City of Jena prioritizes urban development projects

The city administration of Jena has reassessed and prioritized its urban development projects. This is based on current assessments of residential and commercial development. The aim is to use the available personnel resources in a targeted manner and to advance those projects that currently offer the greatest benefit for urban development. The report was discussed at yesterday's meeting of the Urban Development and Environment Committee and will be discussed at next week's City Council meeting.

Why is a priority list needed?

The urban planning department is responsible for the majority of the city's development projects - from new residential areas and commercial sites to green and open space planning. The team currently has capacity for around 15 active, often complex projects at any one time.

In order to use this capacity efficiently, the city is testing a new evaluation system that is as objective as possible. The criteria include:

• strategic importance and contribution to housing, commerce or quality of life,
• existing urban concepts such as land use plan, building land model or commercial space concept,
• Risks, costs and possible conflicts of use,
• feasibility, availability of land and participation requirements.

Each project is given a score - the higher the score, the higher the priority in the further process. This weighted list forms the basis for prioritization.

"With the new prioritization, we are creating more transparency and deploying our resources where they will have the greatest benefit for Jena - for good housing, strong economic areas and sustainable urban development," emphasizes Dirk Lange, Head of Urban Development and Environment.

What does this mean in concrete terms?

The prioritized projects are distributed as follows:

• Seven residential construction projects, such as the Solarquartier and Quartier 22
• Five commercial space projects, e.g. the Zeiss production site in Jena (PSJ)
• Three projects as part of the Jena building land model, including the Closewitzer Straße residential development

In addition, the city has a small "buffer" of projects that can be continued when other processes are paused. This includes, for example, the "Am Loh residential development". Projects that are not on this list are not being actively prioritized at present and will be reassessed at a later date.

Transparent further development

The priority list is continuously reviewed by the urban planning department and regularly coordinated with Head of Department Lange. After a trial phase, the Committee for Urban Development and the Environment is informed of any changes - generally at least once a year.