Hamburg is growing. Germany‘s largest port city is getting ready to have more than 1.9 million residents by 2030. For some time now, the city has been pursuing an ambitious construction program, with a focus on inner city development: the new buildings on the northern banks of the Elbe River, HafenCity, or the initiative "Sprung über die Elbe" (Leap across the Elbe) stand for development strategies on a grand scale.

How should Hamburg continue to develop? What will its priorities be in the future? Hamburg’s urban development planning is placing a new emphasis on the city’s outskirts and the urban spaces along its main thoroughfares: postwar modernist housing developments are to be upgraded in order to preserve affordable living space and make modern workplaces possible. The goal is an effective mix of uses and new urban quality of life.

This book shows Hamburg in the international discourse of urban development. It presents the most important projects and protagonists from the fields of architecture, urban planning, and landscape design, while allowing users and initiatives to have a voice.