Pioneer areas, Tempelhofer Feld, Berlin, Nadja Kabisch, 2014.
POLICY BRIEF #2
Berlin – A thriving city
embraces its green spaces
B
erlin is one of the greenest cities in Europe, with more than 2,500 public parks, urban forests and
gardens. These areas provide recreational opportunities and are vital for the well-being of Berlin’s
3.4 million citizens. As Berlin’s population grows (an increase of more than 250,000 is expected over
the next few years) the need for protecting green spaces will become ever more essential. Berlin’s
growing population will most likely lead to an increase in built-up areas in the city and its surroundings
and put pressure on green spaces. Growing densification, particularly in the inner city area, translates
into a foreseen 137,000 new flats until 2030. Berlin is increasingly affected by climate change
which is demonstrated by increasing instances of heat waves and rising temperatures. This policy
brief showcases how Berlin uses a range of top-down and bottom-up approaches to address the
challenges resulting from the projected population growth and climate change.
POLICY BRIEF #2
Berlin’s policy-science co-creation
Urban green space planning and governance in Berlin has developed very dynamically over the past two
decades. Examples of recent developments include the greening and re-design of numerous brownfield areas
such as the park and former railway area “Gleisdreieck” but also numerous local, citizen-based activities such
as backyard gardens or urban gardening initiatives. A significant portion of the city’s green network is situated
where the Berlin Wall was formerly located. Some of the development projects initiated by the urban planning
agencies aimed at improving the ecological potential of certain areas in the city, such as the “Südgelände”,
where natural spaces were left to transform into urban wilderness. The opening of the former city airport
Berlin-Tempelhof to the public is another example demonstrating how changes in accessibility and use of
large urban areas have created new recreational green spaces (Kabisch & Haase, 2014). One policy strategy
to ensure greening in Berlin – in order to safeguard the ecosystems and the services they provide – is Berlin’s
Landscape Programme. This strategic plan deals with topics such as natural scenery, biodiversity, and the
natural environment, including groundwater, climate and air and recreation. The Landscape Programme is
implemented extensively throughout the entire city together with the Land Use Plan. In addition, urban green
planning processes benefit from three other strategic planning documents—the Urban Development Plan
for Climate, the Urban Landscape Strategy, and the Biodiversity Strategy (Kabisch, 2015). However, Berlin’s
policy-science co-creation is more than strategic top-down planning: administrative planning is complemented
by a number of local bottom-up initiatives such as community gardening and guerilla gardening of tree grates
which aim to green and sustain the urban environment.
Tempelhofer Feld, Dagmar Haase, 2014
Gleisdreieck, Michael Strohbach, 2014
Tree grate stewardship, Dagmar Haase, 2010
Südgelände, Anna Kaczorowska, 2013
Photos: Former brownfield areas which serve as example for (re)development into green space (Tempelhofer Feld, Gleisdreieick and
Südgelände) and inner-city street trees that serve as pocket park-like places for local nature stewardship (tree gate in a street in the
district Friedrichshain). Berlin – A thriving city embraces its green spaces
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POLICY BRIEF #2
The above mentioned developments demonstrate that planning institutions, as well as citizen-driven local
governance processes in Berlin, have developed extensive knowledge and expertise of the multiple benefits
of a various urban green spaces over the years. This does not, however, imply that there are no remaining
challenges within the overall governance and planning process of urban spaces, particularly considering
expected population growth and climate change impacts.
As part of the URBES research project, a policy-science co-creation process has been developed, which
included workshops organized by the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin with the involvement of urban planners,
scientists and representatives of a local NGO. The main aim of the workshops was to discuss future land
use developments in light of an increasing population and in respect to foreseen land conversion and related
governance processes. The approach of ecosystems services (TEEB, 2011) was used to run a scenariobased mapping exercise to identify and visualize urban land use changes and impacts on ecosystem services.
The workshops facilitated a policy-science dialogue following the four steps presented in Figure 1.
The policy-science co-creation
process aimed at discussing urban
land use change potential for
ecosystem services provisioning at
city-scale. Land use scenarios were
used to assess ecosystem service
performance of mainly urban green
and blue infrastructure in Berlin
contributing to better quality of life.
The workshops facilitated a policyscience dialogue following the four
steps presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Policy-science co-creation
Berlin’s challenges in green
space development
Berlin has developed several planning strategies that explicitly deal with the development and conservation
of green spaces. Although policy and planning institutions in Berlin were successful in developing strategies
based on intensive stakeholder participation and involvement of community networks, current green space
development and maintenance is challenged by increasing pressure for the need for new housing as a
consequence of population growth, but also by financial constraints on the municipal budget, related loss of
expertise and lack of awareness of the benefits of green spaces among different stakeholders. The underlying
major challenges that relate to urban green space development in Berlin include:
• A conflict of interest related to urban land manifested by the demand for housing space and the profitinterest of investors resulting from a growing population, which increases the pressure on green and open
space in large parts of the city.
• The challenge of communicating the top-down planning strategies to different stakeholders, green space
users and citizens.
• The need for better communication on how to jointly develop and implement strategies created by the
city administration at the executive level.
• Financial limitations of the municipality and the country, which may lead to inadequate development,
stewardship and maintenance of urban green spaces in the whole city.
• A need to increase the involvement of citizens and to ensure participation of all societal groups of various
cultural backgrounds, who may have different views and interests related to public (green) spaces.
• A lack of evaluation and monitoring of the implementation of green space planning strategy and success.
Berlin – A thriving city embraces its green spaces
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POLICY BRIEF #2
Berlin’s land-use options
The policy-science co-creation process focused on the challenge of residential development pressure resulting
from a growing population. To identify main drivers of land-use change and to discuss land-use options in
simple scenarios and based on an extensive planning document analysis, relevant urban planning professionals
were selected for in-depth interviews and were invited to participate in two stakeholder workshops.
