PARKS is made by many. The ‘Alster-Bille-Elbe PARKS’ project, or PARKS for short, was created in 2019 as part of the development of the Alster-Bille-Elbe green corridor, which aims to connect the three waters that give Hamburg its name.
Community development is based on existing structures, local flora and fauna, local stakeholders and existing uses. As jointly developed in the first thinking workshops, the future green corridor is not understood by the participants as a uniform park strip, but as a multitude of differently lived spaces – not as a uniform park, but as a series of many different open spaces: “PARKS”.
PARKS names the concept and the space in equal measure. The project is a programmatic advance in the direction of a joint negotiation of what public space can be, a new perspective on thinking, planning, designing and using public green spaces and thus creating new practices of collaborative planning and cooperative urban space design.
Negotiations take place between the users, neighborhoods, municipal administration staff and the project team.
Since the beginning, PARKS has been supported by a changing group of neighbors, actors from all over the city and local workers – without whom such a project would not be possible. They make a significant contribution – as do many other volunteers and unpaid supporters, associates and friends – to the practical implementation and ongoing reflection.
The project is designed and managed by culturally active people. Starting from the initiating Hallo: e.V., a project team was formed, which was expanded by local actors and the landscape architecture firm ‘atelier le balto‘ .
‘atelier le balto‘ with ‘C/O Zukunft‘ and advice from the local PARKS team won the 2022 non-open competition for the realization of open space planning with an open space planning and urban development ideas section with the competition entry ‘Park in Progress‘. By taking up existing structures, including the Kümmer*innenschaften, the design and the unanimous jury decision create a basis on which the PARKS process and the dynamic, curated park development can be consolidated.
The sponsor of this project is Hallo: e.V., members of UVM are significantly involved.
