Fledder is a district in the east of Osnabrück,

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, characterised by its large prevalence of

industrial estates An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...

. Despite being the location of numerous businesses and large supermarkets the district has comparatively few

residential buildings A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

; its population is roughly 2,400. In 1912, a centrally located shunting yard was set up between the factory of the car manufacturer Karmann and the former Klöckner steelworks. It was substantially expanded and modernised during the 1960s, however its overall capacity soon became insufficient. In 1962, the Fledder district was formally designated an industrial zone by the

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of Osnabrück. The idea of transforming the area into a cohesive wholesale centre originally came from Dr. Hans—Achim Kastan, leader of the wholesale association. After Osnabrück's old wholesaling quarter – situated between the main train station and the city centre – was dissected by the extension of the inner ring road causing mounting transport problems. At the beginning of the 1960s, Dr. Castan began to devise plans for a new wholesale centre based in Fledder. Following long-lasting negotiations with – among others - the city council regarding property matters and plans for development, the wholesalers themselves who needed to be won over to the project, and also with the

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and credit institutes regarding issues of financing, Castan was able to guarantee relatively fast development of the wholesale centre. Numerous businesses were quick to settle in the area afterwards, necessitating a railway siding as well as road links. This led to further expansion of the shunting yard. The haulage and logistics firm Meyer & Meyer is based in Fledder – founded in 1902, it employs around 2,300 people today. The district's name links back to the old term used for the lowland area to the southwest of the city centre. Due to its lowness and moisture, this area was only used for pasturage. The term "Fladder" was used to denote such

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally ...

only thinly covered with soil. Locally the area tends to be referred to as ''der'' Fledder (''the'' Fledder). There is a round bunker from

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located on Schellenbergstraße near the Schellenbergbrücke. The surrounding area is today the property of Karmann. In addition, there was also an air-raid protection tower known as Kiebitzheide, which was eventually pulled down. An old high-rise bunker still stands on the corner of Stahlwerksweg and Bielefelder Straße; today various businesses use it for office space and workshops. Fledder is also home to two

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Meaning of name

A ''Fladder'' or ''Fledder'' is an area of brittle, wet

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

or a stretch of land where water is able to spread without infiltrating easily.Fangmeyer, W., "Deutung von Ortsnamen im Osnabrücker Land" in Heimat-Jahrbuch Osnabrücker Land (1982) p. 79

References

Links

City of Osnabrück, Referat für Stadtentwicklung und Bürgerbeteiligung – statistics -, 4/2008
(PDF file, 1.49 MB)
City of Osnabrück, Referat für Stadtentwicklung und Bürgerbeteiligung – statistics -, 11/2009
(PDF file, 35.4 KB) {{coord, 52.2669, N, 8.0723, E, source:wikidata, display=title Geography of Osnabrück