YOUR FORUM FOR PLAY, SPORTS UND LEISURE AREAS
When the horticultural show Kamp-Lintfort opens to the public in 2020, the garden grounds will be frequented by expectant visitors. They will roam through the gardens of the future, bathe in a sea of grasses, conquer the new play areas, and wander in the footsteps of famous names through the Sanssouci of the Lower Rhine. And if the Kamp river wine is drinkable, then perhaps they’ll take a slightly different route home than the way they set out.
But in all likelihood, no-one will remember the beginnings. As news of the award arrived and the church bells tolled in the town. As everyone gathered in the beer tent in the evening and couldn’t believe what they were seeing on the television. As even days later people wandered along the Friedrich-Heinrich-Allee and considered that banal sentence: We are the garden show.
Free space planning can do a lot of things. It creates quality of life in outlying areas, makes empty spaces useful again, and heals wounds inflicted on the planet by humans and nature. And sometimes something is created in a small town on the Lower Rhine: A sense of belonging.
Kamp-Lintfort has 39,000 residents and lies on the border with Holland. Travel guides like to highlight the location between the Ruhr area and the left-side of the Lower Rhine, that is, between urbanity and an open landscape. But this doesn’t really do the town any justice at all because, to be honest, it is neither particularly urban, nor remarkably rural. And it has a wound – in December 2012 the Friedrich Heinrich colliery closed in the heart of the area, also known as Bergwerk West, leaving behind 40 hectares of industrial wasteland in the vicinity of the town centre.
Yet Kamp-Lintfort has a new, yet deep-rooted, town leadership, which endeavoured long before the closure of the colliery to tie up a set of measures that would aid the town in its post-coal existence.
Town development plans were established and free space concepts developed out of which the first, carefully prepared interventions arose. When the award for the construction of the Rhein-Waal University campus was confirmed in 2010, a surprise for many, a sense of optimism could be detected for the first time. The development of the Masterplan Bergwerk West in 2012 saw the rise of something new: the ‘Arena’ concept. The citizens of Kamp-Linfort had become aware of the changes that were taking place in their town and wanted to have a say in what happened, to participate, to be taken seriously. In professionally-enabled events, citizens were invited to discuss planning objectives, proposals and decisions. More than 2,000 people in total across five arenas criticised, advised, swore and praised, before finally creating a concept that found widespread agreement across all factions.
The development concept for the wasteland surrounding the colliery brought with it, however, the realisation that the desired changes could not be realised with even the most dedicated communal endeavour. It was in this state off helplessness that an idea was born. An idea that had previously been put forward in 2005, and now found itself on the table again: Why not develop the area around the mines by means of using it for a garden show? Why not use the synergy effect, the time constraints, the development funds to heal the gaping wound in the middle of the town?
A feasibility report was commissioned to determine which areas could definitely be integrated into the project, and what could be expected in terms of expenditure and potential profits. The results were surprising. Bergwerk West was, in essence, acting like a cart horse for the historical gardens of Kamp Abbey, a pre-existing walking path providing a green corridor connecting the two sites. An idea as simple as it was logical. As a result of the plethora of existing developed areas, a large percentage of the funds could be used directly on the mines. The idea was proposed at the town council and unanimously agreed upon, so by the end of 2014 it was official: Kamp-Lintfort was applying for the Landesgartenschau 2020.
The reaction of the residents was – cautious. Summer flowers under the colliery tower are the last thing we need here, was a common refrain. Why would hundreds of thousands of people come to a town that often doubts its own beauty. It was here that the town administration remembered the ‘Arenas’, the excellent tool that was used to boost citizen involvement in the process. In February 2015 the first ‘Arena’ gathering for the Landesgartenschau 2020 took place. There were so many citizens present that many ended up having to stand because there was insufficient seating in the town hall. The planners explained their concepts, the town administration expounded the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the financial implications for the budget. The first signs of approval emerged from this meeting. A support group was created to help focus civic engagement, a motley group where no-one was really sure who, what, why should be done (or not). Small groups were formed, a little awkward at first with names such as ‘nicer front gardens’ or, ‘we’re setting up an outdoor café’. Yet soon enough there were clear signs of something developing. It was a type of power, a steadily growing enthusiasm and the feeling of being able to shape something with your own hands. The groups grew larger and began to meet on a more regular basis. Complete strangers meeting in gardens and living rooms came up with ideas, many of them good, some flashy, on how to help support their town with its application. The planners substantiated their free space concepts in the form of a newspaper supplement that was carried to every home, and before you knew it people could be heard saying things like ‘the new bridge is supposed to be going over there’ and ‘here is where an entrance will be’, while out walking on a Sunday afternoon.
The summer of 2015 was wonderful, and not just because of the weather. The group ‘green and colourful’ had begun prettifying streetlamps and bollards with colourful wool, while on the town’s hotels the garden show flags fluttered, and the bakeries printed the competition logo on their product bags. And on one weekend in August 5,000 people made pilgrimage through the town in support of the group ‘Kamp-Lintfort Gardens’, which had opened their properties like an open garden gate to visitors – naturally wearing the Landesgartenschau T-shirt.
In the meantime, the pressure had begun to rise as Kamp-Lintfort was joined by Bad Honnef and the Emscher region around Castrop-Rauxel in applying. Big names, big budgets – and us? Now, for the first time, there was a unanimous reply.
On 23 June 2015 the town council, with one voice and all in the Landesgartenschau T-shirts, signed off on its application under the leadership of Reinders LandschaftsArchitekten from Duisburg. On 28 August a travel coach along with a Landesgartenschau choir travelled to the state capital in order to hand over the application documentation to a somewhat perplexed Minister Remmel. On 20 October a panel of 11 judges consisting of ministers and professionals visited the town, had the concept presented, cycled along the colliery grounds on green Lower-Rhine bicycles, and posed worrying questions in the rococo hall, before continuing their journey, on to the Emscher region bid.
And now? People looked at one another and asked: Was it enough? Were the figures clear and the concepts logical? Was the town able to be convincing even without the big names and big budgets?
The answer was silence. Nothing trickled through, no news, no hint. Quite the opposite in fact. The echoes of victory song were already emanating from the competitors’ camps. And so people silently folded their T-shirts, prepared the garden for winter, and tidied the desk for something new.
Until the 3rd November 2015 arrived and the church bells tolled; for Kamp-Lintfort had won.
Of course there is still a difficult path to travel. 2020 is only four years away and time is short, while the challenges are large. How smooth a working relationship will we enjoy with the RAG as a partner? Who is going to pay for the colliery tower? Will the landscape architectural competition produce a winner who will, so to speak, delicately yet boldly shape the new grounds? And is it morally justifiable in these times of never-ending human suffering to dream of playscapes and garden parties?
Yet one thing remains fixed: Complete strangers will continue to meet up in gardens and living rooms. They will continue to come up with ideas, many good, some flashy. They will carry out their pilgrimage through the gardens of Kamp-Lintfort during the summer before congregating in the beer tent to stand together. And they will laugh at the time when they didn’t know each other. That is also the power of free space planning.
Photo: Reinders LandschaftsArchitekten bdla
