Green Spaces

I also think that if you look at it roughly, nature plays a very important role. And especially in cities there is actually very little green space. And if you think about it, with the cars and the CO2 that is emitted, it is also very unhealthy for our climate, I would say. But I think people themselves—if you look at a single person—most people don't care at all and they don't feel the consequences yet.

We are here at the New St. Jacobi Cemetery. This is one of the industrialisation cemeteries that was founded back then, when Berlin was bursting at the seams because of industrialisation, the rural exodus and because everyone moved to Berlin to find a job. Through this extreme expansion of Berlin, new cemeteries were also needed

All the cemeteries used to belong to the respective parishes, but they were often far away from their churches. As a result, the parishes and their cemeteries haven't had much contact with each other for a long time. There are many cemeteries here on Hermannstraße, lined up like a string of pearls, belonging to different parishes. What was decisive for the development of the cemetery, was that the possibility of cremation and urn burial has actually existed for a very long time, but it never really took off. Now we have reached a point, where actually ninety percent of the burials are urn burials. That means the income has declined accordingly. There are grave fees that are charged, usually for twenty years of use. Then there is the piety extension, which means that ten years later nothing may be done under the ground—above the ground something could theoretically already be changed—and after 30 years the right of use expires if it is not extended. In the end, the question is how to finance it today. At the same time, everything else has developed—the city is growing and climate change is hitting. This means that the land has become more and more the focus of attention. And now the pressure is on. On the one hand, from the question of affordable housing in the city—we have areas here that are actually no longer needed, couldn't you build on them—on the other hand, perhaps fortunately, the pressure from nature conservation has increased. Over the years, these areas have grown into very valuable, biodiverse areas, where there is a biodiversity that is found almost nowhere else in this city.

The green spaces here, or cemetery areas themselves, are super valuable places in a city, because these are mostly hundred-year-old places that have grown into natural spaces, so there's no input in the soil, or it's not sealed, like with a fallow area. And especially in Neukölln, if you look at a climate map, there is an important fresh air corridor from Hermannstraße, which is super warm and busy in summer, to Tempelhofer Feld. There is not only this cemetery, but also many other cemeteries along Hermannstraße that are very important. You can see on the map that the areas around it are much cooler than the others.

For me, green spaces in the city are also important because, on the one hand, the sight is very beautiful. But I also notice that being in nature, seeing and smelling nature, also reduces my sense of stress. And I notice that there is a connection to nature, even if you forget it in everyday life. So you go to school, you go to university and you go to work and you forget that you need nature. Precisely because we move in spaces from which nature has been pushed out. And now people are trying so compulsively to bring nature back into everyday life and then they realize that it's not that easy and that it's very expensive. There is a longing for nature.

And it's also fun, let's say, not to be surrounded by houses all the time, so that you can go to a park sometimes. That's just nice too.

I think the fact that the city is habitable is partly because there are so many green spaces here. I don't think any other major city has as many green spaces as Berlin. And sure, a lot of people live there, but I think it also brings a lot of quality of life if you have places where you can spend time in the green. So in order to be habitable for people, it is of course nice if there is a certain structure, such as the Prinzessinnengarten. That you know there are people you can join, where you belong, where you are integrated and who are happy when you come. That is always nice.

The garden is definitely a place of retreat, if only because of its location. Although it is in the middle of Neukölln, it is super protected. It takes almost ten minutes to walk from Hermannstraße all the way to the back. And there is definitely something very healing about it—because we also focus on medicinal herbs. Because the women come into contact with the remedies, with the earth, and contribute with their hands so that healing can be absorbed—both externally and internally. And that is definitely a very big point about gardening. But there are also many who do not garden at all, who are just there. Especially when women are affected by forms of violence, a garden like this is a place that doesn't judge. So they are not judged, they can simply be. Creating and building such spaces always sounds banal, but I think that is one of the most important components for such a protected garden that is nevertheless open.

And on the subject of plants in Berlin or Neukölln in general I think it's also very important. I think parks are very important, especially in summer. Also for barbecues, picnics or just spending time with people, with family and friends. But I also think it's a pity that many people dirty the parks and then people have to come just to clean it up.

The focus within the association is shifting a bit at the moment, because what is coming to the fore at the moment, where it has been so insanely dry and rained so little in the last few years and so many trees have already died, is above all the question of maintaining the cemetery grounds.

