Urban planning in Mannheim: dispute over a park

In the immediate vicinity of the baroque triangle of the palace, Jesuit church and observatory in Mannheim there is a somewhat run-down city park.

It's Friedrichspark.

Once a place of peace, it has been surrounded and noisy by federal roads for decades.

It originally formed a unit with the Mannheim Palace Gardens, until the park ensemble was divided by the mighty road bridge to Ludwigshafen and its feeders.

The Friedrichspark presents itself as rather run-down, not least because of the overuse on the days when the Adler Mannheim had their home games.

The ice rink they used until they moved to the SAP Arena is in the middle.

The fact that it is to be demolished this summer has aroused greed.

The University of Mannheim, which uses the adjoining palace as its main building, has been planning the construction of initially three new buildings in Friedrichspark since 2017, along Bismarckstraße, to create space for 20 lecture halls and offices, which are due to the lengthy renovation of the eastern wing of the palace be required from 2026 onwards.

The university administration argues that this solution combines the advantages of a campus university with the desired upgrading of the park.

The student life on the edge of the green space increases social control so that it is no longer a fearful place.

The university also points out that compared to the ice rink, less space will be sealed.

Which is right at least for so long

Elaborate appraisals

The action alliance “Save the Friedrichspark” categorically rejects this plan.

Instead, the coalition of citizen representatives, residents and retailers is campaigning to leave the entire area undeveloped and to design it as a local recreation area.

The citizens' initiative is not lacking in arguments either: the buildings planned directly on the four-lane road are significantly higher than the previous ice rink and would therefore further block the view of the countryside, note Johannes Striffler and Winfried van Aaken.

It is not clear to the two architects, who act as spokespersons for the initiative,

why the three new buildings with their urban arrangement and their modern design (Hähnig and Gemmeke Architects from Tübingen won a competition with five to six storey cubes) are allowed to disturb the baroque ensemble.

To make things even more difficult for them, the new computer center of the university is to be built on the other side of Bismarckstraße next to the Jesuit Church.

In the opinion of the initiative, there is an opportunity for downtown Mannheim to make the city area on the Rhine more attractive to tourists by reconstructing the park in its historical extent.

The group proposes to the university that the planned new buildings be erected on areas previously used for other purposes on the southern part of the connecting canal between the Neckar and the Rhine.

This, in turn, is rejected by the university because, in their opinion, it would thwart the idea of ​​a campus with short distances.

The port area on the other side of the street, like the Friedrichspark, is owned by the state of Baden-Württemberg.

The city didn't make things easy for itself.

The draft for the development plan is around 150 pages thick, extensive reports have been drawn up to prove, for example, that the project is harmless for the city climate.

It turns out that the necessity, which is invoked in theory by almost all parties, to ensure more green space in the city in view of climate change, fails in practice due to the great competition for the use of the available space.

And that there is a lack of willingness to pursue a long-term property policy instead of patchwork.

On Tuesday, the city's main committee should vote on the relevant development plan.

A majority there and also in the municipal council is to be expected, the state government called by the citizens' initiative has also made it clear that it stands behind the plans.

Striffler and van Aaken are therefore already planning a citizens' initiative.

Discussions with activists from Fridays for Future are also planned in order to win over younger people for their own cause;

At the moment, it seems that the older generation in particular is taking part in the discussion about Friedrichspark.

When asked about the plans, Brian Onimichael, in his mid-thirties, who regularly walks his dog in the park as a local resident, admits that he has heard nothing about the building plans and the voting on them.