CCB Magazine

The Urban Tech Republic is to be built on the site of the former Tegel Airport: a research and innovation center for urban technologies. Marija Marchuk is the project manager for the conceptual and operational development of the Berlin TXL Infocenter, which provides information about the project, and heads the Innovation Centers and Community team. We asked her what the Urban Tech Republic is all about and how the city of tomorrow is already being researched. 
 

INTERVIEW  Boris Messing    

CCB Magazine: Hello Marija, the Urban Tech Republic, a research and innovation park for urban technologies, is to be built on the former airport site. As Team Leader for Innovation Centers and Community, you are responsible for the design and planning of the start-up and innovation center, among other things. What exactly is behind this?

Marija Marchuk: The Urban Tech Republic is a curated location for science and research, for business and industry, for start-ups and established companies working together on solutions for the city of the future. The unique thing about this project is that we want to bring science, research and business together here on the site and thus establish a successful business location for Berlin. The planned innovation centers, which are being built in the historic heart of the Urban Tech Republic - the listed terminal buildings - play an important role in this. The former Terminal B is experiencing a renaissance as a hotspot for creative minds and up-and-coming start-up projects in the field of urban technologies. A new spatial concept with coworking spaces, workshops and event areas offers ideal conditions for this. The start-up and innovation center is connected to the Hexagon, formerly Terminal A, where the Berlin University of Applied Sciences will move in - an excellent symbiosis for the development of the future Campus TXL. A technology center is also being planned in the former Terminal D. The area also has various test and experimental areas, which are key factors for innovators to test their prototypes directly on site and prepare them for market launch.

CCB Magazine:Which urban technologies will be researched and developed here?

Marija Marchuk:Basically, six core areas are relevant for the Urban Tech Republic: Sustainable water and energy supply, recycling, information and communication technologies, new construction and materials and new mobility. The focus is on future technologies for the cities of tomorrow. These six subject areas are being addressed by individual companies, but also by research and science. We are thus developing an innovation ecosystem with the best conditions for collaboration and interdisciplinary expert exchange.

The Urban Tech Republic is a curated location for science and research, for business and industry, for start-ups and established companies working together on solutions for the city of the future

CCB Magazine:The site will also be used to test the so-called sponge city concept, i.e. urban areas that can absorb rainwater very well and thus help to cool the city or prevent flooding.

Marija Marchuk:Yes. We currently have a test area where our responsible department has set up a test facility for evaporation and infiltration beds in collaboration with TU Berlin, BHT and Berliner Wasserbetriebe. This is a good illustration of the sponge city concept. Over the next three years, the effectiveness of such evaporation systems will be investigated with the help of this test facility and then implemented in the Schumacher Quartier. The sponge city district being created there is intended to serve as a blueprint for designing climate-resilient urban districts in the future.

CCB Magazine:Speaking of which. With the Schumacher Quartier, the other major project, a residential quarter in timber construction is to be built on the edge of the airport, a total of 5,000 residential units for more than 10,000 people. Who are these apartments intended for?

Marija Marchuk:The Schumacher Quartier is a model district for social and ecological sustainability. It offers apartments for people of all ages and from all walks of life. There is a particular focus on social housing. Fifty percent of the apartments are built by housing associations, forty percent by cooperatives and the rest by providers of special forms of housing, such as student apartments.

CCB Magazine:A total of over one thousand start-ups and companies are to settle on 200 hectares. How much of this is already a reality?

Marija Marchuk:The existing buildings, which have been given a new lease of life after the airport was decommissioned, are already well occupied by start-ups and companies. There is great demand for the plots of land still to be developed. All the companies that are settling here are researching, developing and producing urban technologies. It is not yet clear which companies - large and small - will end up here; the selection process is still ongoing. In this context, we also see the potential of the innovation centers as important hubs and incubators for young entrepreneurship in the organically growing ecosystem of the Urban Tech Republic.

CCB Magazine:When will it finally be decided which companies will be part of the Urban Tech Republic?

Marija Marchuk:In line with the location profile, the focus for the settlement is on companies and research institutions that are involved with technological solutions in the six defined subject areas of urban technologies and whose settlement promises positive synergies for the local community. This is an organically growing process that is subject to political and economic conditions, and we are unable to give a definitive date for the future.

Designs for the Urban Tech Republic. Photos top and middle: Tegel Projekt GmbH_gmp-Architekten. Photo below: Tegel Projekt GmbH_Atelier-Loidl

CCB Magazine:How is the project financed?

Marija Marchuk:As Tegel Projekt GmbH, we act on behalf of the public sector. The site development is currently being financed primarily from state, federal and EU funds. With the start of marketing, the proportion of private-sector investment will increase, as the land in the Urban Tech Republic will be made available via heritable building rights for profile-compliant company relocations and will thus remain the property of the state of Berlin.

CCB Magazine:In the Infocenter Berlin TXL, you can take a look at both the past and the future of the location in the current exhibition. You curated the exhibition. What are your tasks? And what exactly does the exhibition show?

Marija Marchuk:The Infocenter Berlin TXL is an innovation and networking platform for sustainable urban development and urban technologies. The exhibition is there to communicate the entire project. We welcome many international delegations, specialist audiences, student groups and, of course, the general public - all of whom come to us with great interest. The permanent exhibition “Past - Present - Future Berlin TXL” is a kaleidoscope of different perspectives on the transformation of the former airport. The leitmotif of the exhibition is the DNA of Berlin TXL: on the one hand, this is the development of the area in the present, and on the other, the causal connection with the architectural and socio-cultural heritage of the past and, at the same time, the programmatic orientation of the innovation location towards urban life of the future.

Basically, six core areas are relevant for the Urban Tech Republic: Sustainable water and energy supply, recycling, information and communication technologies, new construction and materials and new mobility. These six subject areas are being addressed by individual companies, but also by research and science

CCB Magazine:How did you get involved in the project and what did you do beforehand?

Marija Marchuk:I studied comparative literature and art history at the University of Potsdam and initially worked as a curator for art exhibitions with a focus on European modernism. I then moved on to Tegel Projekt GmbH as project manager for the conceptual and operational development of the Berlin TXL Infocenter. Since 2023, I have been leading the Innovation Centers and Community team.  

CCB Magazine:Tegel is currently still a wasteland. What is the timetable for the realignment? When will the Urban Tech Republic be proclaimed? When will the entire Berlin TXL project be completed?

Marija Marchuk:The Urban Tech Republic already exists - and it is growing, supported by the community of people who research, develop and produce here. More and more companies are gradually joining. The final construction phase will be completed in the 2040s. Of course, this also depends on politics and its priorities. From this perspective, there is no clear answer to your question. But there will never be a so-called “finished” state, that is precisely the essence of innovation, so the Urban Tech Republic will also be curated in such a way that it remains a dynamic and future-oriented place in order to maintain its innovation-promoting ecosystem. That's our mindset and we've received consistently positive international attention for what Berlin is planning with the Urban Tech Republic.