An essential component of the BELT initiative are the BELT Studios, in which students from the RUC and TH Lübeck work at different locations in the Belt region as part of their respective Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes. Each studio is dedicated to identifying recommendations and developing spatially anchored action plans that focus on specific issues within the programme region. Each studio is conducted in close cooperation with local actors at both citizen and municipality level. The BELT Studios are designed to be as realistic as possible and include actionable recommendations for the future development of the city or community. The results and ideas of the individual studios will be integrated into an overall strategy (BELT Vision) at the end of the project.

As part of the first BELT Studio, students from the TH Lübeck researched various thematic areas of interest in the Belt region. These included basic topics such as border spaces in Europe and examples of other built links such as the Eurotunnel. In addition, urban development trends and topics such as the relationship between urban and rural areas as well as challenges - such as climate change, biodiversity or digitalisation - with which small towns currently have to deal, were brought into focus.

Based on the findings of the theoretical discussion, the students addressed the practical planning case of Neustadt in Holstein and thus a small town in the middle of the newly emerging Belt region. An essential component of the project was therefore the development of a general spatial understanding for the location of Neustadt in Holstein in the context of the Belt region. For this purpose, the diverse strengths and challenges of the town were highlighted in an inventory analysis.

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From the combination of theoretical knowledge and spatial analysis, a key idea for a spatial strategy was developed, which was then transferred into an urban development concept for the urban fringe in Neustadt in Holstein. The developed concept was then tested, detailed and spatially intensified in the studio work on an area in Pelzerhaken - the Deepensoll area.

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All working levels dealt with questions of the future viability of small towns against the backdrop of sustainable transformation, demographic change, digital progress, changing mobility structures, the interactions between town and country, and the requirements for designing places for people. At the same time, the opportunities and challenges arising from the new Belt region were included in the work on all levels.

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The semester and studio work was supervised by Anika Slawski, M.A. and Prof. Frank Schwartze, TH Lübeck.

The first BELT Studio