groups and urban spaces (green and blue infrastructures, street networks, and squares), providing information on the current status, and the usage of these spaces

Growing up in urban school environments

In 1977 Kevin Lynch presented the results of his famous “Growing Up in Cities” study on children’s use and perception of spatial environments in cities around the globe. The main aim was to inform planning policies with a better understanding of how the built environment impacts children’s behaviour, which could lead to urban quality improvements from children’s point of view. The authors emphasised that the value of children’s participation should not be neglected and pointed towards the untapped potential in the way they observe the city from a different perspective. After four decades, the project’s research questions and findings of Lynch’s work remain very relevant – both for architects and urban designers, as for the young users. This is specially the case for urban schools as important “settings” (fields of action), in which the children are spending an increasing amount of time. Already in the 1970s, Lynch stressed that children had less time for free activities and that their daily lives were fully programmed by school, and TV at home. Nowadays, as the majority of school systems turn to the full-time model, the majority of children’s time is spent with daily learning and extra-curricular activities, as well as using digital devices during leisure time. A growing body of international research underlines how school design influences students’ learning progress, social interaction, physical and cognitive development. However, less attention has been paid to the questions of a) how we can design more livability, physical activity, and mental well-being into school environments, and b) how can children play a more vital role in the process. To address these issues, the research team of TU Darmstadt developed a toolbox, which makes children the direct observers of their surrounding environment and is encouraged to express their opinions. It is inspired by Lynch’s work and includes three main techniques from his research: individual/group interviews with the children, taking photographs and analysing them, and the collaborative creation of spatial mental maps. The toolbox, however, integrates a new generation of digitally- supported surveys, mapping, and co-design tools to further explore how students can be encouraged in co-creating their learning spaces and bringing forward their expectations and needs

Playin’ the city : artistic and scientific approaches to playful urban arts

An Theorien und Diskussionen über die Stadt mangelt es nicht, denn Städte dienen uns u.a. als Projektionsfläche zur Auseinandersetzung mit unserer Vergangenheit, der Gegenwart und unserer Zukunft. Diese Ausgabe 1 (2016) der Navigationen untersucht spielerische Formen dieser Auseinandersetzung in und mit der Stadt durch die sogenannten playful urban arts.The city has been discussed and theorized widely, and it continues to serve as a space in which our sense of the present, past, and future is constantly negotiated. This issue 1 (2016) of Navigationen examines new ways of engaging with cities through what are called the playful urban arts. Playful engagements with the urban environment frequently strive to create new ways of imagining and experiencing the city. In and through play, city spaces can become playgrounds that have the potential to transform people’s sense of themselves as human actors in an urban network of spatially bound and socio-economically grounded actions. Emerging from the playin’siegen urban games festival 2015, the essays and panel discussions assembled in this issue provide an interdisciplinary account of the contemporary playful urban arts. Wiht contributions by Miguel Sicart, Andreas Rauscher, Daniel Stein, Judith Ackermann and Martin Reiche, Michael Straeubig and Sebastian Quack, Marianne Halblaub Miranda and Martin Knöll, and Anne Lena Hartman

PREHealth: Synthesis report of the urban open space users’ surveys in Darmstadt, Athens, Győr, and Eindhoven. International Synthesis Report.

The Synthesis Report presents the main results of the surveys that have been carried as part of the project PREHealth in the 4 participating cities. The locations where the face-to-face surveys have been carried out in selected open spaces are presented, followed by explanations regarding the specific characteristics of the face-to-face and online surveys. The main findings of the face-to-face and online surveys are presented and a detailed comparison of the differences and similarities identified is included. The main results of the correlation analysis between the profile characteristics of open space visitors and their behavioural characteristics are presented with reference to the four cities that took part in the research. Finally the conclusions are presented

PREHealth: Designing health into urban green and blue infrastructures – The need for action in planning, policies, and research. International Synthesis Report.

A growing body of research shows the positive effects of green open spaces on people’s health and well-being. However, there is still limited knowledge among local stakeholders, urban designers, and policy makers about how to plan, develop and maintain urban green and blue infrastructures to purposefully design more health and fitness into people’s lives. It is for these reasons that the focus of this report is set on the potential of the built environment to foster and promote health-related behaviour in the different socio-economic and cultural profiles of populations in European urban areas. It addresses the following research questions: 1. What is the relation between health-related behaviour (i.e. active travel, active recreational use, and social interaction) and urban open spaces (e.g. green spaces, squares, street networks, blue infrastructure)? 2. How do socio-economic and cultural profiles relate to health-related usage of open spaces? The following results are based on a systematic literature review of academic articles published between 2007-2017. In addition, expert interviews were carried out in order to obtain insight information about the partner countries and cities. We lay out that there is a strong and vast documented relationship between health-related behaviours, particularly for physical activity (PA), and the built environment (i.e. urban open spaces). Open spaces are ideal opportunities to be active and have been proven to provide various health benefits to citizens. They may act as determinants of health and support the promotion of a health related behaviour of city dwellers. Attributes such as quantity (e.g. amount, proximity, accessibility) and quality (e.g. cleanliness, paved roads, short routes from A to B, good state of trees and green areas) have the potential to enhance active travel, social interaction and active recreation. These attributes, both quantitative and qualitative, affect diversely health-related behaviours of the different socio-economic groups. Still, we underline the need for more efforts to put the aim of “health in all policies” in practice. We conclude that in order to achieve this goal, it is imperative to develop more holistic approaches to the problem, strengthen participatory efforts, especially with disadvantaged groups, and to increase the health literacy of the population, especially regarding the untapped potential of urban green and blue spaces

