Lübeck secures allotment gardens: new concept for the future!

Lübeck secures allotment gardens: new concept for the future!

The SPD parliamentary group in Lübeck recently launched a town hall dialogue with representatives of allotment garden associations. This step is part of the city's comprehensive allotment development concept, which is intended to serve as the basis for the future land use plan. Mayor Jan Lindenau made it clear that this concept aims to secure the allotment garden areas in the long term until beyond 2040. The discussion was constructive and Lindenau offered regular meetings on the topic.

The aim of the allotment garden concept is not only to preserve the allotment gardens, but also to strengthen their future viability. According to luebeck.de, the aim is to investigate how existing systems can be maintained, improved or restructured. New areas for allotment gardens could also be created, although the high demand since the Corona pandemic is positive. At the same time, allotment gardens have been taken out of use in recent years due to high vacancies.

Importance of allotment gardens in the city area

The SPD parliamentary group leaders viewed the concept as an opportunity to integrate allotment gardens into the land use plan on an equal footing. Kristin Blanckenburg, construction policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, said that equal treatment of allotment gardens was crucial. Marek Lengen, environmental policy spokesman for the SPD, continues to emphasize the importance of maintaining and expanding allotment garden areas. However, Peter Petereit, SPD parliamentary group leader, warned of the possible consequences of a rejection of the concept by political competitors, including the CDU, GREENS and FDP.

The Hanseatic city of Lübeck owns around 350 hectares of land, which are leased to the non-profit district association of Lübeck der Gartenfreunde e.V. This organizes the leasing of areas by the various allotment garden associations. The district association could make decisions about returning areas to the city in cooperation with the allotment garden associations. If no areas are returned, the existing situation remains unchanged.

Comparison to other cities

Compared to Lübeck, Berlin has an even larger number of privately used gardens with around 71,000 allotment gardens and also has an allotment garden development plan. Here, maintaining these gardens is a high priority in order to protect cultural, ecological and social resources. The allotment garden development plan in Berlin, which was approved in 2004, has since undergone several revisions to take demographic changes and urban restructuring into account.

Increasing urbanization and the associated challenges in terms of living space requirements make concepts like those in Lübeck and Berlin even more important. Both cities face the challenge of preserving allotment areas with a view to creating recreational spaces while at the same time meeting increasing demand for living space.