A place for everyone

From a neglected green strip to Bella Park: the Verein gegen Müdigkeit (Association Against Weariness) has breathed new life into Heidelberg’s Kurfürsten-Anlage and created a place where people can come together: youngsters and seniors, Heidelberg residents and refugees, amateur gardeners as well as unhoused people.

It took two and a half years, but now it’s finally finished—the picnic blanket. It is a colourful 30 metres-long blanket made from patches and scraps of fabric, from little messages and lots of memories, sewn into it by over 100 people. Freya Magnet looks at the blanket, smiles and points to one of her pieces of fabric, which features a Game Boy. She is wearing overalls, just like the twelve other volunteers, who now lift the blanket in a concerted motion and carry it ceremoniously along the Kurfürsten-Anlage green strip.

Passing the fountain, which is fortunately bubbling again, and into the greenery between the carriageways. Passing Louis, who came to Heidelberg from Ghana in 2014 and often meets up with his friends here. Passing Mara, who has just given Sven, an unhoused man, a haircut and is part of the street scene that has been gathering in the Kurfürsten-Anlage for many years. Passing Knut Orawa, who’s just lighting the barbecue. Passing two toddlers splashing about in a small plastic pool. And passing a few Heidelberg residents with Tupperware containers in hand—ready for an extensive picnic.

The blanket has arrived in the centre of Bella Park—the name given to the green space by the Association Against Weariness in 2023. Freya and the other volunteers lay out the blanket, which is, shortly afterwards, teeming with people eating, drinking, chatting and laughing together. That is precisely the aim of Bella Park, located in the heart of Heidelberg: “bringing together people with very different life stories,” explains the young architect. She and Knut Orawa are two of the association’s six full-time staff members, who, together with around 30 volunteers, have turned the park into the place it is today. Whilst Freya is responsible for coordinating the Bella Park project, Knut looks after the local community.

He’s here almost every day. During the warmer months, he opens the cover to the community kiosk—the heart of Bella Park—every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It’s an old food van serving drinks and a daily special, paid for on a donation basis. “Everyone gives what they can,” says Knut. On every opening day, association members set up beer benches and several table tennis tables, as well as tables with chessboards. Next to the kiosk is a van stocked with board games and badminton rackets. You can also borrow hula hoops and unicycles here. And there’s no obligation to buy anything; you’re welcome to bring your own food and drink and make yourself comfortable in Bella Park. Whether on the Persian rugs laid out on the ground or in the hammocks strung between sections of scaffolding.

A city needs places where people can meet in a relaxed atmosphere

Freya Magnet

The area between the railway station and the old town, between multi-lane roads and tram tracks, used to be regarded as a ‘no-go area’. A strip of green with lots of trees and bushes that had been left to grow wild without being maintained a lot. Hardly anyone used the path that winds its way through the greenery. The park benches had been removed, and the fountain was overgrown with moss. It was a place on the fringes of society, “where people used to meet who had nowhere else to go in Heidelberg,” Knut explains. Today, they help him set up the space or play a game of table tennis with other visitors to Bella Park.

“We don’t want to push anyone out,” explains Freya. “We knew from the beginning that we wanted to transform this place together with the people who had used it before.” After studying architecture in Darmstadt, she moved to Heidelberg for a job at an urban planning consultancy. In 2022, she took part in the “1+1=3” workshops organised by the Association Against Weariness, which explored how public spaces can become places that foster greater togetherness. It was there that she met the artists Ute Seitz and Shooresh Fezoni, who founded the association in 2021. This was in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, when encounters in public spaces were virtually impossible and many people had withdrawn into themselves and were only venturing out within their own social bubbles.

Freya joined the association shortly afterwards, thrilled to have met people who shared her ideas; people who wanted to take action, not just make plans. “A city needs places where people can meet in a relaxed atmosphere,” she says. “Especially people who would otherwise never meet.” Only then could they learn from one another, build understanding and break down prejudices. Whilst searching for a site where they could put their ideas into practice, the association came across the Kurfürsten-Anlage. The area had been neglected but was on the verge of change. Following the departure of the company Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG and the municipal utility company, the site on the northern side of the Kurfürsten-Anlage is being redeveloped. “When new, expensive flats are built, the surrounding area is often gentrified,” says Freya. “However, this is done without involving the existing users, who are then displaced.” And they wanted to pre-empt this development.

They received a great deal of support in doing so. “The association and Bella Park thrive on the people who get involved,” says the community developer, “people who contribute their ideas and keep launching new projects.” A good 30 people support the association on a regular basis, offering qigong or callisthenics courses as well as workshops. At Bella Park, you can simply enjoy an after-work beer, but you can also handicraft lamps, build park furniture—or sew a picnic blanket. There are flea markets, concerts and an open-air cinema. All events are free of charge and can be attended without prior booking, “so that they’re open to everyone,” explains Freya. Once a month, the garden is tended. Insect-friendly plants such as elecampane, poppies and anise hyssop create a welcome atmosphere for bumblebees, bees and beetles to inhabit the park. The association is currently funded through grant schemes and donations. The hope for long-term funding from the city has not yet been realised.

Knut and Freya are often in the park even when the kiosk is closed; to repair things, assemble new furniture or store food donations received from Tafel food bank. Above all, however, to ensure that conversations with the locals don’t dry up. Knut therefore wants to open the kiosk more often in winter as well. So far, this has only happened once a month during the cold season. “But I think it’s important to be there even when things get difficult”—probably not just referring to the weather.

Knut is a qualified youth and residence care worker and has lived in Heidelberg for 15 years. He describes his role at Bella Park as that of an educator in society. “Social pedagogy sounds too one-sided to me. As if there were only certain people who have problems and who need helping. But you also have to help the other side—in understanding these people and not excluding them.” With his calm demeanour, he contributes greatly to the relaxed atmosphere at Bella Park. He doesn’t lecture or give advice; he simply lets people be. There are just two ironclad rules here: “We treat each other with respect, and no hard alcohol or drugs are allowed within 50 metres of the kiosk.”

Bella Park has brought about a lot of change in the Kurfürsten-Anlage, even if not all problems have disappeared for good. “But we’re working on it, together,” says Freya. “By keeping the dialogue going.” Because only then is togetherness—and democracy—possible. And for that, you need spaces. And sometimes a 30-metre-long picnic blanket.

https://gegenmuedigkeit.org/up/