Well, we need plants, definitely. We also need trees, because without trees we wouldn't exist. Because trees make our oxygen. They convert CO2—so we breathe in oxygen and breathe out CO2 and the trees then take the CO2 and process it so that we can breathe in new oxygen again. And without that, you couldn't actually live in the world.

At the site of the Jacobi, we can't just say we're going to make a nature reserve out of it and just close it off, that makes no sense, it's useless. And it's nicer if people can go there and do something. They can look and maybe grow their own food and the like and at the same time see: Oh, there are lots of animals living here. There are not only a few birds that I have counted and the occasional marten, but there are also an incredible number of insects, snails and the like—so there is a lot to observe. For me, this is perhaps the best way to bring people back to nature in the city. That people learn to get along with each other in a small area. And in this case that's also very possible. The garden is more of an enrichment and I wouldn't want to take that away.

You need knowledge to know why they are there in the first place and what the story behind them is. Because if you don't know, then it's obvious that you don't want it. But when you know—well, I do, when I find out why trees are there in the first place, then I find it better.

I think that's why niches like this are so important, where you have the opportunity to feel it. To have access and to realize: Ok, that's a living being, that's a plant, they communicate with each other, that's something we have no idea about. And we don't always—so this need to put the human being first.

For Germany, the Prinzessinnengarten is a very courageous example. It's being received in one way or another, and I understand that. These different demands that arise from the most diverse directions for these areas have their justification. First of all, of course, the few authorized users who are still here. That should actually carry the most weight. First and foremost, these are cemeteries and places of rest for the dead, of remembrance and mourning culture. How do you deal with that? Should one simply cut it off and give part of it away? In some places this has already been done, but such a slow change as here in the New St. Jacobi cemetery, which is now closed for burials—there are no more new burials, but active, distributed graves until the middle of 2040—how do you design the space around that?

We, at Flamingo, so within our medicinal herb garden, we have a lot to do with death and mourning. And these forms of how mourning is done, what is allowed, we wanted to try to break that down. In November 2022 for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we planted and ceremonially accompanied the Jina Amini tree in memory of Jina Amini. We planted a black mulberry, which is now already bearing mulberries - really sweet. We want to do more things in this cemetery where we can mourn and commemorate in a different way, because commemoration is so important, but also collectively.

In the end, it's still a negotiation with the individual people who are entitled to use the cemetery. Many don't come anymore, but others are there and present and have certain claims. At the beginning, there were of course disputes about how close to the graves the use of the garden should be.

But in general I would say that what is a main negotiation is: what happens here without restricting the freedom of other participants or users of the space. So negotiation for the cemetery, we are here, we use the space. It's important to maintain reverence, to make the relatives or the grave visitors feel comfortable here, to adapt to the place, to see what works, what doesn't work.

Understanding is very important. Because I think it is important that there is an understanding that everyone has different needs. You talked earlier about people who are new to a group and maybe don't speak the same language and I think that a basic understanding that everyone has needs that they want to have met is the key to reaching a goal together.

We are in a community with people who bring their needs and demands, but also with plants and animals. How can we deal with the fact that not only we bring demands, but also non-human living beings?

I think that you can't communicate well with plants, for example, but you can show love to our environment, for example to the plants in a different way—if you care for them and look after them regularly.

Animals logically need space, food and a place to retreat or to raise their offspring. These are not even very big demands in many cases. Animals that have very high demands will not come to the city. Now, however, we have so much land loss in Germany. As you might know, our nature reserves are not even 2% of the country's land area, everything else is in use. There is simply not enough space for other living creatures besides humans. And no wonder that many animals appear in the city that are actually not very suitable for it, but adapt anyway because they have no other choice, otherwise they wouldn't even exist. That we have birds that would actually live in the countryside but can no longer do so because, due to industrialized agriculture, they simply can't find anything to eat and no longer have any shelter. We probably have more insects and birds nowadays in some areas in the city than in the countryside, because there is no life left in monoculture. That is highly regrettable and I think we have to rethink here. Animals should be given opportunities to live again everywhere in Germany, not just in the city. But we're in Berlin, so we have to first put our own house in order, that's clear, we'll sweep some space free. Compared to many other cities, Berlin still has a relatively large amount of green space. We shouldn't sacrifice any more of it, not a single square centimeter, that's for sure.