In the post-war era, countless new public parks were created in German cities as they were being rebuilt. These green spaces from the 1950s and 1960s are valuable cultural and natural assets. In the past, these areas have been victims of a lack of appreciation coupled with budget cuts. As part of a cooperative project, the German Heritage and Environmental Foundation (Bund Heimat und Umwelt (BHU)), the German Municipal Gardens and Parks Heads Conference (GALK) and the Heritage Conservation Department of the TU Berlin evaluated the status of these green spaces with the aim of raising awareness for the preservation of these shining examples of Germany’s horticultural heritage – the hope being that greater public attention to these parks would increase peoples’ appreciation for them and therefore contribute to their long-term preservation.

The project resulted in the publication of »Public Parks of the 1950s and 1960s – Rediscovering Qualities« – a guide that raises awareness of the horticultural heritage of post-war modernism in our cities and can help people to identify these spaces and contribute to conservation efforts. The preservation of these cultural assets is not only important from a conservational perspective, but also because these parks and green spaces provide us with valuable inspiration for the Green Cities of the future: for example, the integration of small-scale green spaces into the city landscape could be a model for the inclusion of open spaces and green links in the urban planning of tomorrow.

Project implementation:
Bund Heimat und Umwelt in Deutschland e. V. (BHU)
Adenauerallee 68
53113 Bonn
0228 | 224091

Cooperation partner:
Technische Universität Berlin
Institut für Stadt- und Regionalplanung
Fachgebiet Denkmalpflege
www.denkmalpflege.tu-berlin.de

GALK e. V.
60327 Frankfurt am Main
www.galk.de

AZ 32423