URBAN PLANNING IN

DUSSELDORF,
GERMANY

Düsseldorf - capital and political hub of the

federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia -
Germany has over 585,000 inhabitants and is
situated on the River Rhine. It has a high
population density with the Rhine-Ruhr
metropolitan area containing over 10 million
inhabitants. Düsseldorf is known as the centre of
the German advertising and fashion industries and
in the last few years it has become one of the top
telecommunications centres in Germany.

History
Dusseldorf, a small village on the Düssel estuary which was granted its town charter in
1288, has developed over more than seven centuries into a cosmopolitan metropolis:
Düsseldorf am Rhein. State capital of the most populous federal state North Rhine-
Westphalia since 1946, Düsseldorf presents itself with attractive urban architecture, and
with its famous old town, it stands for the Rhenish attitude to life. The shopping
promenade, the Königsallee – or “Kö” is equally popular. The town’s grand boulevard
with its prestigious fashion and shopping strip is famous throughout the world as a
symbol for Düsseldorf. The state capital is an international trade and service centre:
today’s sixth largest city in Germany is a top location for many well-known sectors and a
leading trade fair location for the world of industry. The convenient transport links to the
centre of the Rhine-RuhrRegion, due not least to the international airport, ensures the
city’s significance in Europe. Culturally too, Düsseldorf plays a leading national role with
opera, theatre and a diverse landscape of museums.
The shopping promenade, the Königsallee, Dusseldorf

THE BASIS OF GERMAN CITY PLANNING PROCEDURE: AN

EXAMPLE FROM DUSSELDORF by JOHN NOLEN

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE NEW CITY PLAN BY JOHN NOLEN,

(LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, HAVING GRADUATED WITH A.M. DEGREE)

The conditions for the new city plan are stated as follows:

 The plan must satisfy the needs of traffic, public health, administration, and
beauty.
 The scheme of buildings now existing in the district of Düsseldorf to be
retained as far as possible in the suggested plan. Revision is, however, not
forbidden, and the competitors must decide to what extent rebuilding is
necessitated by their schemes.
  The designs must contain suggestions for the extension and supplementing of
existing streets and communication systems, tramways, city and general
railways. Further, there must be designated in the plan, sites for the provision of
dwellings and centers of industry, having regard to the conditions governing
each road and water communication, points of the compass, prevailing winds,
parks, and forest lands.
 The scheme of roads, tramways, and city railways, as well as general railways,
should extend to Kaiserwerth and Ratingen in the north, Hilden in the east,
Benrath in the south, and Nensz in the west. The proposed traffic arrangements
should be so laid out as to allow of a possible linking up by streets and railways
with the surrounding large cities, Duisburg, Essen, Elberfeld, Gladbach,
Rheydt, Crefeld.

Suggestions are to be shown for the provision of open spaces in the city of
Düsseldorf, and in the lesser and greater district extension; in the greater, however,
only where serving as a connection of the forest and meadow lands already
existing in it, which the commons of the other two districts allow.

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS OF THE CITY PLAN BY JOHN NOLEN

1. The principal commercial streets from the city into the country are to be
considered the groundwork of the plan. A future supplementing of this main
network with new streets is to be assumed. The main streets must be wide
enough for tramways, and their construction over and under the future fast
trains, high level and under-ground railways must be provided for. The
necessity for further bridges over the Rhine in the future is to be borne in mind.
2. Boulevards and promenades, that must be as free from through traffic as
possible, must be provided for between the open spaces. Hereto belong also the
streets on the Rhine to north and south of the city, in the setting out of which
the fixed water-line is to be taken into account. This is to be noted in
connection with the centers of industry.
3. Necessary cutting through and widening of streets, for improved connection of
the streets named in (1) with the inner city, are to be shown.
4. Proposals must be made for the division of the city into residential and
industrial centers, whereby a revised distribution of the city divisions in the
several classes and zones of buildings becomes possible. In arranging the
industrial centers, good railway communication and direct or indirect
communication by means of railway with the Rhine should be considered. New
harbor basins must be foreshadowed. The separation of the industrial from the
residential quarters, by park and woodland, should be aimed at. Residential
quarters, with dwellings suitable for the various classes of the inhabitants,
detached houses, terrace houses, small and large blocks of dwellings, as well as
plans for open and enclosed places, to be provided for, in addition to existing
buildings, to such an extent as to meet the requirements of the increasing
population until the year 1930. Graphic representation of the increase in
occupation of land for buildings. By regulating the widths of streets and depth
of building blocks, wholesome conditions of living are to be produced. At the
same time, the ground should be apportioned carefully, and nothing allowed to
go by chance. Low buildings are to be recommended. Suggestions may also be
indicated for new suburbs in the larger district, easily accessible by train.
5. The position of the principal railways is detrimental to the further development
of the city at different points. It should be considered in what way this
disadvantage can best be overcome, especially how far the numerous crossings
over can be done away with. The railway system around Dusseldorf is to be
supplemented with a main line bridging the Rhine to the north of the city.
6. Suggestions are to be made for the introduction of a contemplated line of
railway from Cologne, and from the industrial district, for the connecting up of
these two lines with each other, and with the line to Crefeld.
7. Sites as large and convenient as possible, supplementing those existing, to be
allotted for wood, park and meadow land, as well as for exhibition purposes,
aviation, games and sports.
8. The city entertains the project of erecting a new City Hall in the quarter
between Stiftsplatz and Schulstrasse Platz. The required area is 18,000 square
future. The market-place is, if possible, to remain on its present site.
9. The requisite sites, Plätze, must be provided: for an arts and crafts school
building of about 2,200 square meters site area; a museum of about 5,000
square meters extent; large concert-house of about 5,000 square meters extent,
with proportionately large garden, and a city theater to seat 2,000. Further,
schemes must be thought out for supplying the city at one or more points with
 market halls for food coming into Düsseldorf by rail, ship, or other
conveyances from the southern city centers, and from parts to the west and
southwest to the city.
10. The suggestions made, especially those in relation to traffic, the disposition of
extended industrial and residential quarters, the division of the latter into the
several classes of buildings, and also the placing and grouping of public
buildings, and any point which seems of importance to the author, should be
discussed in a short from land in the possession of the town.
References

https://www.duesseldorf.de/fileadmin/Amt13/touristik/Fischerdorf_GB.pdf -Published by the State

Capital Düsseldorf The Lord Mayor Office of Communications in cooperation with the City Archives
Responsible person Kerstin Jäckel-Engstfeld

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 2 (OCTOBER 1911):52-59THE BASIS OF GERMAN CITY

PLANNING PROCEDURE: AN EXAMPLE FROM DUSSELDORF by JOHN NOLEN

RESEARCHED BY:

ANGEMAR R. MIRASOL BS ARCH4