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Germany: the Hafencity of Hamburg, the renovated port district that seduces
Audio 03:37
View of the Hafencity of Hamburg.
© AFP/Odd Andersen
By: Pascal Thibaut Follow
4 mins
The port of Hamburg is the largest in Germany and the third largest in Europe after Rotterdam and Antwerp.
Installed along the Elbe River, it had to evolve with time and the size of freight ships.
The district, close to the historic city center, a free zone that was inaccessible for a long time, was no longer suitable for today's large boats.
A new district, Hafencity, was launched twenty years ago.
It is still under construction, but now it has been adopted by locals and tourists.
His quality of life is appreciated.
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From our correspondent in Germany,
"
We looked for a place where we could stay near the city center, but more comfortably
," recalls Juan Almeida.
“
It's something we appreciate very much to live next to the water, we have remained in love with this place.
Nine years later, he does not regret having moved to the Hafencity.
His family has grown and a move is necessary.
The businessman will stay in the neighborhood.
Nine years ago, however, the infrastructure was not yet as developed in this district launched twenty years ago.
It all started when the city of Hamburg decided to redevelop this area of the port, adjoining the city center, an area of 157 hectares, or about 300 football pitches.
"
The harbor basins have become too small and their condition is deteriorating
," recalls André Stark, spokesman for the company responsible for the municipality's largest urban redevelopment project in the city center in Europe.
“
Hence the idea in the 1990s of using these port spaces with a vision.
The city center must once again turn to water.
The district is only 700, 800 meters from the town hall.
It was not possible before
,” he says.
Omnipresence of water
The district has its metro line and a university has settled there, at the water's edge.
Water is everywhere.
Ten kilometers of walks along the quays are available to strollers, a third of which are along the Elbe.
Between the city center and the Hafencity, there are the old warehouses, the Speicherstadt with neo-Gothic facades from the 19th century, classified as World Heritage by Unesco.
It was in one of these superbly renovated buildings that the Hamburg International Maritime Museum was established fifteen years ago, where Gerrit Menzel works.
“
The city is historically linked to the port of global importance.
Cruises for tourists are a must and when you have an international maritime museum, you also go there
,” he explains.
A neighborhood that also attracts tourists
Warehouse A housed until twenty years ago the largest reserve of coffee.
There was enough to meet the needs of the city without any problem for a year.
One fine day, it found itself empty and the new philharmonie was built there.
On this boat, tourists are shown the gigantic container ships on the other side of the Elbe, but of course the concert hall, a new symbol of Hamburg, a futuristic building placed on the old warehouse and which attracts thousands of visitors.
“
Every tourist goes to see the philharmonie.
And from there, you have a great view of the Hafencity
,” shows Guido Neumann from the Hamburg tourist office.
At the other end of the district, far from the first built-up area where offices dominate, new constructions are lined up in the middle of vacant lots.
This Sunday, Latin music lovers are dancing at the foot of a crane.
The Elbtower, 245 meters high, is to be built near there.
“
I find the Hafencity very pleasant.
It's good that so much is being built with affordable apartments.
It's always worth coming here
, ”says Kathy, met in the neighborhood.
Diversity
The Hamburgers who initially shunned the district with its image of a ghetto for the rich have changed their minds.
If offices and expensive apartments marked the first phase of the district, the arrival at the town hall of a certain Olaf Scholz in 2011 favored a greater social mix with housing at sustained rents of between seven and ten euros per meter. square.
“
That high-end image of the Hafencity is no longer the case at all.
We even have buildings that are supported by the city where rents are controlled.
This makes for a very heterogeneous and very pleasant mix of family profiles
,” stresses Juan Almeida.
Living by the water has a lot of charms, but once a year, during floods, the Hafencity looks like Venice.
“
We have big anti-flood doors.
You really have to get your boots out and walk in the water
,” he warns.
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