Baden-Württemberg

With the regional, Baden-Württemberg Garden Show 2021, the city of Eppingen seizes the great opportunity to strengthen and expand important green and recreational structures in the city. The relationship to water is made tangible here in three ways as an important location quality: a newly created city pond welcomes the visitor at the foot of the train station, the renaturalized brooks Elsenz and Hilsbach connect the entire area and an impressive fountain system consisting of fourteen water tables as a reminiscence of the historic mill canal stages the edge of the old town along the newly created promenade.

Surrounding the old town centre, a 'green belt' is created, which runs through the town and creates important ecological retreat and social recreation areas in the urban area. The lost relationship of the brooks to their meadows will be restored by freeing the Elsenz and Hilsbach from their narrow, straightened corset and renaturalizing them in an urban context. Open park areas take the place of over-forming, give the streams room to breathe and frame the magnificent backdrop of Eppingen's old town. The small-scale structure of historic alleys is complemented by a generous open space.

Along the old town promenade, following the course of the historic town wall, residents and visitors walk through the water spaces at the interface between urban and natural space. Cross-connections and four new bridges link the city quarters and form a robust spatial framework for future developments. Intensively designed places, such as the Historic Gardens, the Stone Square with water playground and the Water Nose at the confluence of the two streams, as well as natural, open spaces complement each other to create an exciting and contemporary park. Well accentuated interventions respect the high potential of the places and use the picturesque location to sharpen qualities.

In 2021, the whole of Eppingen will present itself in the garden show exhibition under the motto 'The summer, the city and you!' In continuation of the planned permanent facilities, further areas will be connected in the north-east along the Elsenz, which together form a highly attractive show area. And it is not just outside the city gates that the action will take place, but also in the old town centre, which will be firmly integrated into the presentation with its established and existing attractions.

On the construction site tour, the already completed, renaturalized stream courses with the bridges and the pond, as well as the main structures of the new facilities, which are currently under construction, can be viewed. At special points, the city has had the visualizations of the design set up so that the current state of construction can be explained on site along with the design vision.
Illustration: © Planorama, Berlin