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Building a Connected City

Three Principles for an Urban Metzeschmelz

Many recently developed neighbourhoods face similar challenges: even years after completion, they lack urban life, remain disconnected from the historic city, and offer public spaces that feel monotonous and underused. Belval is no exception. Although it combines a university campus, offices, housing, and cultural facilities, these functions remain largely separated. Connections to central Esch are weak, and many public spaces fall short in architectural and urban quality.
Metzeschmelz is an opportunity to do otherwise. The masterplan already contains promising ideas: a social and functional mix, car-free interiors, and the restoration of the Alzette. At the same time, it repeats patterns familiar from other contemporary urban extensions.
For more than fifteen years, Frankfurt Babylon has critically observed the spatial and social structures of new neighbourhoods across Europe. At the invitation of Esch Clinics, we apply these observations to Metzeschmelz.

1. Ensure a Fine-Grained Mix of Uses!

Across Europe, urban planning has shifted away from the monofunctional office parks and residential suburbs of the post-war period toward mixed-use neighbourhoods. In practice, however, housing, offices, educational institutions, and cultural facilities are still frequently concentrated in separate zones. As a result, public spaces remain active only at certain times of day, making it difficult for cafés, shops, local services, and small businesses to survive.
A functional mix should not be judged by statistics for the district as a whole, but by whether it keeps streets and public spaces lively throughout the day.

For Metzeschmelz, this means:
• Primary functions—including housing, employment, education, and culture—should be combined within as many parts of the neighbourhood as possible. As a rule, every urban block should contain at least two primary uses.
• Flexible, affordable, and divisible spaces for secondary uses such as retail, cafés, services, and crafts should be provided where the primary mix creates sufficient demand throughout the day.
• Housing and employment should be developed at a ratio of at least two residents for every workplace. The proposed balance of 9,000 residents to 7,000 jobs would increase housing pressure and generate unnecessary commuter traffic.

2. Build Ties to the Existing City!

New districts can only become genuinely urban if they are closely connected to surrounding neighbourhoods and the historic city. Streets are more than transport corridors: as well-defined public spaces, they connect different parts of the city and different groups of people. Only through a continuous street network can a new district become a natural extension of the existing urban fabric.
Urban extensions should therefore continue, rather than interrupt, the structures of the city.

For Metzeschmelz, this means:
• The mobility concept should move beyond separating main traffic roads from dedicated pedestrian and cycling routes. Instead, it should establish a fine-grained network of multifunctional urban streets serving all modes of movement.
• External connections should be as dense as the internal street network wherever possible. The proposed distances of 300–500 metres between pedestrian and cycling links to Esch and Schifflange would isolate the district, while internal connections are intended to be less than 100 metres apart.
• Prioritising multifunctional streets does not conflict with traffic calming. Modal filters can prevent through traffic by car while maintaining permeability for pedestrians and cyclists.
• The five planned main entrances should evolve into lively urban streets rather than traffic corridors, clearly marked as gateways and carefully integrated into the surrounding neighbourhoods.

3. Create Well-Defined and Lively Urban Spaces!

The purpose of urban design is not to impose an abstract order on the city, but to reveal and strengthen its inherent structure. Based on a fine-grained mix of uses, a connected street network, and diverse forms of ownership—including a significant share dedicated to the public interest—urban design should clearly distinguish public, shared, and private spaces. Streets and squares form the primary public spaces of the city.

For Metzeschmelz, this means:
• The edges of the district should form clear urban boundaries. Along the curved Alzette River, the simple continuation of the orthogonal street grid creates awkward setbacks and undefined leftover spaces. A continuous urban edge following the river should frame the waterfront and give the district a clear identity.
• Within the neighbourhood, streets, squares, and courtyards should be enclosed by continuous building frontages. Many of the proposed blocks remain partially open or dissolve into freestanding buildings, producing spaces that are neither fully public nor private. Experience elsewhere shows that such spaces aavoided by visitors and fenced off by residents.
• Small plots and a range of building owners and developers should ensure genuine diversity in the urban fabric; variation in façades alone is not enough.
• The principal connections to Esch-sur-Alzette and Schifflange should be designed as recognisable urban places rather than leftover spaces. This requires not only improvements within the masterplan area but also the careful completion of the adjoining existing neighbourhoods.