Stadt. Volk. Park.

Not only have hierarchies, class barriers and culturally based barriers between different lifestyles evaporated when it comes to park use, but behavior in public has also undergone a fundamental transformation. Today, people not only loudly discuss private matters in public spaces, but also do other things formerly located in private spaces on the lawns and park benches. While the use of citizens’ lawns in public parks was still an emancipatory act at the beginning of the 20th century, their often immoderate use today knows hardly any limits.

The book of selected Berlin parks with photos by Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk and black plans by Tobias Nöfer shows the type and intensity of use that often makes the planned garden-architectural beauty disappear. It also reveals the dilemma of garden architectural positions: on the one hand, being content to leave everything open in terms of design, as in the case of Tempelhofer Feld, in order to allow flexible use, but on the other hand, rejecting tendencies towards a “nature of the fourth kind” as well as zeitgeisty design ideas for leisure activities.