Hafen City

Hafen - City (in English Harbour City) is one of the largest new urban areas in development, whose aim is to increase Hamburg's, the second biggest city in Germany, appeal to investors and to attract the creative class. The idea behind is to revitalize part of the the harbour which has stayed as as unused area for many years and thus to connect the city north of Elbe to the (poorer) southern part of Hamburg.

This is however not the single project of this kind. Other cities such as Amsterdam, Copenhagen or Vancouver have developed similar projects and are are thus in a "competition" for increasing their value as a location.

When it comes to the Hafen City project, it promises to be much more than a residential or office area. It aims to become the "hottest" metropolitan district which offers a mix of cultural and leisure infrastructure, retail and hospitality outlets, inner-city living quarters, service-sector office space as well as public parks, squares, and waterfront promenades.

According to official sources, at the beginning of 2009, roughly 1.500 people live in HafenCity and about 3,000 people work there. Every building in itself is interesting and is meant to connect to the water theme. However, my current impression, from walking though the finalized areas, is that the buildings don't connect to each other. Although this may change in time when they start beautifying the areas with trees and flowers, it currently looks as a Legoland. Or as somebody has brought modern buildings each made by star architects and put them one after another to build a city. Unfortunately, the place still looks pretty "sterile" and "artificial". If one judges after the people who stroll there, it can be said that it is a museum alive...but not a place to live.

The prices for the residential apartments are rated at aprox. EUR 8000/ sqm for luxury apartments for sale, and at about EUR 5000 / sqm for middle range apartments, whereas the rent starts at EUR 670 / month for one-room apartments. Although authorities aim to make the area affordable, when we look at prices it seems already a bit up-priced compared to other Hamburg districts (except for the old city centre).

Here are some pictures to have a look yourself at the current state of development: