Hobrecht-Plan

The Hobrecht-Plan is the binding land-use plan for Berlin in the 19th century. It is named after its main editor James Hobrecht (1825–1902) who was serving for the royal-prussian urban planning police ("Baupolizei").

The finalized plan "Bebauungsplan der Umgebungen Berlins" (binding land-use plan for the environs of Berlin) was resolved in 1862, intended for a time frame of about 50 years. The plan not only covered the area around the cities of Berlin and Charlottenburg, it also described the spatial regional planning of a large perimeter. Thus it also prepared the city and its neighbouring municipalities for the Greater Berlin Act of 1920, which greatly extended Berlin's size and population.

The plan resulted in large areas of dense urban city blocks known as 'blockrand structures', with mixed-use buildings reaching to the street and offering a common-used courtyard, later often overbuilt with additional court structures to house more people. The Hobrecht-Plan inspired new urban plans after 1990 by construction senator Hans Stimmann and his colleagues, so the until then divided Berlin would grow together, become denser and livelier again.

Hobrecht's plan is often compared to Baron Haussmann's restructuring of Paris, as it also resulted in wide metropolitan avenues, large urban parks and squares, sewers and other modernisation projects of the infrastructure.

The industrial revolution led to a swift rural exodus at the beginning of the 19th century. Berlin as the Prussian capital was the target of many emigrants resulting in a rapid growth. After the Napoleonic Wars the city grew by 10,000 new inhabitants every year accelerating in the middle of the century so that the metro area would reach the millions at the end of the century (see Berlin population statistics).

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