adresses by the river
More quality of stay: addresses by the river
Local recreation area, traffic route and important part of the ecosystem: the demands on the rivers in the region are high. With the "Addresses on the river" project in cooperation with the International Building Exhibition 2027 StadtRegion Stuttgart (IBA'27), the Verband Region Stuttgart is pursuing the goal of better connecting the Neckar municipalities with the river and enhancing the Neckar as a recreational area for the population. However, the Neckar itself should also be seen as an example for all rivers in the region, i.e. the entire blue infrastructure.
The municipalities are supported with various modules to create a conceptual basis for further planning development: For example, in the form of student designs for concrete ideas on how to ecologically enhance the riverbanks and make them more attractive for the population. For their implementation, the municipalities have the opportunity to apply for funding from the co-financing program for the Stuttgart Region Landscape Park with financial support of up to 50 percent of the project costs.
Reclaim the River 2026
Following the positive response to the first edition, the Verband Region Stuttgart (VRS) and the Friends of the International Building Exhibition 2027 StadtRegion Stuttgart (IBA'27-Friends e.V.), in cooperation with the Wüstenrot Foundation and the Josef Wund Foundation, are once again inviting young creatives to submit their pioneering ideas for projects on the Neckar or other bodies of water in the Stuttgart city region for 2026.
- Applications are open to people from the disciplines of landscape planning, urban planning, architecture and interior design. The age limit is 40 years.
- We are looking for clever planning concepts, interventions and strategies that have not yet been realized. The works should not be older than 5 years.
- The call is aimed in particular at students and graduates.
With this call for ideas, the organizers are looking for structural and non-structural plans that deal with the holistic and sustainable improvement of the blue-green infrastructure in the Stuttgart region. The competition aims to sensitize decision-makers in administrations and companies to the development potential of the Neckar, for example, and to achieve a long-term change in the appreciation of regional waters.
The main theme for 2026 is "The productive river landscape".
Neckar Experience Day (2025)
The Neckar Experience Day in May was a chance to experience the Neckar in a canoe or SUP in harmony with nature and the environment. During a walk on the Neckar island in Besigheim, visitors had the opportunity to share their wishes for the future of the island and their experiences of this place. Project and hands-on stands and information stands rounded off the day by the river.
Second Neckar Conference: Becoming a RiverRegion (2024)
Becoming a river region - that was the motto of the Neckar Conference of the International Building Exhibition 2027 StadtRegion Stuttgart (IBA'27) and the Verband Region Stuttgart in September at the Pfisterer Areal in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim. Day 1 focused on the winners of the "Reclaim the River 2024" competition and their ideas. Day 2 started with examples of successful river transformations from Vienna, Munich, Leipzig and Basel. The focus of the impulses and discussions: Rivers as spaces for recreation and movement. Which municipal strategies are promising, which coalitions and cooperations are possible? Five project ideas and plans from the Stuttgart region were also discussed. The aim is to create visible and tangible results as soon as possible in order to raise public awareness of the potential of rivers.
Competition: Reclaim the River (2024)
The "Reclaim the River 2024" competition is all about the Neckar. How can the experienceability, accessibility or handling of waters in the Stuttgart region be improved?
The International Building Exhibition 2027 StadtRegion Stuttgart (IBA'27) and the Verband Region Stuttgart, in cooperation with the Wüstenrot Foundation, invited up-and-coming young planners to submit their concepts and strategies.
The "Mombach Bädle" by Marie-Hélène Witry and Stephan Schürmann (Schürmann + Witry) impresses with its simplicity and concrete feasibility. On a boat-like island on the Neckar, an outdoor pool will be open to the public in summer and a sauna in winter. The bathing water comes fresh from the Mombach spring.
Floris Duquesnoy and Simon von Russou's "BIG Y - Departure into a new river century" convinced the jury with its forward-looking and creative approach to the Neckar. Between the Stuttgart districts of
Hedelfingen and Bad Cannstatt, the riverbank is to be revitalized and urbanized alongside the industrial buildings with the help of mixed-use districts.
Landscape Forum (2023)
Students from all spatial disciplines were invited to design future visions for the Neckar landscape between Nürtingen and Altbach. How will we live, work, produce and move around in 50 years' time? What kind of landscape will be needed in a climate-adapted world that is also fair? How will these spaces be cultivated? What innovative forms of production would then be possible? Young planners were given the opportunity to further develop the existing master plan for the Neckar Landscape Park. It's not just about creating new spatial images with creative ideas. The design and modeling of the necessary transformation processes must also be included. The student ideas competition is based on a cooperation between the Verband Region Stuttgart, the IBA'27 StadtRegion Stuttgart and the European LE:NOTRE Institute with the Nürtingen/Geislingen University of Applied Sciences (HfWU). The task prepares methodically and in terms of content for the Landscape Forum Stuttgart Region in summer 2023, during which the award ceremony will also take place. Find out more about the Landscape Forum in the news and here.
Symposium: New strategies for a better quality of life on the waterfront (2022)
Diverse, easily accessible and networked public green and open spaces: these are decisive factors for a high quality of life and environment in urban areas. At a symposium with short impulses from the field, ideas for the future of the living space along the rivers were developed together and concrete tools for implementation in everyday municipal life were developed. It was shown how the potential of the Neckar river landscape for people and nature can be activated and how places to stay and linger by the water can be made more attractive.
Students design ideas for the Neckar (2022)
On the initiative of the Verband Region Stuttgart and in cooperation with the IBA'27, students from two universities in the region developed ideas for attractive places to stay on the Neckar between Stuttgart and Kirchheim am Neckar in the summer semester of 2022.
The project kicked off with a two-day workshop in Remseck am Neckar in April 2022, at the end of which the public was invited to come along, view the initial design ideas and make their own suggestions for further development during the semester. The students' design results provide the municipalities with a conceptual basis for the further development of these locations.
On-site appointments and online survey (2022)
Every development requires local expert knowledge as a basis: the Verband Region Stuttgart has invited Neckar friends in Besigheim, Mundelsheim and Remseck am Neckar to share their wishes and opinions over a portion of red and white fries and to get creative themselves. After all, plans and designs should be developed as closely as possible to local conditions and needs. The campaign in Mundelsheim provided the impetus for the seating steps created in 2023. (All landscape park projects at a glance in a map) The on-site meetings were supplemented by an online citizen survey, which got to the bottom of the question of how important the river is as a local recreation area for people and what could be improved. What role does the river play for citizens? What do they want from a stay by the river? And how could the conditions be improved?
