To maintain the visibility of the remnants of the railway history in the face of the powerful natural dynamics, selected railway relics such as the signals and the old turntable were restored. The many paths set in the old tracks are a permanent reminder of the cultural foundation of the nature development of the Sudgelande. […]
Category: Wild Urban Woodlands
Nature conservation and recreation
Most of the Natur Park Sudgelande is protected; the core area has been designated as a nature reserve (3.2 ha) and the rest as a landscape conservation area (12.9 ha). In the nature reserve, species conservation takes priority. The targeted species are, above all, insects of open habitats and plants of the dry grasslands, such […]
Definition of a room typology
In order to make clear, in accordance with the general model, the transformation from railyard to urban wilderness over time, the natural dynamics of some areas are arrested. In this way, three types of spaces or “rooms” were defined: “clearings” are to be kept free of shrubs over the long term. Stands that are light […]
Implementation of the model
Figure 1 shows the Natur Park Sudgelande today, after significant implementation of the master plan. A few new elements were added to our planning during the implementation phase, including additional paths and the integration of works of art in the nature park. Access concept Starting from the park’s main entrance at the S-Bahn station Priesterweg, […]
The model of culture and wilderness
The approach of the master plan was based on the model of simultaneity of culture and wilderness, of distance and nearness of the visitor. To implement this, a concept of zoned spaces was created in which natural and social processes were partially controlled and partially left to their own dynamics. With this approach, different goals […]
The “wilderness versus biodiversity” conflict
In general, species diversity is greater in the earlier and middle stages of succession than in later woodland stages. This is true for the Sudgelande as well with one small exception. The 40- to 50-year-old black locust stands have shown themselves to be astoundingly rich in plants, ground beetles, and spiders (Kowarik 1992; Platen and […]
The “conservation versus recreation” conflict
The species diversity of the Sudgelande (Table 2) has, in principle, developed without human intervention. The dry grasslands, in which most of the rare species are found, have emerged on nutrient-poor anthropogenic soils and are not suited to being trampled. If the small clearings of the grasslands are made accessible to visitors, eutrophication and trampling […]
From new wilderness to nature park
The development of new wilderness took place at the Sudgelande nearly unnoticed for a long time due to the inaccessibility of the site. Plans to completely clear the vegetation in order to erect a new freight train station led, at the beginning of the 1980s, to strong protests and to the founding of an NGO […]
From freight railyard to “new wilderness”
The Sudgelande, approximately 18 ha, lies on the southern border of the inner city of Berlin in the district of Schoneberg-Tempelhof It is a component of a much larger freight railyard (“Rangierbahnhof bei Tempelhof’) that was built between 1880-1890. Old photographs show a desolate railyard on which trains have been shunted on a multitude of […]
Natur-Park Siidgelande: Linking Conservation and Recreation in an Abandoned Railyard in Berlin
Ingo Kowarik, Andreas Langer Planning Group OkoCon & Planland Introduction The particular political situation in Berlin between 1945 and 1989 had significant effects on the development of nature in the inner city. In the western part of Berlin, urban development ran in slow motion for four decades. In contrast to other parts of war-torn Europe, […]