ST. JOHANN - A PORTRAIT

St. Johann A portrait

Lyubov Jeglova

St. Johann - a portrait

ST. JOHANN A PORTRAIT

Research by Lyubov Jeglova

Introduction

Research overview

The research project looks at the neighbourhood of St. Johann in Basel with the aim to study the existing situation of this city quarter and create a portrait of it. By doing so it tries to show how diverse a city space can be. It identifies the different spaces of the neighbourhood, the different processes that take place there, like for example processes of exclusion and inclusion. As well as the research tries to see how people live together in cities. The research is an attempt to take notice of the relationships between people and also people’s relationship to the surrounding urban space. It tries to emphasize on the concentration of great difference in the neighbourhood that is characteristic for contemporary cities.

How are cities developing and what is our role as citizens in this development? How can urban interventions that engage citizens in their design process help contribute for the living together in cities? How this can influence the future development of cities?

I will use the case of St. Johann as a test-ground in order to try to answer these questions.

Methodology

To create the portrait of St. Johann various types of data are used. These include:

• rical information;

histo

statistical data from Basel Stadt;

• personal fieldwork and impressions;

• information from media regarding the development of the neighbour-

• hood;

• bourhood.

information on the Quartiertreffpunkt LoLa and its work in the neigh-

Further a visual portrait will be created which will allow for a different type of representation of the variety that exists in the neighbourhood.

At last a concept of an urban intervention will be presented in a separate volume as an attempt to support the community of St. Johann. The intervention aims at connecting citizens and making them more aware of the different people living in their neighbourhood as well as strengthening the bonds between citizens and the city by appropriating a site in the neighbourhood for the use of its residents.

Within the concept of the urban intervention the following aspects will be examined and presented:

theoretical framework;

• conceptual references;

• location of the intervention - current situation and proposed scenog- • raphy;

• residents’ stories;

dramaturgy of event;

• technical requirements;

•

• time schedule.

The urban intervention is seen as an experiment which helps identify how participatory urban interventions can help support community and with this bring awareness, responsibility and knowledge to citizens and thus empower them to take part in the production of urban space.

Image 1. City of Basel

Overview

St. Johann is a neighborhood that has been shaped in a great extent by the growth of industry. Starting in the second half of the 19th century many factories, industrial estates and residential buildings for the workers were built and by the 1920s little land was left unoccupied.

At the end of the 1980s, the first industrial estates made way for new housing complexes and public parks.

Now a new urban development process is on its way. It will provide new living and recreation space, parks, offices and schools. This process is supposed to fundamentally change the character of the area.

The neighbourhood is home to Novartis Campus. This factor is the one that shapes the future development of the area transforming it from an industrial and manufacturing location into one for research and services. By 2030, the Novartis Campus will be established for around 10,000 research, development and management staff in the largest area of land. Adjacent to the Campus, in the former St. Johann port district, the Campus Plus park will provide the area’s residents with access to the Rhine. A new Rhine esplanade will go from St. Johann’s Park to France.1

Due to the recent development of the area St. Johann has been attracting new and new residents. It is still one of the neighborhoods with the greatest amount of immigrants however the composition of the immigrant population has changed as more foreigners from the neighboring countries are triggered in Novartis.

In recent years St. Johann has become very diverse. The diversity moreover is concentrated on a small piece of land. Looking from a spacial perspective St. Johann is divided into different parts. Those are the unreachable for many Novartis Campus, the new Volta development with Vogezenplatz and St. Johann train station, I would also note Elsässerstrasse and its side

1 http://www.voltawest.ch/7_Volta

streets for the typical foreign character, and then in the direction of the Euro-Airport is a vast area dedicated to medical services with the Burgerspietal and the Psychiatric clinic of the University Hospital.

I will give a brief overview of the different parts noted above from the perspective of my personal experience of the neighbourhood, a fieldwork that I have carried out.

Elsässerstrasse and side streets - The small shops and kiosk

Independent of the changes that are happening in the neighbourhood there are still many in my opinion places on Elsasserstarsse that have a very typical foreign feel. Be it a shop, kiosk, hairdresser salon or a playing arcade. What caught my attention were the new “trendy” locations that were emerging close to these immigrant locations.

