From flood to flow - The Jomfrustien District | URBAN POWER

This stretch of lowland was originally known as Jomfrustien - a vibrant park with a canal, connecting the medieval perimeter of the city with the adjacent fjord. The area was later transformed to a railway terrain until the operations discontinued in the 70s and left the area as a abandoned space, wedged in between the historic city center and an attractive housing area. Despite of the central location, the present area appears as an sub-urban wasteland, dominated by randomly placed ware-houses, big-box stores, parking lots and brownfield. Furthermore the low position of the area, the absence of the canal, an underdimensioned sewage system and the increasing amount of cloudbursts causes a high frequency of floods.

CLIMATE ADAPTATION WITH ADDED VALUE
URBAN POWER won the masterplan competition for the Jomfrustien district with a masterplan that prevents future floods, adds a re-creative park and increases the potential for urban development.

The climatic challenges would traditionally be solved by a costly expansion of the sewage system. The strategy for the Jomfrustien district however, is to separate the rainwater from the piped waste water, leaving the sewage expansion redundant. The saved costs can be used for visible and re-creative reservoirs for the rain water along the stretch and thereby partly finance a new centrally placed park. The rain water will be cleaned by plants on the way to the reservoirs, leaving much of the water handling and care autonomous. By heavy cloudburst the water will be directed and distributed along the park using the fjord as the final recipient.

The climate adaptation and improved green and blue qualities of the area with step-wise support the potential for urban development. The diffuse edges of the park will be sharpened, by relocating commercial activities in buildings placed in the park, to a future mixed use development along the park. The big-box stores can incrementally be embedded with housing that defines the perimeter of the plots, embeds the parking areas and creates a better transition between the build structure and the public space. The project area can accomodate up to 60.000 m2 housing over the next 10-15 years.

The masterplan was aproved by the city council in 2017. A bikepath along the park was constructed in 2018. The first building and phase one of the public space will be realised in 2019. The construction of the park is set to start up by 2021.