Problem addressed

Since 2015, Bremen has become home to a growing number of refugees – 2% of the total population. This has put additional pressure on service providers in a city already struggling with high levels of social exclusion, unemployment and poverty. Due in part to Bremen’s transition from a predominantly industrial economy to a service economy, abandoned or neglected spaces and buildings are particularly common. There are around 750 abandoned spaces in the city, ranging from empty stores and commercial buildings, to industrial plants and military barracks.   

Innovative solution

The Local Action Plan for 2016–2020 developed by the ZZZ (ZwischenZeitZentrale) Agency promotes urban development, whilst supporting disadvantaged groups by providing them with housing and work opportunities. Since 2009, the ZZZ Agency has brought abandoned buildings and spaces in deprived neighbourhoods to life, for temporary use.  It rents vacant spaces and makes them available to local social innovators and municipal departments as a space to run activities that can benefit the whole community. In turn, they must provide accommodation and employment to recently arrived refugees.

Start-ups, social innovators, cultural associations and other organisations are keen to be involved, as they benefit from the temporary use of spaces at reduced rental costs, as well as mentoring and technical support from other involved organisations. Projects can progress in an independent and autonomous way, while offering refugees work experience or social support and reviving various parts of the city.

With the help of the URBACT Local Group, made up of representatives of local stakeholders including NGOs, public agencies and civil society, the ZZZ Agency also developed an Urban Lab pilot initiative. The Urban Lab is specifically geared towards the integration of newcomers, such as refugees, through ad-hoc initiatives. It is a ‘do-lab’ – it enables collaborative decision-making and fosters a capacity-building ecosystem in the neighbourhood, by helping to develop relationships among key stakeholders such as social and cultural institutions and local communities. The ZZZ Agency has organised various workshops among members of the URBACT Local Group, to test the pilot and identify relevant stakeholders to take part.

Key results and benefits

One of the key achievements of the Bremen Local Action Plan developed by the ZZZ Agency are the newly developed networks with local social services and cultural communities, which the project has fostered. With the support of the Local Action Plan, the project ‘Wurst Case’, in a former sausage factory, provided the location for several migrant and refugee projects. This included a self-repair bicycle shop for refugees, German language classes for refugees provided by members of the German-Gambian association, and the office of the Bremen-Africa network.

Other migrant and refugee initiatives and associations were supported using a former nursing home ‘Hulsberg Crowd’. In the nine months before the building was demolished in July 2019, it became home to many initiatives developed by individuals and small businesses, including the International Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra and the Iraq Aid Association. Other initiatives have been supported with advice on their search for office space, such as the ‘Women creative lab’ (Frauen Kreativ Labor) project in Bremen Kattenturm, funded by the European Social Fund (ESF), which allows migrant women to work in textiles and other crafts while their children are in childcare. The project is managed by a partner from the URBACT Local Group and has been given much needed temporary use of vacant space by the ZZZ Agency. A similar project named ‘Furniture Design Studio WeserHolz’, implemented by the network of the Local Group, supports young migrants through design and woodworking workshops until they can start regular job training. It also includes German language classes.

Potential for mainstreaming

The temporary use approach has become an important part of social change and neighbourhood revitalisation in Bremen, and the government of Bremen has acknowledged the benefits of this new bottom-up approach. The key stakeholders involved in Bremen, such as municipal institutions, property owners and cultural organisations, have provided their insights on how to sustainably implement this approach. Through various international projects, such as the URBACT-funded TUTUR network (2013–2015), the method of temporary use for urban regeneration has been disseminated in different cities across Europe, including Rome (Italy) and Alba Iulia (Romania), showing strong potential for transferability.

Partners in the URBACT Local Group are involved in the development of an economically advantageous model for refugee integration that could be transferred to other contexts. This will feed into the Urban Lab development in Bremen, which has already learned from the good practice of the ‘Digital Urban Impact Lab’ in Gröpelingen, Germany. The ZZZ Local Action Plan is going to be renewed at the end of 2020, for another period of four years, to take stock of the results achieved and plan forward.