A garden "not to be walked through, but to be owned", is how Fritz Schumacher, Hamburg's great urban planner, describes his idea of a park for Hamburg. At the beginning of the 20th century, this view, according to which a park should not only be used for strolling around on specially designed paths, but also for romping, playing or doing sports, is unusual. There are already public green spaces in the larger cities - in Hamburg, for example, the areas around the Outer Alster and the former ramparts, and in Altona, which at that time still belonged to Holstein, the Baurs Park.
English gardens:Strolling allowed, playing forbidden
The English gardens - here in Eutin, for example - should ideally look like a "walk-in painting".But these parks, laid out in the style of English landscape gardens, are - similar to the princely palace parks with their geometrically structured baroque gardens - more works of art than places of recreation. As "walk-in landscape paintings" they should above all be a pleasure for the eye - stepping on the green areas is undesirable.
Urgent narrowness, hardly any green
In the simple residential areas of Hamburg around 1900, fresh greenery and fresh air were scarce.This form of enjoying nature has little to do with the needs of the simple urban population around 1900. The number of inhabitants in the cities has risen rapidly, more and more people are living in the same area. In Hamburg alone, the population has tripled within four decades from around 300,000 to over a million. There is no space for green areas to move freely and relax in the fresh air in the crowded, narrow working-class districts. The hygienic conditions are catastrophic in many places:The cholera epidemic of 1892, in which more than 8,000 people die in Hamburg, is the terrible consequence of these living conditions.
A park that "makes body and soul healthy"
In Hamburg, Alfred Lichtwark, the first director of the Kunsthalle and himself from a humble background, was the first to recognize the need to compensate for the unhealthy living conditions of the common people. "We need a park to stay in, not just for the occasional walk," he says. "A park that offers a rich source of noble joie de vivre and makes body and soul healthy and keeps them healthy. The usual park in the so-called English style has not done it before".
Schumacher, Lichtwark, Tutenberg are developing public parks
Based on the Volkspark idea, Fritz Schumacher developed the concept for a city park for Hamburg.Playing, doing sports, exchanging ideas with other people, just letting your soul dangle, but also:educate yourself and learn something about nature. The new form of park should meet a wide range of requirements and thus be a park for all sections of the population - a real "people's park". Lichtwark found a prominent comrade-in-arms in Fritz Schumacher, the planner of Hamburg's city park. In Altona, Ferdinand Tutenberg championed the Volkspark idea and realized the Altona Volkspark from 1914. Garden planners are also campaigning for the creation of public parks in other northern German cities, including Leberecht Migge, who belongs to the artists' colony in Worpswede, or Harry Maasz, who designed a public park for Lübeck - although it was never fully realized.
The fact that the Volkspark supporters in the Hamburg Senate are successful with their idea is not only due to the concern of the wealthy Hamburg bourgeoisie for the ordinary population, but above all has tangible economic reasons. There is a growing recognition that a healthier and happier workforce is also more productive. Lessons have also been learned from the cholera epidemic:it caused serious economic damage to the Hanseatic city because ships from Hamburg were quarantined in international ports.
A park to romp about
The Stadtpark in Winterhude is still one of the most popular recreational areas for the people of Hamburg.Even today, the Volksparks have a wide range of offers, with spacious lawns as play and sports areas, swimming pools, canoe rentals, relaxation areas and open-air stages. In addition, many public parks have an area dedicated specifically to education, such as a forest nature trail or a school garden.
A design that is not only based on aesthetic aspects, but above all on the needs of the visitors - this concept still works today:Hamburg's public parks are as popular as ever. Anyone who visits one of these parks on a sunny weekend will get a picture of what the garden planner Leberecht Migge must have had in mind when he wrote:"People really have to be able to romp about in the Volkspark, otherwise there is no point in it. That's just it a veritable public park, which only leaves its meadows so velvety green so that the people are invited to lie down, play and dance on them."