Aiming high with a citizen's report

14. February 2022

An investor wants to build a new district on the former ParcelPost site in Munich - with two towers that would then be the tallest buildings in the city. Although the plan has been controversially discussed, the participants of four randomly selected planning cells are in favour of it. On 11 February 2022, their citizens' report was published.

128 Munich residents had accepted the invitation to spend four days intensively discussing the future of the area around the parcel post hall. The participants, aged 14 to 80, went through a programme in four groups, which included a tour of the site and presentations by experts and interest groups. During the subsequent work in small groups, they developed ideas and concrete proposals for the further development of the area, which were presented, discussed and evaluated.

Discussion about high-rise buildings

With a currently planned height of about 155 metres, the high-rise buildings planned for the area would be the tallest buildings in Munich. As it is unclear how the towers will change the visual relationships on site and the cityscape of Munich in general, there is much discussion both among the population and among experts about the construction of the towers. Besides the height, the sustainable design of the skyscrapers is also an important issue. This includes, for example, climate-friendly construction and operation as well as the use of the towers.

In the planning cells, an in-depth discussion of the high-rise buildings took place. The citizens' experts were also given the opportunity to formulate recommendations for the height of the buildings.

Good utilisation concept desired

All in all, the citizens' report comprises almost 90 pages. It says, for example, that the planned green and open spaces are not yet large enough. The participants recommend more of them, "with a high quality of stay". The experts reject a purely commercial quarter, as the currently valid development plan would allow. They would like to see a good utilisation concept for the parcel post hall. The citizens' experts disagreed on the external design, which is why an architectural competition was also discussed.

With regard to the parcel post hall, investor Büschl wants to ensure and pay for the renovation of the listed hall and turn it into a public place for culture and sport if he gets permission for new buildings on the scale planned so far. The experts welcomed the ideas, but demanded that a utilisation concept and, above all, an operating concept be drawn up "at an early stage". One suggestion in the expert report is that the city "set the organisational framework for cultural operation by founding an association or a community of interest". In addition, the public's rights of use should be "reliably and permanently secured in the land register".

"Developing the neighbourhood in an ecologically sustainable way"

The planning cell participants also recommend to "develop the neighbourhood in an ecologically sustainable way". This applies both to the new buildings and to mobility. If this is implemented consistently, the neighbourhood could become a "showcase or lighthouse project". In any case, it should achieve the platinum standard of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). In terms of mobility, the experts want a neighbourhood with as little car traffic as possible and a cleverly planned coexistence of pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The report was incorporated into further planning and presented to the city council. Investor Büschl announced that he would take over "the valuable impulses".

The topics dealt with by the planning cells were collected at a kick-off and information evening and a round table in July. They ranged from building density, monument protection and sustainability of the area and the high-rise buildings to the use of the parcel post hall and the open spaces. So that these topics could be examined from different perspectives, there were presentations by, among others, the German Sustainable Building Council, the Munich Forum, the Technical University of Munich as well as municipal departments and renowned architecture, landscape architecture and engineering firms.

Participants a reflection of the population

The participants of the planning cells were selected representatively from the population register. They had to be at least 14 years old. They discussed various topics in working groups for several days. The sortition procedure ensured that all residents had equal opportunities to participate and that a broad spectrum of different people had their say. Nicolas Bach from the Nexus Institute, which led the process, emphasises that 23 percent of the participants were between 14 and 24 years old, "these are people we normally find really hard to get to".

The wishes and demands of the planning cells for the ParcelPost site are being incorporated into the official planning of the city. The design of sustainable mobility on the site plays an important role.

Most important points

The most important points at a glance:

At the suggestion of the experts, there will be more generous green and open spaces between the buildings than previously planned.
A resilient concept for the operation of the listed parcel post hall will be developed. The curved building from the 1960s will be renovated and used as an open space and public meeting place.
The new ParcelPost site is to become a climate-neutral and sustainable neighbourhood with an innovative, low-car mobility concept. Although this guiding principle is already included in the previous master plan, it is to be consistently developed and improved in the further planning process.
For the façade of the two high-rise buildings, which with their 155-metre height are basically approved by the experts from the ranks of the citizens, alternative solutions are to be designed and discussed in addition to the present design.

