Lucerne North on the way to becoming a Smart City
A lot is happening in Lucerne North. The area is to appear in new splendour and become a modern, ecological and lively Smart City. Among other things, 1500 new flats and 4000 additional jobs will be built here in the coming years.
Lucerne North is a development focus of the Canton of Lucerne. In the coming years, 1,500 new flats, 4,000 additional jobs, 850 study places, two recreation zones and various cultural facilities are to be built here step by step.
In order to become a modern, ecological and lively centre on the river, Lucerne North is to develop as a Smart City. A Smart City uses technologies, innovations and data to improve people’s quality of life, make the location more attractive for businesses, use the infrastructure more efficiently and conserve resources.
So far, Central Switzerland has lacked concrete examples of the smart city approach in an area development. Lucerne North is to become a first practical example with a pioneering character – with the simultaneous developments of the city of Lucerne towards a Smart City as well as possible cooperations on the way to a Smart Region Lucerne. The municipality of Emmen, the city of Lucerne, the canton, the transport association, the business development agency, companies, site developers and the population are involved in this networked approach.
The partners involved are convinced that the Lucerne North area is particularly suitable as a smart city, as there are an above-average number of innovative companies, investors and organisations on site and cooperation already works well.
Smartness has many dimensions
The Smart City approach is characterised by six dimensions: “Mobility”, “Living”, “Economy”, “Environment”, “Governance” and “People”. In the Smart City dimensions “Living” and “People”, the participatory pilot project “Quartiereffekt” was a milestone in Lucerne North. It enables the population to finance and implement their own ideas for neighbourhood design. But exciting projects were also developed on a smaller scale, such as a smart box from which the population can spontaneously borrow balls, badminton rackets and other games free of charge via an app.
The “Offcut” materials market in the Reussbühl area pursues the goal of a circular economy by recycling residual and used materials, in line with the “Environment” dimension.
The “4VIERTEL” development on Seetalplatz provides new approaches in the “Mobility” dimension and provides its residents with a mobility station with sharing vehicles such as e-cars, e-scooters, e-cargobikes and e-bikes. In addition, all car-free households receive annual vouchers for public transport, a bicycle service or the in-house sharing service.
In the “Economy” dimension, a new research cooperation for sustainable textiles was established in 2022 with the Viscosistadt Lab. It aims to realign the textile competences at the location in Lucerne North.
Transformation in full swing
The transformation of Lucerne North is in full swing. While some projects are under construction, important planning decisions have been made for others.
In Viscosistadt, a historic industrial building of the former Nylon-6 factory is currently being converted. This will create about 20,000 square metres of new space for office and commercial use. Right next door, the construction site for the “4VIERTEL” development is in the final phase. The first residents of Lucerne North will move in here from summer 2023.
Near Emmenbrücke station, 42 new flats will be built in “Gerliswil Central” by 2024. The Emmenbaum Nord building and the newly designed Schützenmatt district will give the area directly around Emmenbrücke station a fresh face.
The Rüüssegg housing cooperative’s development on Seetalplatz is about to receive the building permit for around 380 flats. Directly opposite the Kleine Emme in Reussbühl, 80 cooperative flats will also be built from 2024. The “Metropool” project of the Luzerner Kantonalbank and the cantonal administration on Seetalplatz are about to start construction.
The Reussbühl West area has a somewhat longer time horizon. The CKW site, which is used for commercial and industrial purposes, is to become an attractive and lively urban district in the coming years.
Even if no new flats have been occupied yet, Lucerne North is already alive today. Various temporary uses such as the cultural meeting place “NF49” (until November 2022) or the “Garage Emma” with studios for creative people, numerous events such as “Design Schenken” or the Swiss championship of bicycle couriers, cinemas and leisure facilities such as the “Adventure Room” brought around 105,000 visitors to Lucerne North last year. In addition, there are thousands of guests at the summer bar “Nordpol” on the Reuss.