“绿城”弗莱堡烦恼(下).docVIP

“绿城”弗莱堡烦恼(下) 　　Before seeing Vauban, I want to know how Freiburg was created from the ashes of a medieval city 1)levelled during the Second World War. “The main employer here is the university,” Daseking explains, “so these are brainy people―and when they say something, they mean it. First they said they would rebuild the city with new ideas―and they did.” The old streets were 　　widened to take trams, the tramway became “the backbone of the city” and the medieval centre was kept car-free. “Then, in the Seventies,” Daseking says, “the government in 2)Stuttgart wanted to build a nuclear power station 40km from here. The brainy people said, ‘No, we won’t have it’―and when they say no, they mean no.” 　　With nuclear power off the agenda, Freiburg found itself with a problem: a finite amount of electricity, but a growing population. The only solution, the government said, was for the people to come up with an energy-saving plan to conserve existing resources. In the mid-Eighties, when Daseking arrived, the same spirit of public consultation was applied to the planning of Rieselfeld. First on the wish list was a tramline extension, built before residents arrived so they would not have to buy a car. Next came the idea of small plots with a high population density (the group owner-ship model) so people could afford to buy flats. Because the newcomers were 　　families, “a garden was essential for every four or five plots,” says Daseking―hence the abundance of play parks. 　　More enlightened still, was the approach to scale. “From the top floor of every house,” says Daseking, “parents had to be able to shout to their children in the garden―and hear the reply. It was important to get in touch with the ground.” This limited the height of buildings. To reduce theft, small garages (for those who wanted cars) were built every two blocks, rather than large ones every five blocks. “From every corner, you could see what was happening in your garage,” says Daseking. “Criminality ha