Germany's ECO CITY

Germany, already a leader in green roofs, is now working on its own ECO CITY. Full of green roofs, wind turbines, and other sustainable technologies, ECO CITY hopes to revive the historic Hamburg-Harburg Harbor.

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Hamburg-Harburg Harbor, situated on the North Sea, has been a hub of trade and industrial activity since the 19th century. Although the original factories have since left, the historic area still has many classic buildings that ECO CITY wishes to retain and reuse in the renovated and sustainable city.

Site reclamation and renovations are difficult enough, however, ECO CITY takes this project to the next level. Inhabitat.com and World Architecture News both report one of ECO CITY's goals is to achieve certification from the three leading "green" building bodies (from WAN):

"...USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Program, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), and the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB)’s Program. Currently, ECO CITY is seeking the highest level of environmental certification from all three programs."

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To achieve top marks from each of these bodies, buildings must produce renewable energy, be built with recycled materials, and use the renewable energy to sustain the project, e.g., solar lights, passive cooling, etc.

Green roofs are a key element of the project, not only to reduce storm water runoff, but also to improve the quality of life of the workers in the area. ARUP, the designers of Dongtan, the green city in China, is one of the key developers of ECO CITY. Their experience with green building, and Dongtan in particular, will help make ECO CITY a success.