The Urban Design Hackathon is back! In its fourth edition we will stop a disaster in the making, the almost completed building of the A100 Berlin city highway. Once a symbol of modernity, today it represents an outdated policy of favouring car-oriented urban development. Plans for further expansions would demand extensive engineering works, a significant budget and would seriously damage the urban fabric. The outdated planning provides a clear incentive for a surge in the number of cars and an increase in carbon emissions – precisely the opposite of what cities like Paris, Copenhagen or Barcelona are currently doing.

The 16th section of the A100 is finished, but not yet in operation. If the motorway is opened next year as planned, there is a threat of traffic collapse in the Berlin hinterland. But it is never too late to do the right thing: bury the old plan and think again! The colossal valley-like infrastructure is a unique chance to turn the tide and to develop a thousand new ideas – literally anything is better than a new motorway.

The question for this year’s Hackathon is: how do you turn the car traffic ruin, a symbol of past time planning, into a catalyst for sustainable urban development?