During the first workshop, stakeholders and researchers discussed the need for more housing areas and
related densification of inner-urban areas while maintaining green space for recreational use over the next
decades. An urban growth scenario which is based on an increase in the size of the residential area was
developed, using different suggestions made by both stakeholders and scientists. A scenario to accommodate
new population while simultaneously responding to foreseen climate changes includes:
• A heightening of the existing building stock, where possible, as a kind of “non-invasive” strategy to
accommodate more people in the same area;
• A land-use and intensity change of existing brownfield sites, allotment gardens and villa space in terms
of densification, construction and re-use; and
• Roof greening of suitable buildings (flat roofs).
Figure 2 shows the potential areas designated for residential development as a new land-use map. The
presentation of this map in a second workshop stimulated an in-depth discussion about where such
developments are possible in Berlin and implementation challenges. Urban densification was mostly considered
plausible in one-family housing and villa areas in the outer parts of the city. The map also highlights the areas of
the Urban Development Plan for Residential Development (black circles in Figure 2), which shows that almost
all areas designated as potential development areas for residential use were also part of the potential areas of
the scenario and thus prove the quality of the scenario work.
Figure 2. Identification of potential areas to accommodate new inhabitants by scientists (color map) and by the Senate Department
of Urban Development and the Environment in the new Urban Development Plan for Residential Development (2014; black circles).
Berlin – A thriving city embraces its green spaces
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POLICY BRIEF #2
Based on the above mentioned assumptions and respective land-use changes, ecosystem service provisioning
was calculated and visualized using a Geographical Information System (GIS). The important ecosystem
services of recreation (Figure 3) and pollution control (Figure 4) were used as a starting point for discussion.
Ecosystem service provisioning was projected in a future scenario for development by the densification of
single house and villa areas and by greening roofs. In this scenario densification will lead to a decrease in
recreational areas. Greening roofs will increase the potential for absorbing particles and reducing PM10. The
land-use maps supported structuring the knowledge provision and the discussion with the stakeholders, to
identify their specific area of work, both in terms of topical and spatial dimensions.
Current situation
Scenario
Figure 3. Recreation, ecosystem service provisioning in scenario maps presented to stakeholders
Current situation
Scenario
Increase PM10 reduction (air column 1m):
inner city 1.87%
total city 53.58%
Figure 4. Air pollution control, ecosystem service provisioning calculation in scenario maps presented to stakeholders.
Berlin – A thriving city embraces its green spaces
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POLICY BRIEF #2
As a result of the policy-science co-creation process, participants obtained a different spatial view on their
city and its ecosystem provisioning potential, while scientists learned about the priority setting of ecosystem
functions and services from local stakeholders. This approach proves to be a good way of accessing local
knowledge and enabling both scientists and practitioners to contribute to a fruitful knowledge transfer.
Linking up with existing strategies, plans and developments
Green space development in Berlin is primarily addressed by the cities’ Landscape Programme and the
three strategic documents—The Urban Landscape Strategy, Urban Development Plan for Climate, and
Berlin Biodiversity Strategy. At the same time, a co-process has been developed by local actors and
citizens, which contributes to the development of open spaces, often into multifunctional spaces within
the urban matrix e.g. community gardens, temporary use sites, or backyards. This means that a number
of ecosystem services are targeted either by top-down planning or the bottom-up actions, including
regulating ecosystem services such as climate regulation, carbon storage or air pollution control as well as
recreation and health and well-being. These ecosystem services were discussed during the workshops.
In light of future population growth, the areas identified for new residential development in the scenario
maps were indicated as exactly those areas where the ideas of both, top-down and bottom-up strategies
need to be implemented to maintain and improve quality of life in the city.
The policy-science co-creation process in Berlin made it possible to share and discuss views
of stakeholders working in urban green space planning with researchers from the field of urban
ecology. Various urban land use issues and relevant ecosystem service provisioning values based
on the cities’ urban green and blue spaces were critically discussed in the context of future
population growth and climate change. This helped to co-create knowledge around ecosystem
services for enhancing the cities’ potential to maintain important urban ecosystems and to find
sustainable solutions to deal with the pressure of new residential development.
Berlin – A thriving city embraces its green spaces
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POLICY BRIEF #2
References
Kabisch, N. (2015). Land Use Policy Ecosystem service implementation and governance challenges in urban green space planning
— The case of Berlin, Germany. Land Use Policy, 42, 557–567. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.09.005
Kabisch, N., & Haase, D. (2014). Green justice or just green? Provision of urban green spaces in Berlin, Germany. Landscape and
Urban Planning, 122, 129–139. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.11.016
TEEB. (2011). The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity: TEEB Manual for Cities: Ecosystem Services in Urban Management.
Retrieved from http://www.teebweb.org/åPortals/25/Documents/TEEB_Manual_for_Cities_Ecosystem_Services_for_Urban_
managment___FINAL_2011.pdf
The URBES project
The URBES project aims to bridge the knowledge gap on the role of urban biodiversity and ecosystem
services for human well-being. It further aims to inform urban management and decision-makers on how to
best integrate the natural environment and human needs. The URBES partnership of academic institutions
and international organisations translates science into action for cities.
Project donor
Project partners
Self-financed partners
Contact person from
URBES project for Policy Brief #2:
Nadja Kabisch, Dagmar Hasse, Neele
Larondelle, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
This policy prief is part of series of policy briefs produced by the URBES project.
Contact:
Thomas Elmqvist
Stockholm Resilience Centre
Kräftriket 9A
11419 Stockholm, Sweden
Tel: +46 (0)705264806
[email protected]