Lebendige Stadt Foundation

Stiftung Lebendige Stadt (Lebendige Stadt Foundation) is a German non-profit foundation established in 2000 on the initiative of Alexander Otto, then chairman of the management board of ECE Group, a developer and operator of commercial large-scale real estate, especially inner-city shopping centers. The foundation works to preserve and help shape the urban diversity of work, culture, and housing, with thematic priorities in light, greenery, and the design of public spaces. It is supported by a circle of companies and personalities from politics, business, culture, science, and media, including ECE Group, Thalia, Schüco, and Vonovia. The foundation initiates and funds projects across German cities. Early support went to the illumination of Hamburg's Speicherstadt, lit by Michael Batz since 2001, and on the foundation's initiative the Berlin Reichstag building has had a permanent light installation at night since 2009, also designed by Batz. In the early 2010s it launched a project for permanent illumination of railway underpasses across Germany. It has supported 31 projects in 24 cities. Together with Deutsche Umwelthilfe it organizes the "Lebenswerte Stadt" competition, and it runs the nationwide "Aus Grau mach Grün" competition for greening streets, roofs, facades, and courtyards in smaller cities. It supported the green design of Krupp-Park in Essen and, with Deutsche Umwelthilfe, the 2010 "Bundeshauptstadt der Biodiversität" federal competition. With Schüco and the City of Cologne it initiated and funded a pilot project from 2024 for air purification at the Cologne Volkshochschule, installing a nitrogen-oxide-binding textile facade, with scientific measurement by Forschungszentrum Jülich. It has supported the redesign of Hamburg's Jungfernstieg, Leipzig's Nikolaikirchhof, and the new Jewish Campus in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, and initiated the nationwide "deinSchulhof" schoolyard redesign project with Deutsche Umwelthilfe under the patronage of Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks. It also funds scientific studies and holds congresses. The foundation awards an annual Stiftungspreis (foundation prize) to exemplary urban and municipal projects on a rotating theme, with applications opening at the start of each year and a specialist jury selecting winners. It publishes a book series with Societäts-Verlag. In its early years it drew criticism over potential conflicts of interest arising from its entanglement with ECE project management. Its board of trustees (Kuratorium) has been chaired by Rolf Buch since 2025, succeeding Alexander Otto. The foundation remains active, promoting urban diversity and quality of life in German cities.

Stiftung Lebendige Stadt was founded in 2000 on the initiative of Alexander Otto, chairman of the management board of ECE Group, which develops, builds, rents, and operates commercial large-scale real estate, especially inner-city shopping centers. In addition to ECE Group, other companies such as Thalia, Schüco, and Vonovia have since become involved. Since its founding, the foundation has initiated and funded numerous projects. One of the first projects supported by the foundation was the illumination of Hamburg's Speicherstadt, lit by Michael Batz since 2001. On the foundation's initiative, the Berlin Reichstag building has had a permanent light installation at night since 2009, also designed by Batz. In the early 2010s, the foundation initiated a project for permanent illumination of railway underpasses throughout Germany. A total of 31 projects in 24 cities have been funded. Together with Deutsche Umwelthilfe, the foundation organizes the "Lebenswerte Stadt" competition, which awards funding to cities for their efforts to create an attractive living environment. It also runs the nationwide "Aus Grau mach Grün" competition, which supports street, roof, facade, and courtyard greening in smaller cities. The foundation supported the green design of Krupp-Park in Essen, enabling extensive tree plantings, among other things. In 2010, together with Deutsche Umwelthilfe, it launched the federal "Bundeshauptstadt der Biodiversität" competition and awarded prizes to the winners. Together with Schüco and the City of Cologne, the foundation initiated and funded a pilot project from 2024 for air purification at the Cologne Volkshochschule, installing a nitrogen-oxide-binding textile facade; scientific measurement and evaluation were carried out by Forschungszentrum Jülich. The foundation supported the redesign of Hamburg's Jungfernstieg. It also supported the redesign of Leipzig's Nikolaikirchhof and the new building of the Jewish Campus in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. It also initiated, together with Deutsche Umwelthilfe, the nationwide "deinSchulhof" project for redesigning schoolyards under the patronage of Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks. In the competition, 550 schools applied; three received 20,000 euros each. The foundation also funded scientific studies, including a guide by the University of Wuppertal on safety in station surroundings and a study by TU Hamburg on car ownership in housing construction and on determining parking space keys. The foundation also organizes congresses on various topics. In its early years, the foundation drew criticism over potential conflicts of interest arising from its entanglement with ECE project management. The foundation awards an annual prize to projects in cities and municipalities with a model character regarding a rotating aspect. The call for applications is issued at the beginning of each year. A specialist jury evaluates the applications and selects the winner or winners. The foundation publishes a book series with Societäts-Verlag, with volumes on topics such as city squares, green belts, social market economy, cities by water, urban redevelopment, public space public relations, green-nature city structure, city colors, green laboratories, a life for sport, and democracy. A dissertation by Hans-Hermann Albers on corporate urban responsibility and a work by Holger Pump-Uhlmann on the foundation are also part of the literature.

• 2025

  Rolf Buch succeeds Alexander Otto as Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

• 2024

  Pilot project for air purification at Cologne Volkshochschule with Schüco and the City of Cologne begins.

• 2010

  Federal competition "Bundeshauptstadt der Biodiversität" launched with Deutsche Umwelthilfe.

• 2009

  Permanent light installation on the Berlin Reichstag building, designed by Michael Batz, on the foundation's initiative.

• 2001

  Illumination of Hamburg's Speicherstadt by Michael Batz begins, one of the first supported projects.

• 2000

  Foundation established on the initiative of Alexander Otto.

Non-profit foundation promoting livable, vibrant cities through projects on light, green, and public space, supported by corporate and public figures.

1. 1Stiftung Lebendige Stadt – official websitelebendige-stadt.de
2. 2Stiftung Lebendige Stadt – Wikipedia (German)de.wikipedia.org
3. 3Lebendige Stadt Foundation – Wikidatawikidata.org