Researching, designing and implementing sustainable and livable cities
Dagmar Möbius
Wiebke Klemm grew up in Vogtland. She has always felt an affinity for nature and the landscape. But she also wanted to be creative and positively influence people’s living space. For the past 20 years, the landscape architect with a PhD has been working and living in the Netherlands. The 45-year-old has won numerous awards, most recently first prize in the “Steenbreektrofee 2022” alongside her colleagues for the Nature Smart Cities Project Wijkpark Cromvliet in The Hague.
Even her mother studied at TU Dresden - Food Technology. The proximity to her home, the allure of the city of Dresden, and the department itself all played a role in Wiebke Klemm’s decision to study landscape architecture in 1996. “It wasn’t a well known field of study at the time. I remember that we once organized a kind of sports day on Prager Straße to attract attention,” Wiebke recounts. The 60 students became known as “the Landies.” She is in regular contact with her university via the alumni network.
Back to the drawing board
Back when Professor Hermann Kokenge († 2014) was the Rector of TUD, she was busy studying the craft of designing. “At that time, we were still working on the big drawing board using tracing paper,” remembers Wiebke Klemm. “We were supposed to enjoy a glass of wine and leave the drafts overnight.” When they picked up where they left off the following day, they had subconsciously managed to organize their thoughts. “It’s still the case today that I often have good thoughts at night, even though I don’t do as much design as I did back then.” She has come to appreciate the pleasant and creative working atmosphere in the ateliers that a number of employees have been able to offer her - it’s what she grew accustomed to back in her student days. “You didn’t have to clean everything up straight away,” she laughs.
The ability to give form and integral design to open urban spaces is a skill that still proves useful today. She remembers the teaching method of impromptu designs, which involved analyzing a spatial situation and developing and recording a design idea in a very short time. “If I’m working with colleagues from other departments or experts from different disciplines, it is important that I am able to quickly adapt to environments, analyze contexts and processes, and illustrate proposals for future plans, designs and processes. It is a great advantage to be able to draw and sketch quickly in the presence of others. In that way, they can understand your ideas better and you can work together on them,” explains the landscape architect. She considers a fundamental grounding in the natural sciences (soil, water, meteorology, etc.) and forestry to be crucial. Alongside the fundamentals at the Chair of Urban Design/Architecture, they provided her with the necessary knowledge for designing sustainable, livable cities.
Wasteland acupuncture and the fascination with Holland
With the support of an Erasmus scholarship, Wiebke Klemm first spent six months in the Netherlands in 2000. “Everyone wanted to go to English-speaking countries, but I’m going to go there instead, so I’ll have this place for sure,” she thought. At Wageningen University, “you meet the whole world in a village,” she says, describing the unifying community of people who studied there. She had her first experience with the language in Dresden. Two more language courses followed in Wageningen and in Amsterdam, the latter made possible with a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service. “Dutch is a really beautiful language. Funny and bright, it suits me really well.” Her Master’s thesis, “Fallow Land Acupuncture in Dresden,” co-authored with Thomas Schwager, was nominated for an international prize for architecture students in 2003. The formerly undeveloped spot on the Elbe has long since been built upon. Wiebke Klemm is looking forward to seeing this area when she next visits Dresden.
Open space planner, researcher, founder
When she completed her studies in landscape architecture in 2003, jobs in the field were scarce. So she returned to Holland. First, she worked at Wageningen University, this time as a staff member for the international landscape architecture course she had once attended herself. This gave her a better insight into Dutch landscape architecture. She originally wanted to stay for five years. “But life got in the way,” laughs Dr. Wiebke Klemm. She has two children with her Dutch partner. She took a seven-year break to work at both a research institute and then a landscape architecture firm, before continuing as a research associate and research group leader at the University of Wageningen. She completed her PhD on climate-friendly open space planning and defended her thesis in 2018. Entitled „Clever and cool – generating design guidelines for climate-responsive urban green infrastructure," her research included how urban greenery influences the urban climate and thermal comfort of residents, including how this knowledge can be used in the design of climate-friendly outdoor spaces. She also developed guidelines to make environmental concerns more present when designing open urban spaces. In the same year, she founded her own company, UrbanGreenscape. Her main focus is consulting (incl. lectures and workshops) for municipalities and business clients from the horticultural sector in the field of climate adaption and urban green infrastructure.
Recognized expert for sustainable urban development
For the past five years, Dr. Wiebke Klemm has worked primarily for the City of The Hague. She is in high demand as an expert for sustainable urban development in the department of city planning and is responsible for topics such as climate adaptation, green infrastructure and integral sustainable urban development. She also heads the European Nature Smart Cities project. It was here that she was able to implement a project close to her heart: In the socially disadvantaged district of Laak, a square was transformed into an attractive and acclimating neighborhood park (community park) in cooperation with residents. Rainwater from surrounding streets and roofs is collected locally, instead of simply disappearing into the sewage system. The water is filtered and stored for droughts. In the summer, when it gets hot, the water can be used to irrigate the vegetation of the urban farm and vegetable garden in the park. This makes the park pleasant in the summer and saves on drinking water. “The country and the municipality were initially very reluctant to talk about climate consciousness and adaptation, but now the concept is slowly becoming mainstream. Good reference projects are a big help here!” the landscape architect adds. In her field, Dr. Wiebke Klemm links the perspectives of scientific research, design practice and municipal politics. The combination is important not only for scientifically underpinning approaches to solutions for climate-friendly, livable cities, but also for developing guidelines, applying them in design and implementing them in a wide variety of projects in the municipalities. Climate friendliness, she says, must be integrated into all of today’s ventures and made financially possible. Encouraging this change and building climate-friendly, livable cities for the future is a passion of hers.
From a saying to a global topic
In Holland, there is a saying about “holding out a stick and a carrot.” It means: If you coax a donkey with a stick, you’re forcing it. If you hold out a carrot, it comes of its own accord. This is more than just a symbol for Dr. Wiebke Klemm. She says: “Of course, sets of rules and guidelines (aka the stick) are important in achieving climate-friendly and livable cities. But sustainable cities offer so much more: They improve people's health and well-being. Awareness is growing and residents are increasingly willing to adapt their private open spaces (aka the carrot): for example, replacing artificial stone slabs in the garden with plants. Outdoor urban spaces, such as gardens and parks that encourage people to stay all year round, and to move round and meet each other, are healthy living spaces. This is a global issue that can be recaptured by the individual. The city is responsible for the big picture, but we can only make cities sustainable by working together.”
Dr. Wiebke Klemm is still in contact with former students of the Chair of Landscape Architecture and Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, and she also collaborates with various universities in the Netherlands and Germany.
Contact:
UrbanGreenscape
Dr. Wiebke Klemm
Landschapsarchitect BNT