History
After a cultural program organized by the creative agency clownfisch GbR the idea for an improved exchange of Wuppertals creative actors was born, culminating in the launch of the project in the vacant Bahnhof Wuppertal-Mirke, which could be used after help from the communal economic development office. [1]
Utopiastadt was founded als a creative network in 2011, with ateliers and coworking space, located in the vacant building of the railway station Wuppertal-Mirke. [2] In the same year, the Hackerspace /dev/tal moved in. In 2013, the cafe „Hutmacher“ (named after Lewis Carrols Hatter) opened, free bike rental and the open workshop/Fablab "Utopiawerkstadt" followed 2014. In the same year, the registered association "Förderverein Utopiastadt" was founded, focussing on fundraising. The association became sole shareholder of the Nonprofit Utopiastadt gGmbH, which was founded 2015.
After 5 years of successful activities, the association was gifted the station building by Wuppertals savings bank Stadtsparkasse in December 2016. [3]
On December 5, 2018, Utopiastadt gGmbH bought 11,100 m2 of land around the Mirke train station, including the area of the former baggage handling area. A purchase offer for another 25,000 m2 was signed. [4]
With the Solar Decathlon Europe taking place on the Utopiastadt-Campus, [5] concepts of sustainable and resource-saving district development and architecture are developed and implemented. The conception "Solar Decathlon goes Urban" was co-developed by Utopiastadt. [6]
Renovation
Since the beginning of use, the main building of the train station Mirke has been gradually renovated. The former baggage handling facility is being renovated since 2017, mostly through voluntary work. [7] In 2015, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia approved funding of 3 million euros (80 percent of the total cost) through the funding and qualification offer "Initiative ergreifen". [8] The city of Wuppertal bears a further 10 percent, the remaining 10 percent are committed through voluntary work by Utopiastadt. [9] 2019, the main renovation process of the main building was started. [10]
Events and social impact
Once per month, a repair café for electric devices takes place, as does the bicycle repair café. Both formats offer free assistance for self-help, tools and instructions for repairing and maintaining devices and bicycles.
Since 2014, the "Only Hut" concerts have been organized regularly several times a month, in which admission is deliberately waived and instead the musicians' fees are collected by hat. [11] For some years now, larger festivals have also been organized ("Trassenrave" and "Trassenjam", Newcomer Festival Newsides). Readings and exhibitions are also organized.
The urban gardening project Utopiastadtgarten is operated continuously and was extended in 2018 by the aquaponics system of the association “Aufbruch am Arrenberg” now located on the Utopiastadt campus. [12]
Initiatives at the communal and regional level are active in Utopiastadt, such as Opendatal (making citizen and communal data accessible), the SmartCityNetwork (sensor technology) or the Forum Mirke. The city of Wuppertal describes the project as a "central point of contact for creative urban development [...] and thus a city laboratory for utopias." [13] The project has developed supra-regional radiance in the areas of civic engagement, social policy and research as well as communal development. [14] [15]
North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a state (Land) in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state in Germany. Apart from the city-states, it is also the most densely populated state in Germany. Covering an area of 34,084 square kilometres (13,160 sq mi), it is the fourth-largest German state by size.
The Düssel is a small right tributary of the river Rhine in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. Its source is east of Wülfrath. It flows westward through the Neander Valley where the fossils of the first known to be Neanderthal man were found in August 1856. At Düsseldorf it forms a river delta by splitting into four streams, which all join the Rhine after a few kilometres. The Nördliche Düssel flows through the Hofgarten and passes under the Golden Bridge.
The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr, abbreviated VRR, is a public transport association (Verkehrsverbund) in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It covers most of the Ruhr area, as well as neighbouring parts of the Lower Rhine region, including Düsseldorf and thus large parts of the Rhine-Ruhr conurbation. It was founded on 1 January 1980, and is Europe’s largest body of such kind, covering an area of some 5,000 km2 (1,900 sq mi) with more than 7.8 million inhabitants, spanning as far as Dorsten in the north, Dortmund in the east, Langenfeld in the south, and Mönchengladbach and the Dutch border in the west.
Neuss Central Station is the railway station for the city of Neuss in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The main station building is built on a platform between the tracks and it is located at the junction of the Lower Left Rhine Railway and the Mönchengladbach–Düsseldorf railway. These lines also connect with the Düren–Neuss railway and the Neuss–Viersen railway; the latter has ended since 1984 at Kaarster See station and is operated by the private Regiobahn company.
Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the city of Wuppertal, just south of the Ruhr Area, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the line between Düsseldorf/Cologne and Dortmund. The 1848 reception building is one of the oldest of its kind. The station was originally Elberfeld station and has been renamed several times since. Since 1992, it has been called Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof. Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof is also the site of lost luggage operations for Deutsche Bahn.
The Regiobahn is the operator of the S28 line of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn between Kaarst, Düsseldorf, Mettmann and Wuppertal and the RE 47 between Düsseldorf and Remscheid-Lennep in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The Düsseldorf-Derendorf–Dortmund Süd railway is a partially closed line in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia from Düsseldorf-Derendorf station to Dortmund South station. Parts of it are still busy, including two sections used for the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn.
Wuppertal-Langerfeld station is a through station in the district of Langerfeld of the city of Wuppertal in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The station was opened in 1948 on a section of the Elberfeld–Dortmund railway from Döppersberg, near the current Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof, to Schwelm that was opened by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company on 9 October 1847. It has two platform tracks and it is classified by Deutsche Bahn as a category 6 station.
Opernhaus Wuppertal is a German theatre in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. It houses mostly performances of operas, but also plays, run by the municipal Wuppertaler Bühnen. The house is also the venue for dance performances by the Tanztheater Wuppertal company created by Pina Bausch.
Schauspielhaus Wuppertal was a Schauspielhaus, a theatre for plays, in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The 745-seat municipal theatre is on Bundesallee next to the river Wupper in Elberfeld. Designed by Gerhard Graubner, it was opened in 1966, run from 2001 by 'Wuppertaler Bühnen'. Starting in 2009, the house operated only 135 seats, and it was closed on 30 June 2013.
Günter Pröpper is a German retired professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in Dorsten, Pröpper started his career in amateur football before joining VfL Osnabrück in 1964. He spent three seasons with the club, moving on to Rot-Weiss Essen in 1967. Two years later he joined Wuppertaler SV, where he played for the remainder of his career.
Thomas Kufen is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Stefan Heinrich Berger is a German economist and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He is part of the group of the European People's Party. Previously, he was a member of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Ursula Kraus was a German politician. She was a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Between 1984 until 1996, Kraus was Mayor of Wuppertal.
Karl-Heinz Petzinka is a German architect, and Rector of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. He is known for office buildings in Düsseldorf and Berlin. He converted historic industrial buildings, and was responsible for the section architecture for the Ruhr.2010 project.
Johannes Busmann is a German university lecturer and publisher.
Guido Jendritzko was a German sculptor, painter, graphic artist and photographer. He was an important and versatile representative of Abstract art after the Second World War.
Nyke Slawik is a German politician and member of the Bundestag representing the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the Alliance 90/The Greens list. Upon her election in the 2021 German federal election, Slawik and fellow politician Tessa Ganserer together became the first openly transgender people elected to the German parliament.
Mona Neubaur is a German politician from Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as Deputy Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia and also as State Minister for Economics, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy in the second cabinet of Minister-President Hendrik Wüst since 29 June 2022. She was previously the leader of her party in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Yvonne Gebauer is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as the State Minister for School and Education of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2017 to 2022. She was active in the local politics of her home city Cologne before being elected to the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2012. She has served on her party's state board since 2016.