The “foreign” shops have colourful vitrines with a chaotic range of goods - from fruits and vegetables to household items, electronics and Christmas decoration. The majority of the shops are open till about 9 - 10 in the eve-

ning seven days per week. The longer working hours give them the opportunity to compete with the Swiss shops - Coop and Migros.

At the bistros one can find a quick snack, for example a pizza or a döner kebab. I noticed that the bistros were mainly visited by immigrants.

As for the hair and beauty salons run by foreigners, they seemed to be always busy with many clients inside. There were salons visited only by Turkish people, or salons visited by Africans.

The neighbouring “trendy” shops looked in contrast very quiet and modest. Art galleries were oftentimes closed.

Vogesenplatz and the old train station St. Johann

Vogesenplatz is a place characteristic of the changes taking place in the neighbourhood. Surrounded by the new Volta buildings and the old train station St. Johann it is slowly becoming a point of citizens activity. On Saturdays a regular market takes place on the square which is initiated by the residents of St. Johann. But also the square is used as a meeting and recreation point due to its central transport location. The younger generation

Image 2

“Holiday Food” and “westen” on mUlhauserstrasse

Image 3

View of vogesenplatz

also enjoys the square as a place for skateboarding.

The old train station building is also inevitably adapting to the new rhythm of this city space. Now the former signal box of the railway has turned into a creative centre which offers young professionals in the fields of art and design the opportunity to start their career there. It offers spaces for studios and offices. There is also a consultation office that works to create a network that would link the young practices.

The restaurant “Buffet” and the bar “Hinterdembahnhofgehtdiesonneunter” focus on supporting the aesthetics of the rail ways as a new type of city experience. Apart from offering dinner at the backdrop of the sunset they organise events that spread over the space of the railways attracting many different people.

Next to the revived part of the train station building is the Güterhalle - a wooden shed from the 19th century that used to function as a warehouse but now remains abandoned. It may need to be demolished in order to provide space to new city development.

Novartis Campus

I would say that Novartis Campus is yet another segregated area in St. Johann. This is of course a very personal opinion based on my own experience.

About three years ago when I first visited Switzerland I had planned to see Novartis Campus because of its new architecture. That was the year when I was finishing my studies in architecture. To my surprise I was rejected to enter the site no matter how hard I tried to convince the guard that I was an architecture student and only wanted to see the buildings. Back then I did not know about the restrictions applied for visiting the site. I had to satisfy my curiosity by looking at the buildings from outside the campus. Only when I moved to Basel did I manage to see the site from inside when I was invited by friends who worked at Novartis.

The Campus has undergone in recent years many changes. New buildings have been built and more are to be built in the place of the older structures. The Campus should become an authentic city district, with avenues, squares, parks, cafés, shops – however now only residences seem to be missing. Here again, one has to question whether the desired urban life will evolve since the campus also forms a closed enclave reserved exclusively for the Novartis community.

I do believe that if the open spaces of Novartis Campus, its restaurants and cafes become easier accessible to the general public both the Campus

and the neighbourhood will benefit from this. Novartis should not continue to be gated from the city.

Image 4 novartis campus construction

Hospitals and clinics and their environment

One of the field trips I did was dedicated to the area to the north in the direction of the Euro Airport. There several hospitals are located and the pshychiatric clinic of the university hospital. This whole area seems to be separated from the city, to be functioning independently from it. The psychiatric clinic is located on a green piece of land with big old trees among which the pavilions of the clinic are located. Although it is not fenced people from the city do not use the park. It is used only by the stuff and the patients of the hospital.

Although the area is segregated I personally believe that this type of segregation is aimed at providing a better and more peaceful atmosphere to the patents of the hospital.

Population

Another approach of my fieldwork was to look at the different composition of the population and its location in the space of the district. The only way

I could think of doing this was to look at the door bells and post boxes of the houses and to see the names of the people living there.

I walked through the whole Elsässerstrasse - to the border with France and back. Quite obviously what I observed was that more foreign names were present towards the outskirts of the city, in direction of the boarder.

I also looked at several other streets: Lothringerstrasse, Vogezenstrasse, Voltastrasse, Mulhauserstrasse and St. Johanns-Ring. There seemed to be many foreign people living in the new residential buildings on Voltastrasse. I saw quite some English names there. On St. Johanns-Ring the foreign names were the less.

