Place Of Encounter Climate Change Garden Bergheim
A new place of encounter is emerging in the center of the Heidelberg district of Bergheim − on the roof of an underground carpark in the grounds of the Hospital for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. A little used area that heats up in summer is turning into a climate change garden. This green island illustrates how the City of Heidelberg and Heidelberg University can design external spaces in a sustainable way.
The City of Heidelberg’s “middle of down-town” project had the idea of the climate change garden and provided the finance. It was put into practice by the construction division of Heidelberg University in cooperation with the university hospital. The garden is located in Voßstraße, close to the Prinzhorn Collection.
A Place For The City, Research And Shared Creation
The Climate Change Garden combines different functions. It is
- a place for teaching and learning for students, schools and educational institutions
- a space of research for climate-adapted urban development
- a show garden for future-ready greening in urban areas
- a place to spend time for all those seeking rest, shade and new perspectives
The garden is open to all – visitors are invited to discover the place in their own way. “Inputs” – stimulating ideas that can be accessed on site by QR codes – invite us to pause, take note of changes through climate change, discover plants and animals and reflect on the organizing of future-ready cities. The inputs were, and are, being developed by students from the advanced course Transformative Environmental Research in the Institute of Geography’s master’s program.
The project is being continued and filled with life through the research and practice partners involved in the context of Heidelberg University’s Sustainability Strategy. That way up-and-coming teachers can discover the climate change garden as an urban place for learning at which they can communicate complex topics like climate change or sustainability and convey a feeling for them. A working group at Heidelberg University’s Planetary Health Hub is conducting a trial in the Climate Change Garden with an AI-supported monitoring system to record environmental and health indicators; and the teaching and experimental horticulture center (LVG) in Heidelberg is investigating on site the climatic and ecological effect of climate-adapted planting under urban conditions.
