Towards an urban campus

The Bochum Campus is of great importance for the «knowledge city of Bochum». The project is critical for a successful transformation of the former mining and industrial city and the Ruhr metropolis as a whole. Today, however, the area is characterized by institutional islands that are poorly networked with each other, each with individually limited development opportunities and no common identity. The infrastructure of the Universitätsstrasse and the capacity of the U35 underground line are reaching their limits, and the individual institutions are not addressed towards this main access route. The RUB campus is an architectural jewel but derelict and in need of renovation. Furthermore, the connection to Querenburg, the Uni Center and Mark 51°7 suffers from underinvestment and a lack of common open spaces and routes. The 325-hectare site needs large-scale comprehensive planning coordinated with very local interventions and upgrades. This combination of strategic planning and specific interventions poses great challenges to process, planning instruments, implementation and coordination of measures, as well as their communication – internally and externally.

The common urban campus will be the guiding principle of the 2040 development concept, from which urban planning, open space, traffic, functional and organizational measures will be derived to strengthen, position and prepare the site for the future. It focuses on the transformation, restoration and in parts reinterpretation of the existing building stock, as well as enriching and strengthening it with new interventions.