The type of architecture could also give some hint on the way the neighbourhood was populated. The bigger residential buildings were more diversely populated - people of many different nationalities lived there. For example the residential building on Lothringerstrasse 23.

On the other hand the residential buildings located to the north of Kannenfeldpark created a totally different environment - an environment which was characterized by quietness, discipline and order. The row houses were not high, for one family only and had their small garden. There was no noise anywhere near, but cars were parked along the small streets. I did

Image 6

Door Bells on elsassestrasse

Image 5

Hotel and casino on the way to euro-airport

not look directly at the names of the residents on the post boxes as for this was not really possible but my guess that this area was mostly populated by swiss people has been confirmed by the statistical data I further looked at.

I will talk more about the composition and location of the population of St. Johann in the next sub-chapter, where I look in detail at the statistical data that I have come across.

Statistical Data

For a more diversified portrait of St. Johann I look at the various statistical data provided by the city of Basel.2 Apart from an additional sourse of information the statistical data can also help approve or disapprove the observations on the neighbourhood that i have gathered based on my personal experience.

I look at the following statistical data:

Population, 1980 - 2011 •

Foreign Population, 1975 - 2011

Swiss Population, 2005 – 2011

Apartment Balance, 2005 - 2011

Empty Apartments, 2000 - 2012

The population of St. Johann has decreased from 1980 with almost 1’000 people and also the amount of people per household has decreased (see img. )

The amount of foreign residents in the last 10 years in St. Johann has been rather stable making up about 42 percent of the whole population. However the composition of the foreign population has changed radically. If ten years ago the prevailing nationalities were Italian and Turkish then now the majority of the immigrants are German. The Italian population has decreased almost in half. The Portuguese population is also increasing as well as the British.

The migration of residents to other neighbourhoods of Basel is rather balanced. The residents who leave the district are compensated with the new residents how. Therefore the difference is around plus minus zero. In 2009 and 2010 the amount of people who moved to the neighbourhood was slightly more than those who left. This might have been the result of

the new Volta development and the increasing attractiveness of the district.

In order to have a better understanding whether the composition of the population and the amount of foreigners was linked to the different areas of St. Johann I looked at the schemes showing the about of Swiss population per city block.

As I mentioned already before when describing my field work I had noticed that there were certain areas of the quarter that seemed to me to be populated mostly by Swiss people. This assumption has been confirmed by the statistical data. When we look at the map of St. Johann there are certain spots that throughout the depicted periods remain unchanged and dark (on the schemes the darker the colour the greater the percentage of Swiss residents). These spots are the residential area to the north of Kannenfeldpark, Flughafenstrasse opposite the park, the crossing of St. Johanns-Ring and Mittlerestrasse, a housing block on Jungstrasse.

I looked also at the statistical data representing the different building processes. For example the apartment balance scheme clearly shows the processes of demolition and new construction which are linked to the Volta development. Thus we can see on the scheme that in 2009 and 2010 accordingly 54 and 19 apartments were demolished and 154 and 189 new apartments were built.

The amount of empty apartments has decreased drastically. If in the year 2000 there were 222 empty apartments then in 2012 there were only 36. Keeping in mind that the population has decreased by 400 people since 2000 this could mean that people are now settled less densely in their houses and there is more living space per person. This in term could speak of the increased standard of life.

Finally I turned for information to the Basel Nord web site3 dedicated to the various development projects of the Basel Nord area. There I found a brochure which is showing the different residents of St. Johann and their opinion on the neighbourhood. Those opinions were represented by very different people from butchers to businessman and house wives. Of course these opinions very positive focusing on different opportunities the neighbourhood offers, the perfect integration of immigrants and once again the great diversity. One of the more important quotes for me was the one saying that in order to love St. Johann, one must know it. In other words we

need to be aware of the city and the neighbourhood that we live in and to be participial to the life of the other people around us.

Image 9

Quantity of foreign population

Image 7 quantity of st. Johann population

Image 8. amount of people per household

Image 11

Quantity of empty apartments

Image 10 Apartment balance, left-demolished apartments, right-new apartments

Image 13

Migration of population

Image 12

Composition of foreign population

Image 14

Swiss population 2006

Image 15

Swiss population 2007

Image 16

Swiss population 2008

Image 17.

