Bunte Gärten (Colourful Gardens) Esslingen-Pliensauvorstadt, Germany
by Ulrike
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| Name | Bunte Gärten (Colourful Gardens) | |
| Place | Esslingen-Pliensauvorstadt | |
| Country | Germany | |
| Author(s) | Ulrike Hail | |
| Completion | May 2009 | |
| Client | Please enter the client | |
| Project costs | Please enter the costs (if known) | |
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Rationale: Why is this case interesting?
The City of Esslingen converted a grasland site into community gardens for people of all ages, various cultural, ethnical and religious backgrounds. After the planning of the project together with the to-be gardeners, there are now 18 families and individuals who changed the green space into Colourful Gardens with flowers, fruit trees and space to play for the children.
The project brought advantages to all parties involved. The city - that had costs for the maintenance of the site - saves money, as the current users take care of the area. Most of the hobby gardeners live in multi-storey flats, some even without a balcony. The Colourful Gardes gives them the opportunity to have a little garden which is especially of big value for families with little kids. Besides the private parcells the community space forms the centre of the garden complex. Here people have the opportunity to meet and the kids can play together. By this contacts between persons of different social and cultural origins are enabled and intensified. This intercultural aspect has positive effects to both the individual contacts and the whole neighbourhood.
Author's personal background
Diploma in Landscape Architecture in 2006 at Nürtingen University of Applied Sciences. Diploma Thesis: planning a playground with the participation of children. After that working in a Landscape Architecture Office for one year. Since March 2007 working at Nürtingen University as scientific coworker and self-employed.
Process Biography Scheme
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Who initiated the project and why?
The project was initiated by the city council of Essingen am Neckar. This city is situated in southern Germany near Stuttgart, with a population of 92 000 people.
The Colourful Gardens are situated in the urban district Pliensauvorstadt. Both the parks and gardens department and the town planning service of Esslingen have initiated and carried out various activities to improve the quality of life in this quarter. One of the many projects was the construction of intercultural gardens. The intention was to bring together pepople with various cultural, ethnical and religious backgrounds.
When was public participation most intensive?
As public participation was an essential part of the planning process, the people were involved right from the start through to the construction. The participation and the professional planning alternated as claryfied in the process biography scheme above.
First the residents of the district were invited to an information evening, where they were briefed about the project. Concurrently they could express their first ideas and expectations. Three preliminaty designs were created from this ideas. They were presented at the following meeting and the participants could choose their favorite design. This was refined to a draft that was again discussed and improved by the future users of the Colourful Gardens.
After the construction plans were drawn the gardens were built of a landscape gardener in cooperation with the participants and various other volunteers.
Which participation tools have been applied?
On which level of participation?
Which stakeholders have been involved?
Have there been any festivities in order to involve the public?
There was an information evening at the beginning of the planning process. During the construction works there were several days were the participants as well as other volunteer helpers could actively support the formation of the Colouful Gardens. Finally the project was inaugurated with an official opening ceremony.
Who made the major decisions and when?
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References
http://www.stiftung-interkultur.de/prop2z.htm
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