Lahnaue Giessen On to new shores

The university city of Gießen is discovering the Lahn and with it urban space potentials that it has long neglected: the river banks close to the city centre with their floodplains and adjoining urban areas. The framework plan adopted in 2011 is intended to develop the banks of the Lahn into a completely new and multifaceted inner-city open space. Implementation will take place gradually as the land becomes available.

The city of Giessen used the 2014 State Garden Show and the accompanying public interest to implement the first building blocks of the framework plan: The inner-city area "Zu den Mühlen" and the "Freianlagen Nordstadtbrücke" as an important part prelude to the meadow and allotment park.

The new city entrance "Zu den Mühlen" opens with a representative square as an entrance, offers designed access to the water, a new boulevard along the Lahn and the gardened mill garden. Opposite the square, a large floodplain playground has been created, inviting children of different ages to play and romp on 900 square metres of differently designed play terraces. These also take up the theme of the river, recreating typical components of a floodplain landscape.
The first measure to be implemented from the planned meadow and allotment park is a new pedestrian and cycle bridge with flanking open spaces that make it possible to experience the northern section of the Lahn.

With the gradual implementation of further objectives from the framework plan, the city, which had literally left its river to the left, is gaining a new urban orientation and a completely new inner-city open space.