Swiss population 2009

Image 18

Swiss population 2010

Image 19

Swiss population 2011

Image 20

Swiss population < 60 percent

Image 21

Swiss population 60 -70 percent

Image 22.

Swiss population 70-80 percent

Image 23

Swiss population 80-90 percent

Image 24.

Swiss population > 90 percent

The Cases of Exclusion & Inclusion

Reviews from newspapers

The story of St. Johann has been reflected in the newspapers mainly focusing on the process of gentrification and the different people this process affects. The articles in the Basel based newspaper Tages Woche describe the new development of the neighbourhood mentioning that it has become attractive to different social groups. Like the title of one of the articles says St. Johann is the place “Where Bünzli and hipsters say good night to each other.”4 When interviewed by the reporters from Tages Woche in the mobile coffee shop that was organized by the newspaper the majority of residents of St. Johann felt happy and satisfied by the district, saying that St. Johann is a wonderful neighbourhood. The article contin-

4 http://www.tageswoche.ch/de/2012_35/basel/453465/wo-buenzli-und-hipstersich-gute-nacht-sagen.htm

ues to describe the development of the district focusing not only on the urban changes as parks, squares and architecture but also on the population of the neighbourhood. The rebellious students from the 80s have become adults. They characterize the cozy middle-class district which now is much appreciated. Around 18 000 are the residents of St. Johann and there are hardly any reasons for them to complain. However small businesses are having hard time. The article mentions the stories of some shop owners who are having hard time to survive in St. Johann due to the rising competition from the side of the big chains like Coop and Migros.

For example the kiosk owner Aydin Sen earlier sold 200 news papers on a good Sunday. Now the situation has totally changed - he delivers only about 50 newspapers the majority of which remain lying.

The article also gives the examples of other shop owners: the Indian family with their corner store on Jungstrasse, Thiyahu Thamboo with his family in the Denner Satellite shop on Elsässerstrasse, the Kurds back in the Mülhauserstrasse – they all struggle to survive.

The peak times still work to some extent for these small shops, where the park visitors need beer and cigarettes. For normal purchasing the residents of St. Johann go to the major retailers. Migros and Coop have recognized the potential of the upgraded district.

The issue of the small businesses is emphasized further in two other articles from Tages Woche:

Another issue is the rising land value - due to the rapid changes and bigger attractiveness the residents fear that there will be less and less affordable housing in the neighbourhood.

This topic is well reflected in the article “St. Johann must grow further.“7 The article looks at the survey “Pro Volta” that has been done by the Statistical Office of Basel city in the time period between April and October 2011. 268 tenannts of the three new buildings VoltaMitte, VoltaWest and

5 http://www.tageswoche.ch/de/2012_35/basel/455155/trendquartier-dass-ichnicht-lache.htm

6 http://www.tageswoche.ch/de/2012_34/basel/454097/arbeit-viel-arbeit-schwer. htm

7 http://www.tageswoche.ch/de/2012_21/basel/427426/vorzeigekind-st-johannmuss-weiter-wachsen.htm

Kiosk at st. Johanns-tor

Voltazentrum have been surveyed as well as 1800 long-time residents and 329 businessmen.

The article continues to describe the results of the survey dividing them in 3 categories:

Results from new residents of “Pro Volta”;

Results from long-time residents;

Results from businessmen.

The tenants of the three new buildings are mostly happy with their home and the living environment. The connection to public transport is good, the architecture supports the quality of life. However the neighborhood is lacking in cultural activities.

According to the survey the residents of the three new buildings are younger and have greater income then the rest of the residents in the neighbourhood. 45 of the 268 new apartments are rented to Novartis and Roche.

64 percent of the second surveyed group rated the development of the district as positive which is supported by the improved traffic conditions. The surveyed residents also note that the shopping conditions have improved. However many are not yet fully satisfied with the cleanliness of the neighbourhood and the amount of greenery.

Critical feedback was also present in the survey. 15 percent of the interviewed considered the changes as negative. They were not happy with the architecture of the new buildings and the way they were integrated in the existing city fabric. People were anxious about the increase of rents and that affordable housing was disappearing which could therefore affect the current residents of the district. In this relation the article quotes Guy Morin, the district president, who says “It is clear that in places which have been rebuilt rents rise. Compared to other cities we are far away from extreme rising of prices.”