Jovanka kommt an! Stadtgestaltung für einen inklusiven Campus Lichtwiese. Städtebaulicher Entwurf im Sommersemester 2017.

Der TU Darmstadt Campus Lichtwiese wird sich in den nächsten Jahrzehnten stark entwickeln. Zur Debatte stehen eines neues Mobilitätskonzept, die Neuordnung der Freiflächen und Nachverdichtung durch studentisches Wohnen. In Rahmen des Entwurfs sollen in Zusammenarbeit mit Studierenden mit eingeschränkter Mobilität, Seh- oder Höreinschränkung, und Newcomern in Darmstadt Konzepte entwickelt werden, die Zugänglichkeit und Aufenthaltsqualität des Campus (für eine der Gruppen) im Sinne des Universal Design und des Access for All erhöhen

Intermodal Open Spaces. An analysis of inner-city mobility stations in the Rhine-Main region

Reducing private motorised traffic (PMT) and its resulting environmental pollution in favour of multi- and intermodal environmentally friendly mobility is essential for the development of sustainable cities. In addition to reducing PMT, intermodal mobility systems address individual mobility needs by integrating active modes such as walking and cycling, with public transport and sharing initiatives, such as car and bike sharing. This dissertation examines current planning strategies aimed at promoting intermodal mobility in urban areas, focusing on one approach presented as Intermodal Open Spaces (IOS). IOS are urban open spaces with embedded mobility nodes that support multi- and intermodality and are integrated into the urban context in such a way that an array of activities - beyond the provision of mobility services - can take place in them. Based on an empirical study in five selected cities in the Rhine-Main region, a typology of IOS is presented. The typology is based on the spatial interaction between the morphology of open spaces and the flow of active and motorised traffic. Structured by location and integration, spatial configuration and morphology, and activities and amenity quality, the case studies present spatially and programmatically disaggregated examples of IOS. Methods include desktop and on-site mapping of features identified through literature review, such as morphology, configuration, road network, visual integration, land use and others. This doctoral dissertation serves as a theoretical prelude to the definition of IOS and contributes to the debate on the spatial design and planning of multifunctional mobility stations in urban studies and transport planning

The Luisenplatz Study - The relationship between visual fields and perceived stress in a public transport hub

This paper investigates the relationship between visual fields and subjective ratings of perceived stress in an open public space (OPS) and transport hub. The aim is to investigate possible influences these characteristics have on the recorded ratings. To do so, the sample is described with a visibility graph analysis and isovist properties and the constructed data is paired with participants’ ratings of perceived stress. This article uses data from surveys conducted in Darmstadt, a town of 120,00 in Germany, in summer 2015. Subject is the Luisenplatz, the city’s main public square and a central transport hub. It houses various amenities, services and residency, and is a junction where the majority of the tram and bus lines meet. Previous research suggested that the Luisenplatz in its current state is perceived as one of the most stressful OPS in Darmstadt. Correlation between visual fields and statements about perceived stress show that users are more likely to feel stressed when in areas with high visibility, while visual complexity may contribute to less stressful scenarios. The method presented in this article is been shown to be promising in analysing how variables of the built environment may contribute to perceived stress in public transport hubs. It will be useful to further interdisciplinary research that sets out to better understand the role of the built environment as integral contributors to stress in urban mobility

Stadtflucht: Learning about Healthy Places with a Location-Based Game

The location-based smartphone game Stadtflucht (German for urban flight or city escape) is an explorative prototype conceived as a research tool to analyze the perception of urban space. Our overall research on game experiences aims to foster active recreation in urban environments, facilitate the assessment of users' perception, and encourage their participation in urban planning processes. This article assesses how the prototype was able to engage participants in a playful manner with the built environment in a study in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. First, we introduce location-based games as a suitable research tool to achieve this type of playful interaction. We then present the theoretical frame-work for the use of smartphone technology to record behavioral data and measurements of physiological reactions used in the prototype. Finally, we outline a set of tasks that support interaction with the built environment and conclude with observations and suggestions for future research