Satisfaction with the process

After the planning cells, the participants were able to evaluate the process in an anonymous questionnaire. 104 people took part in the survey. The answers showed a high level of satisfaction with the process and with their own opportunities for participation. 99 percent of the participants would recommend to their acquaintances to participate in a planning cell if they got the opportunity.

The motives for participating in the process varied. Interest in the topic was mentioned 52 times, followed by the desire to achieve something (31 mentions). The desire to seize a unique opportunity or to take responsibility was mentioned 25 times as a reason for participating. Interest in the planning cell participation format was mentioned almost as often (23 mentions). Curiosity was mentioned 10 times and the expense allowance 4 times as a motivation.

Planning cells developed in the 1970s

The participatory procedure of citizens' reports through planning cells was developed in the 1970s by Wuppertal sociology professor Peter C. Dienel. It has since been used around 80 times in Germany on various topics. The procedure is characterised by the random selection of participants, the division of the topic into work units, the communication of important information, the discussion in unmoderated small groups and the summary of recommendations in a citizens' report.

On 15 January 2025, the urban planning committee gave the green light for the plans for the former parcel post hall. A new residential and commercial district is to be built on the site, including two 155 metre high towers. Flats, offices, shops, hotels and social facilities.

Popular initiative against high-rise buildings

By March 2025, the citizens‘ initiative HochhausSTOP had collected around 50,000 signatures for a popular initiative against the city's high-rise plans. They were submitted to the district administration department for examination on 31 March. The initiators of the citizens' initiative argue that Munich is threatened with "an urbanistic turn into a skyscraper metropolis" with the planned 155-metre-high high-rise buildings at the Paketposthalle. The aim is to hold a referendum by July 2025.

"I have nothing against individual high-rise buildings up to 60 metres, but anything higher is not sensible, not sustainable and extremely cost-intensive," says Robert Brannekämper, CSU member of the Bavarian parliament and first chairman of the HochhausSTOP association. "The right measure and means must be found." The increase in trade and industry should be "more evenly distributed throughout Bavaria". Wolfgang Czisch of the SPD, 2nd chairman of the high-rise opponents, considers high-rise buildings over 60 metres to be "urban planning dinosaurs". The carbon dioxide emissions for extraction, production, transport and construction would be immense. "The people of Munich need sensible and affordable living space instead of luxury towers like the one at the Paketposthalle."

Citiy council: Popular initiative inadmissible

The city council declared the popular initiative inadmissible on 30 April 2025. Its question interferes too much with planning sovereignty. It violates the balancing requirement of the building code. According to this, each municipality decides for itself in a balancing process how and where it builds something.

According to the lawyers' assessment, this freedom of design is too strongly impaired by the question posed in the initiative: “Are you in favour of the City of Munich taking all measures to ensure that NO high-rise building over 60 metres high is built in the vicinity of the parcel post hall?”. The administration therefore proposes rejecting the popular initiative as inadmissible and not holding the planned referendum.

The initiators of the popular initiative want to take legal action against the inadmissibility decision.

State Monument Council criticises project

The State Council for Monuments is also firmly against the project: "The realisation of the project would lead to an unprecedented impairment of the entire cityscape, in particular the world-class ensemble, the extensive Nymphenburg Palace and Gardens, but also the directly surrounding individual monuments and ensembles of the city," states the corresponding resolution from February, which has only now been published. "The simulations of the impact of the project on the cityscape show the serious negative consequences, despite their more than pleasing form of presentation."

The Monument Council's conclusion: it "firmly rejects the current plans and recommends that the City of Munich and the investor fundamentally revise the project". The high-rise buildings should be significantly less tall so that the historically evolved cityscape is not impaired. It calls for the "submission of a comprehensible plan that is appropriate for a listed building to ensure the preservation of the historic Paketposthalle."

Height limit by referendum in 2004

Munich has traditionally been reluctant to build high-rise buildings. Until now, the maxim was that buildings could be a maximum of 100 metres tall, roughly the same height as the towers of the Frauenkirche, Munich's landmark. This limit goes back to a referendum held in 2004.

Image rights: CC BY-SA 3.0