For a long time, world city with a heart – “Weltstadt mit Herz” – was the official marketing slogan of the city of Munich. Nowadays, like any city subject to a stay-at-home-order aimed at mitigating the impact of the Corona pandemic, it resembles more the character of the deserted cities. Munich is thus a “deserted city with a heart”.
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The eyes of the few observers who dare (or need to) venture into the city center see the buildings, streets and infrastructure as they have never seen them before. They seem depleted of their magic that used to attract as many people possible from as many places conceivable. #desertedcities is a popular hashtag on Instagram, as is #ghosttown.
Skeletal structure of urban culture
The eye gazes solitarily along the facades, almost as if one had been shifted into a painting by the Italian master of the scuola metafisica, Giorgio de Chirico. In his art, as in the present, the cityscape is laid bare, devoid of human life, exposing the skeletal structure of urban culture. Gaze wandering, we are startled. In the words of British rock supergroup Cream, “if I could catch your dancing eye, it was on the way, on the road to dreams, yea.” Perhaps it is an urban dreamscape we are witnessing – we might as well hope for a gentle awakening.
Half a year later …
That was half a year ago. In the meantime, societies across the world attempted a return to normal life. This didn’t succeed, and the euphemistic way of describing the outcomes is encapsulated in the term “new normal”, which simply indicates “change”. Our ways of life have changed, and some of us cope with it, while others deny it. Currently, Munich’s city center is under a mandatory mask order. A stroll downtown these days shows a rather heterogeneous picture. Some adhere to the order while others don’t.
Glimpses of Oktoberfest normality
Likely more relevant to the life, image and business this city thrives on is the cancellation of the Oktoberfest. The attempt is made to transform it into a more local and spatially limited form supported by local restaurants. Glimpses of Oktoberfest normality also meet the eye of the observer at the central Königsplatz, where a “Mini-Wiesn” complete with food stalls, kiddie rides and ferris wheel is taking place. This event is part of a city-wide initiative called “Sommer in der Stadt” (Summer in the City). In this sense the song has changed, and Mungo Jerry’s “In The Summertime” tickles ears across town – at least before the autumn leaves begin to fall.
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Read the article about the effects of the pandemic on the built environment.
West of Munich, at the interface of city and countryside, the new urban district of Freiham Nord will be developed. Not a continuation of peripheral areas with detached houses but an extension of the densely built-up city.The appeal of the experimental, often inherent at the interface of city and country, may well be lost. A park is to create a transition to the landscape. It is currently being designed in a two-stage competition.
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A new interface of city and cultural landscape in Munich
Munich, western periphery, Aubing suburban railway station – the view from the train reveals backyards and rear sides. Everyday things, nothing showy like those that run along wide arterial roads. Repetitive images: detached houses, commercial areas, allotments, housing estates. At the station a large board advertising urban living greets arrival passengers. It shows white houses with flat roofs, terraces and French windows. “We want to create urban living like you have in the city but green like in the countryside”, says Elisabeth Merk, head of Munich’s department of urban planning. The urban still seems a promise here. The road from the station runs between a cemetery and residential high-rises, lined with buffer planting and ruderal species. Suddenly there is a field boundary and the view opens up to the west. Motorway traffic drones behind a noise barrier on the horizon. Somewhere in the gap two construction cranes turn: they are building the schools first. Unlike Madrid for example, where large access roads complete with all utilities were constructed on the urban periphery during the property bubble and have since been waiting for the development of housing and residents to arrive in vain (see Topos 94), Munich has been growing continuously: around 213,000 inhabitants are anticipated between 2011 and 2030 with an estimated need for 150,000 dwelling units. (…)
Find the whole article in our current 98th Topos edition
