Sustainable urban development in Cologne

The Cologne City Council has adopted the ‘Köln Katalog’ as a guideline for the city's future-proof urban development. The catalogue aims to direct Cologne’s urban expansion by applying efficient and sustainable land use. As an urban development concept, the 'Cologne Catalogue' will be applied in relevant future projects. The catalogue is the result of a collaboration between municipal partner offices, supported by De Zwarte Hond and Duplex Architects.

Sustainable development of built areas is one of the main challenges for Cologne. The existing building stock cannot meet the high housing demand while there is only limited expansion space available. Therefore it is essential to use potential space sparingly by implementing space-saving building forms and promoting future-proof growth.

The catalogue contains 11 strategies for high density and quality, divided into four main topics: vertical density, horizontal density, green variety and diversity of use. These strategies provide options to individually adapt when developing compact and sustainable neighbourhoods with a social and functional mix, green spaces and ecological sustainability. In addition, the catalogue introduces six neighbourhood typologies for three target densities of outer city, inner city and city centre. Each neighbourhood typology is based on a combination of the 11 strategies and addresses the specific requirements of the specific area.

Thus, the Cologne Catalogue offers guiding principles and goals for the larger city strategy developed under the title of Cologne Perspectives 2030+. By creating compact and space-efficient neighbourhoods, we can meet the growing need for housing while improving the liveability and sustainability of our city.