An Urban District

Hamburg’s HafenCity currently represents Europe’s largest inner city development project. The new urban district, with a total area of around 150 hectares, is surrounded by river and canal channels on all sides. By the middle of the 2020s, it is envisaged to provide a new residential space for up to 12,000 people, as well as create 40,000 new jobs.

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At the beginning of the 1990s, it became clear that the docks, then almost 100 years old, were unsuitable for handling large modern ships. As a result, the container terminal was relocated to the Old Elbe Tunnel. Extension of port facilities focused on increasing capacity in the western part of the city. The newly defunct area’s prime inner city location meant that a unique opportunity for new urban planning had opened up. Following an urban master planning competition, the development concept together with the master plan for the conversion of the edge of the port district and extension of the inner city of Hamburg to this location was published in 2000. A total of 11 district sectors as outlined in the original master plan are to be successively realised from west to east and from north to south.

The Sandtorkai is the first district to be realised, consisting of five residential and three office buildings, the Tall Ship Harbor and a promenade below the cantilevered buildings. The Kaiserkai is the second realised district sector, located on the headland between the Sandtorhafen and the Grasbrookhafen. What makes this district sector special is its urban density, diverse architecture, the promenades and squares by the water, as well as the Elbphilharmonie at the Kaispeicher.