Case Studies  The Karolinenviertel Case in Hamburg - St. Pauli

I. Introduction and background : The Karolinenviertel in St. Pauli

General description of the area

The Karolinenviertel is a highly agglomerated inner city neighbourhood with approx. 6,000 inhabitants. The district has a very high density of development and is mainly characterised by buildings from the 19^th century with a mixture of residential areas and commercial enterprises. The district is characterised by its locally isolated ‘island situation’ between major traffic routes and extended entire city-wide infrastructure facilities, like for example the exhibition centre of Hamburg (Messe und Congress Hamburg), the meat market (former slaughterhouses), the Heiligengeistfeld with main events like the regular Fun fair ‘Dom’ and the football-stadium of FC St. Pauli. Not far away from the district you will find the world famous red light and amusement district around the Reeperbahn.

Due to this unique location, problems and burdens occur for the district, for example heavy traffic caused by high streams of visitors from the city and the region, or bad accessibility for pedestrians. At the same time this locally isolated situation leads to a strong internal identification of the inhabitants with ‘their Karolinenviertel’.

Table of contents     1.2. Historic background