“PARKS” in Hamburg Since 2019, the transformation of a former recycling yard in Hamburg has become a shining example of process-based and collaborative design. Located within the Alster-Bille-Elbe green corridor, the project prioritizes adaptability and community input. By reimagining the site, designers and locals have created a dynamic space that balances nature, recreation, and sustainability. This ongoing effort fosters biodiversity, connects green spaces, and engages Hamburg’s residents in shaping their environment. The result is a vibrant urban oasis, proving that even industrial sites can be reborn as thriving public parks through creativity, collaboration, and a focus on ecological regeneration.
"PARKS“ in Hamburg
Conversion of a formerrecycling yard in Alster-Bille-Elbe green corridor for process-based and collaborative design since 2019
The Alster-Bille-Elbe project aims todevelop a green corridor connecting the Alster, Bille and Elbe rivers. The ideaof creating this green corridor emerged back in the 1990s. In 1997, the green corridor was included inthe City of Hamburg´s landscape program, but it was not until 2017 that an official concept for thegreen corridor was created in order to secure space and financial resources. In2018, the City of Hamburg called for proposals for a concept and implementationof a temporary design, activation and use. A working group consisting of thelocally active HALLO e.V., the architecture firm “Studio umschichten” and thelandscape architects “Atelier le balto” was awarded the contract in 2019. Theworking group called their concept “Alter-Bille-Elbe PARKS”, or PARKS forshort. In the plural, because the idea was not to create one park, but manydifferent spaces that would be developed together from the existing people,activities, buildings and plants and secured as open spaces in every respect.
In2019/2020, the project focused on the former recycling yard inHamburg-Hammerbrook. When considering the conversion of the recycling yard landscapearchitect “Atelier le balto” introduced the idea of "verticalgardens" in order to maximize greenery in small spaces. Their design usesexisting structures, materials, and user input to create flexible, evolvingspaces.
PARKS isnot just a project, but above all a process. A programmatic push in a newdirection - a collective negotiation of what public space can be, a newperspective on how to think, plan, design and use public green spaces, creatingnew practices of collaborative planning and cooperative urban space design. Thenegotiation takes place between the users, the city, administration staff andthe PARKS team, which is led by HALLO e.V. and supported by the landscapearchitects “Atelier le balto” from Berlin.