Bürgerpark Gablenz opens with an Advent celebration
Intervention area of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025
The future Bürgerpark Gablenz will be opened on Sunday, 17 December at 2 pm. At an Advent celebration, Mayor Michael Stötzer and the Mitte-Ost citizens' platform will ceremoniously hand over the park to the citizens for use. Afterwards, the Free Evangelical Community of Chemnitz invites you to sing Christmas carols. Catering will be provided.
The open space around the site of the former Kepler-Gymnasium on Hans-Ziegler-Straße was selected for the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025 as an intervention area for the Mitte Ost citizens' platform to transform the wasteland into a citizens' park. With an area of around 4.2 hectares, the green space is one of the largest intervention areas. Work on Bürgerpark Gablenz is almost complete.
From 2019 to 2021, various public events and discussions were held with local stakeholders on the design of the park, in which the features and desired types of use were discussed. The aim was to create a park for all generations, with sports activities as well as recreational opportunities and pathways. The result was a youth activity area with a connection to the tram stop, two table tennis tables, a connecting network of paths, equipment such as benches, litter bins, bicycle racks, four fitness machines and a paved access road so that events can take place in the area. The fitness equipment was selected in a small workshop with children and young people together with the city's children and youth officer.
The area was also to be used to plant numerous trees that are compatible with climate change. In future, the area will be home to a variety of different tree species.
The budget of 325,000 euros, which is available to each intervention area, was increased with various additional funds. In 2021, the CAWG donated 5,000 euros for the first tree plantings on the area and another 12,000 euros for the expansion of the youth activity area to install the table tennis tables. In addition, the children and youth representatives were able to acquire a further 11,000 euros from the "Future package for exercise, culture and health" funding programme for the installation of four fitness machines.
In spring 2023, the participants of the Weimar Citizens' Journey donated two apple trees in the park, which were supplemented with six more apple trees from the Capital of Culture budget. In addition, the numerous tree plantings are financed by tree replacement funds from the city. Due to the onset of winter, however, this can no longer be completed; the work will be finished in spring 2024. The trees that have already been delivered will be kept in frost-proof packaging so that the plants survive the winter undamaged.
www.chemnitz.de/interventionsflaechen