The last group report satisfaction from the neighbourhood and its new development.

The article continues to describe the future development plans of St. Johann which include the expansion of the Volta school building, a new student accommodation and also the future plans of Novartis for a new Rhine promenade and a tower.

Community supporting - LoLa

LoLa serves as a meeting point for the neighbourhood, where different people could gather, different generations and different cultures.

The aim of the organization is to create a network of the residents of the neighbourhood and make them more involved in the life of the neighbourhood.

Various events are organized by LoLa. For example, workshops for children, movie screenings, dinners with national food, concerts, discussions. The events vary from entertainment oriented to more information focused happenings like for example discussions on the future development on the neighbourhood and possibility for citizens to take part in this development. From my personal experience, the discussion “Was bewegt unser Quartier?” although open to the public was nevertheless visited by a narrow group of people, which was possibly the result of the strict format proposed, e.i. a round table discussion.

In addition open air events are organized by LoLa - a street festival in the summer that gathers many people and invites them to experience the public space of St. Johann through various activities.

The events in LoLa are often times organized by the residents of the neighbourhood, who desire to share their ideas and knowledge with others in order to support the life in the quarter, to make it more diverse and colourful.

St. Johann - a visual portrait

The visual portrait proposed below is yet another tool to create a more multifaceted portrait of the neighbourhood. It deals with the visual information gathered from the neighbourhood in the form of photographs to ask questions and point out issues. It shows in yet another way the diversity of the neighbourhood and proposes that the answers to the posed questions could vary infinitely.

St. Johann -public space?

St. Johann - child-friendly?

St. Johann - lonely place?

St. Johann - diversity?

St. Johann - activities?

St. Johann - shopping?

St. Johann - ‘hipster’ neighbourhood?

St. Johann - colour?

St. Johann - accessible public area?

St. Johann - future plans?

St. Johann - borders?

St. Johann - fenced?

St. Johann - gardening?

St. Johann - market?

St. Johann - foreign food?

St. Johann - green?

St. Johann - kiosks?

St. Johann - streets?

St. Johann - housing?

St. Johann - new architecture?

St. Johann - run-down places?

St. Johann - mood?

Once in LoLa I met an Italian man who had moved to St. Johann from Italy some 40-50 years ago. He recalled the quarter of that time when he first moved to be a very thrilling, fascinating and blooming place. Everything was spontaneous. People gather in the little gardens in front of their houses, or in the little restaurants and guest houses. Just walking home they would be talking on the corner of the streets, exchanging thoughts and ideas. They had parties even on the streets.

Today, according to my acquaintance, things are different. Although the district has turned into a very disciplined quarter and is well taken care of, things are now slower, there is no more livelihood.

Could that be so with the diversity that is present today in St. Johann? Or maybe diversity is not at all a factor that determines liveliness? Diversity does not necessary provoke communication which in turn can support the liveliness and vibrant city life.

St. Johann today is diverse, fast, rapidly changing, even more ordered than it was before. But together with that people are becoming disconnected from each other. They know less about the urban space and the people who inhabit it. However is there something that can be done to change this? Or is this a symptom of our time in which people are less and less rooted to a certain place and therefore have less time to develop a relationship with this specific space and its inhabitants.

Nevertheless, I do believe spaces that encourage communication and exchange do exist - for example LoLa in St. Johann.

In the next volume I will present a concept of a project as an attempt to create a space where people from the neighbourhood and not only could gather and exchange thoughts and ideas. This new communication space is proposed to be at the Güterhalle at the St. Johann train station. I will attempt to include the complexity of the neighbourhood in this space by including different residents who will share their stories about the quarter. These different residents are seen as conflicting forces. However the Güt-

erhalle provides for them a common ground for discussion. They gather to learn more about the neighbourhood and the people who live there.

Bibliography

www.baselnord.bs.ch

www.bazonline.ch

www.entwicklung.bs.ch/stadtteilentwicklung-quartierarbeit

www.quartiertreffpunktebasel.ch

www.statistik-bs.ch

www.tageswoche.ch

www.voltawest.ch

Illustration Credits

Cover image & all images inside the book - author; Images 7 to 24 are created based on data from the Basel-Stadt | Präsidialdepartement | Statistisches Amt, http://www.statistik-bs.ch.