The city of Zittau wins the Saxon city competition "Ab in die Mitte!" with student support.
With the "Ab in die Lücke" project, the city of Zittau wins first prize in the Saxon city competition "Ab in die Mitte". This is the first time that the main prize has been awarded to Zittau. The prize is associated with financial support for project implementation amounting to 30,000 euros. The motto of this year's competition was "Strengthening the city together: Act, share, co-decide ...".
Mayor Thomas Zenker is delighted: "I am very pleased that we have succeeded in winning the title with an entry that aims to improve the quality of life for young people in our city. I'm sure the prize money will give the project a big boost."
During a workshop in Zittau, students from the Master's degree course in Architecture at the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences and the Bachelor's degree course in Ecology and Environmental Protection at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences drew up several designs for an overgrown gap between buildings. The workshop was the result of the "Zittau gärtnert" competition entry from 2018, when Zittau received a prize for scientific support for its project from architecture professor Ronald Scherzer-Heidelberger from HTWK Leipzig. Scherzer-Heidelberger and his students have been supporting the state competition "Ab in die Mitte! Cityoffensive Sachsen" competition to revitalize Saxon municipalities.
The aim of the students' semester project was to explore the possibilities of transforming this wasteland into an ecologically effective, publicly usable open space within the "stone" city center of Zittau. Due to its proximity to the CafeX youth club and the wild trees on the site, the project was given the working title "The Young Forest". The students' design drafts form the core idea of the project, which has now been awarded the main prize.
The initiative for the "Ab in die Lücke" project came from Zittau city manager Stephan Eichner. Together with the business development department, the Zittau urban development company, the "Zittau lebendige Stadt" association and the Zittau chapter of the German Child Protection Association, he developed the Zittau competition entry based on the students' work.
Further information on the "Ab in die Mitte" competition
