From Old Airport to Urban District: Tegel Takes Shape as Urban Tech Republic

Alongside the companies already active, the marketing of additional areas is moving within reach. "The signing of a contract with a first investor for a 7,000-square-meter plot is imminent," said Wolters. A second plot will be offered in the fall. In 2027, around 95,000 square meters of commercial space will come onto the market, and in 2028 a further approximately 124,000 square meters of commercial and other space. The plots are being allocated as hereditary building rights (Erbbaurecht), meaning the State of Berlin remains the owner.

Terminals as Centers for Research and Teaching

A centerpiece of the project is the Urban Tech Republic, which according to the concept is being created across 60 hectares of "experimentation space" on the ground and in the air. On the old runways, companies test, for example, autonomously controlled cars or drone technology. "In a technically and legally secure environment," emphasizes Wolters, who speaks of a real-world lab.

The type of projects already being tested there today is illustrated by the start-up Projekt Q. "In Tegel, it tests radar, drones, audio sensors, cameras, and other detection systems for this purpose," says Managing Director Felix Albrecht. A second example is Earthbound, which according to founder Micha Kretschmann produces recyclable clay bricks and mortar from construction site excavated soil in a hangar.

The terminals of the former airport are also being repurposed. Terminal B is planned as a founding, innovation, and congress center, where preliminary work for the start of conversion is underway in 2028. Terminal D is to become a technology center for mobility, AI, and robotics, with construction planning beginning next year. In the heritage-protected Terminal A, the state-owned Berliner Hochschule für Technik (BHT) is preparing to move in. "The preliminary work is completed, the groundbreaking for the construction measure will take place shortly." If everything goes to plan, 2,500 students are to move in at the beginning of the 2030s.

Schumacher Quartier: 5,000 Apartments on 46 Hectares

East of the airport site, the Schumacher Quartier is being developed in parallel. On 46 hectares, more than 5,000 apartments for over 10,000 people are being built. The municipal housing company Degewo will start construction of 337 apartments in August—initially with preparatory measures. They are to be ready for occupancy at the end of 2028 and affordable, with rents starting at seven euros per square meter. According to Degewo, the buildings will be constructed using a resource-conserving wood hybrid construction method. The entire neighborhood is being built according to sustainability principles, with renewable energies, rainwater management based on the sponge city principle, and a far-reaching reduction of car traffic.

Additional building plots are being developed by the likewise municipal Gesobau; cooperatives should also be able to build here on a larger scale in the future. Tens of thousands of people are to live, work, learn, research, and relax on the 500-hectare site—sustainably, with resource conservation, and CO2-neutral through the use of renewable energies.

Tram Connection Not Expected Until 2034 at the Earliest

Patience is required when it comes to public transport connections. At the beginning of 2024, the Berlin Senate made a fundamental decision to push ahead with a streetcar (tram) connection. The year 2034 is being discussed as a possible completion date for the new tram line with a connection to the U6. Wolters remains composed: "But if the planning is on its way and it then comes in 2034, then it's 2034." He is in talks with the BVG about interim solutions, says the TXL manager. He envisions connecting the start-up innovation center in Terminal B to the U-Bahn and S-Bahn from 2031 onward using autonomously controlled vehicles.

Berlin-Tegel Airport was closed to passenger operations in November 2020, before the state-owned Berlin TXL Management GmbH took over the land and buildings at the beginning of August 2021. What was once a farewell to the airport has thus become within a few years a laboratory for urban development, where living, research, teaching, and business are meant to come together.