Shaping the future in Schönefeld: Students of Transportation System Engineering visit the ‘Schönefeld Nord’ project

How do you plan a neighbourhood without traffic jams? Students of Transportation System Engineering visited one of the most exciting urban development projects in the region: ‘Schönefeld Nord’. Germany's fastest-growing municipality is rethinking mobility – with a dense network of footpaths and cycle paths, central neighbourhood garages, innovative mobility hubs and the goal of drastically reducing motorised private transport. The degree programme prepares students for precisely these real-life challenges.

On 4 June 2025, students of the Transportation System Engineering degree programme at our university gained practical insights into municipal urban planning and the forward-looking ‘Schönefeld Nord’ project during an excursion to Schönefeld. The municipality of Schönefeld, currently considered the fastest-growing municipality in Germany, is planning to develop a new district called ‘Schönefeld Nord’. It will be organised into several neighbourhoods and implement an innovative transport concept.

Practical insights for students

Students in their 4th and 6th semesters of the Bachelor's programme in Transportation System Engineering had the opportunity to learn about the large-scale project first-hand at Schönefeld Town Hall. Bennet Schulz, a student of Transportation System Engineering, was enthusiastic: "It's great how TH Wildau gives us the opportunity to experience theoretical knowledge directly in practice. Here in Schönefeld, we can see how the complex transport concepts we learn about in our degree programme are becoming reality. The planning of the transport loops with neighbourhood garages and the reduction of private transport in particular show how forward-thinking the approach here is."

Innovative transport concepts and challenges

The aim of the ‘Schönefeld Nord’ project is to significantly reduce motorised private transport within the new neighbourhoods. This is to be achieved by building so-called transport loops with central neighbourhood garages, mobility hubs and a dense network of footpaths and cycle paths. In the long term, the plan is to reduce the number of car parking spaces per household by expanding local public transport.

Another important aspect of transport planning is improving interregional connections. To this end, new junctions to the A113 motorway and a mobility route from Großziethen via Schönefeld to Königs Wusterhausen are planned. In addition, the extension of Berlin's U7 underground line to BER Airport is being pushed ahead, for which a recently completed economic feasibility study has shown a positive cost-benefit factor.

‘The Transportation System Engineering degree programme at TH Wildau prepares us perfectly for such real-life challenges. The discussions about infrastructure bottlenecks and complications caused by existing high-voltage power lines have shown me how complex planning is,’ adds Bennet Schulz.

The students also gained insights into the current challenges facing the implementation of the project. In addition to the factors mentioned above, the influence of BER Airport and financing also play a major role, as the municipality only owns a small portion of the land required and investments in social and transport infrastructure are necessary without the city generating any revenue from housing construction itself.

Further information on the ‘Schönefeld Nord’ project is available at www.schoenefeld-nord.de.