Botanical People's Park Blankenfelde The rediscovery of landscape as a concept

The over 100-year-old Botanical People's Park Blankenfelde-Pankow was founded by Albert Brodersen on a former sewage field around 1910 as a school garden and has been listed since 1994. In order to enable the further development of the area in the area of tension between botanical show and greenhouse areas and cultural landscape as well as the preservation of the ecological potential, a development and measures concept was drawn up as a basis for the measures to be carried out, which was submitted as a project outline within the framework of the environmental relief programme. The proposed bundles of measures optimise the ecological conditions and the efficiency of the natural balance and preserve the diversity, uniqueness and beauty of the landscape. In addition, educational and local recreational opportunities are created.

Task / Objective
In the area of conflict between nature conservation, monument protection and recreational demands, the primary task was to make the formative landscape elements of the Brandenburg landscape in their beauty and uniqueness once again tangible for the visitor. This required an extremely complex and careful renovation of the part of the Botanical People's Park that was under landscape protection and listed as a historic monument, and the clearing of vistas in order to perceive the gentle topography.
In addition to the removal of disturbing structures and the construction of new paths, the UEP II project primarily removed
-non-site-appropriate and invasive species through careful silvicultural methods in the park forest, which is particularly worthy of protection
-the existing dense stands of trees along the paths, thinned out
-the old fruit tree avenues by new plantings
-the water bodies by selective removal of the woody plants again made experiencable
-the botanical axis as the main development by path-accompanying wild shrubs in their representativeness completed
-former storage and compost areas into the park.

In addition, the redevelopment of the Geological Wall, which represents a special, unique architectural monument for the Berlin-Brandenburg area, took place. Finally, a concept for the sustainable and public management of the three arable land was developed.

Times
In 1909, the first ZentraIschulgarten Prussia founded in 1874 in the Humboldthain was moved to Berlin-Blankenfelde and redesigned by the Berlin city garden director Albert Brodersen.
From 1939 to 1952, the school garden was used mainly for the supply of vegetables and vegetable plants.
From 1952, the plant was the central station of the Young Naturalists "Walter Ulbricht".
In 1977, the school garden was taken over by the Humboldt University for research and teaching, which again strengthened the educational aspect.
Since 1994, the park is a listed building. Part of the Botanical People's Park has also been under landscape protection since 2004 (LSG Blankenfelde).
From 2011, Grün Berlin GmbH has been looking after the site as "Botanical People's Park Blankenfelde-Pankow" within the framework of a usage agreement with the Pankow district authority.

The interventions:

Forest development
For the approx. 8 ha park forest, forest development measures were elaborated. The aim was to maintain the forest mosaic (or their relicts) artificially created during the school garden period as a botanical feature and to sustainably develop the different forest communities in such a way that their characteristics remain and can be perceived by the visitor.
All forest types have been made accessible by a circular path, which also functions as a forest nature trail. In the interior of the forest away from the main paths, the development of natural forest areas with old and dead wood was promoted.
Through the targeted removal of invasive species and non-native woody plants and careful silvicultural measures (such as the use of horses), it was possible to preserve the ecologically valuable structures (especially breeding and cavity trees, tree relics and dead wood) in this area and ensure a "near-natural" development of the park forest.

Avenues of fruit trees
The historic avenues of fruit trees represent a special highlight in the seasonal sequence. The blossoming in spring as well as the harvest of the old fruit varieties in late summer and autumn attract many visitors. The oldest fruit trees in the People's Botanical Park date back to the 1940s.
The fruit trees have been carefully treated and revitalized through pruning. Where there were gaps in the avenues, old fruit varieties were replanted. Prior to this, an appropriate appraisal and variety assessment of the tree population was carried out.

Geological Wall
The Geological Wall was erected in 1909 on the eastern edge of the Park Forest in the Botanical People's Park. It represents an ideal section through the layers of the earth's crust of Central Europe. Rocks from the Harz Mountains, Thuringia, Saxony, Silesia and the Rhineland were assembled for this purpose.
As part of the UEP II measures, the Geological Wall was carefully cleaned and sealed. Missing stones or rock formations were restored in accordance with the historical concept.
In order to reactivate the original purpose of the wall, namely educational mediation, the immediate surroundings of the Geological Wall were optimized for the stay of larger groups of visitors (e.g. school classes).

Botanical Axis
The Botanical Axis is the central development of the Botanical People's Park and is lined on both sides by herbaceous borders. The eastern section was already newly laid out several years ago.
For the western construction section, it was first necessary to remove the copses that severely impaired the overview and orientation or no longer did justice to the representative character of the axis due to inadequate maintenance. Since the western section lies within the LSG, a planting concept with native wild perennials was developed to continue the perennial plantings. The planting is accentuated by single, multi-stemmed birch trees and thus guides the park visitor into the near-natural park forest.

Watercourse rehabilitation
The existing watercourses (forest pond, ditch and Great Zinger Pond) represent major attractions of the park. They had become silted up over the past few decades and the shoreline areas were barely noticeable due to woody growth.
The Forest Pond was desilted on the basis of a remediation concept. The water level was also regulated at all water bodies. The banks were thinned out at points, taking into account nature conservation aspects, so that visual references to the water bodies were opened up.

Dreifelder-Landwirtschaft
A special feature of the Volkspark is the integrated agricultural use. Here, the ideal-typical Brandenburg landscape with its gentle topography comes into its own particularly well.
For this purpose, a concept for three-field agriculture was developed on the three existing arable plots of the Volkspark, each of which is approx. 1 ha in size. Under the motto "beautiful agriculture" an ecological cultivation was initiated.
Due to the location in the landscape conservation area, special emphasis was placed on a soil-conserving and biodiversity-supporting cultivation method as well as species-promoting plant selection.
The concept includes the following contents:
-a modular crop rotation concept including "beautiful and useful aspects" such as soil fertility, green manuring, flowering aspect as well as added value for fauna and flora
-crop selection incl. typical regional crops, forgotten crops and alternative cereals
-a changing annual motto that emphasizes different components of agriculture and can be linked to exhibition elements, actions and information events.
Through the changing annual motto and the rotating crop rotation, park visitors experience the familiar landscape in a new way every year.

Award Nature Conservation and Landscape ExperienceGerman Landscape Architecture Award 2017

Jury verdict: In the opinion of the jury, nature conservation and experiencing the landscape are best visible in the project "Botanischer Volkspark Blankenfelde". The Volkspark with a total area of approx. 34 ha is a unique place in the immediate vicinity of the city. With excellent planning the remarkable history of the place, its various uses in the past over 100 years have been made visible.

The designers have succeeded with professional work to design a park in which the diversity of the landscape, where nature and monument conservation can be experienced. The Botanical Garden will be transformed into a nature experience/ recreation area for its visitors. The jury attaches great importance to the rediscovery of old landscapes. It is a very good example of how nature conservation and monument preservation can be brought into harmony in historic sites.