IBA organizes specialist platforms, called IBA laboratories, to involve professionals in important issues and aspects concerning the key themes. These workshops, held on the Elbe islands and lasting several days, enable IBA to maintain contact with national and international experts – because the exchange between leading authorities is crucial for the success of the overall project.


A number of IBA laboratory events have already been held. The “International Urban Community” laboratory, for example, asked experts to look at how cosmopolitan urban communities and ethnic economies might function.

The “Port-Logistics-City” laboratory, in which the TU Hamburg-Harburg participated, addressed issues relating to the IBA key theme of Metrozones. At the port’s edge the opportunities and conflicts within the growing city are most clearly visible - for example in the west of Wilhelmsburg Island, where the clash between residential areas and port logistics is most apparent. In what ways can international experiences in this sector be of use to Wilhelmsburg and IBA Hamburg? International experts met with Elbe island residents for an exchange of views on this topic – with the aim of developing some solutions to the problem.

At the beginning of March 2008 the World Future Council co-organized the two-day IBA laboratory “Energy & Climate”. How does global climate change affect the development of the world’s cities? What consequences do rising energy costs and finite resources have for the cities? At the IBA laboratories these and similar questions are discussed, not in an ivory tower, but in the exact place where solutions must be found: in real life, on the Elbe Islands.