Urban Agency, together with COBE Architects, have won an urban planning competition to convert an historic steel mill into a car-free neighborhood for over 10.000 new residents. Industrial site has been a barrier, preventing the city of Esch-sur-Alzette from connecting to Schifflange, dividing the Alzette River basin from the Terre Rouge landscape of Lallenger Berg, and restricting public access to the important industrial heritage of the historic mill.

In response to the different conditions of the site’s context, our team developed a series of strategies that frame planning strategy that seamlessly integrates environmental and social sustainabilty with the future demands of an active, commercially viable urban neighborhood. Those strategies include: 1. Establishment of a neighborhood between both a renaturated Alzette river landscape and the reintroduction of Lallenger Berg ‘Terre Rouge’ landscape; 2. Injection of new program into the preserved industrial buildings; 3. Conversion of the industrial halls into a City Factory from which we can stage the construction of the entire new neighborhood; 4. Creation of a Car-Free City, with redundant modes of active and public transportation; 5. Linked public spaces that promote opportunities for social interaction in the city; 6. On site management of rain water, in which the treatment of water adds quality to urban space and aids in the renaturation of the Alzette River; 7. Schools and Public facilities that function as social engines for each phase of development; and 8. Flexible and heterogeneous building sites which specify a mix of uses and building typologies.

This project is currently under development, and the site is expected to undergo significant transformation over the next 30 years.