Until July 13, galerie renate kammer in Hamburg is showing sensational original garden plans and photos of Leberecht Migge’s late work

Garden architect, reformer and author of the “Green Manifesto”: Leberecht Migge is considered one of the most important landscape architects of the 20th century. 320 of his plans were published in the book “Leberecht Migge – The original landscape designs. The original garden plans. 1910-1920”. Until July 13, the galerie renate kammer in Hamburg is showing sensational original garden plans and photos of his late work.

The garden architect Leberecht Migge (1881-1935) positioned himself as a reformer of garden culture with the publication of his book “The Garden Culture of the 20th Century” in 1913 at the latest. In terms of content, he primarily focused on the urban planning area, for which he envisaged an adequate supply of open space. Accordingly, although he also designed spacious villa gardens, he primarily developed concepts for public parks and housing estates, as well as arboretums, which were intended to benefit the socially disadvantaged: They offered a balance to everyday working life and promised to improve the sometimes precarious food situation.

Self-sufficiency, efficient land use, a circular economy and maximizing crop yields through technical aids were among his key topics. With his direct demands, he is considered an important representative of social open space planning. A collection of his work from 1910 to 1920 with around 320 plans can be found in the Archive for Swiss Landscape Architecture (ASLA). It has now been published as the book “Leberecht Migge – The original landscape designs. The original garden plans. 1910-1920” and presented on May 14, 2019 at the University of Applied Sciences in Rapperswil together with an accompanying exhibition.

Against the backdrop of the urban gardening movement, the success of urban gardening initiatives, the discredits in intensive farming and the high demand for organically and regionally produced food, Migge’s approaches are once again highly topical. This was also demonstrated by the event in Rapperswil, which discussed precisely these points.

Another exhibition on Leberecht Migge, “Spartacus in Green”, can be seen in Hamburg until July 13, 2019. It shows original garden plans by Migge from the years 1910 – 1920, which come from the estate of his former employee Walter Leder at the Archive for Swiss Landscape Architects, which is making them available on loan. Migge’s entire legacy had been considered destroyed, which gives the plans a sensational significance. The galerie renate kammer, where the exhibition is being held, is also showing photos of Migge’s late work: the gardens of Villa Reemtsma in Altona-Othmarschen, which were created between 1930 and 1933.

Various lectures will also be held as part of the exhibition. You can find the program here.

gallery renate kammer | Münzplatz 11, 20097 Hamburg | Tue-Fri 12h-18h, Sat 11h-15h

This article appeared in G+L 07/2019 with the topic Processes.

The “stadt PARTHE land” research project in Leipzig focused on the challenges of cultural land management.

The natural landscape is gradually disappearing to make way for the cultivated landscape. However, progressive urban sprawl is also endangering this. Leipzig tackled these problems with the “stadt PARTHE land” research project, the final conference of which took place at the beginning of April. This revealed the challenges that successful cultural landscape management must face. A lack of interest is just one of them.

There is hardly a corner of the earth that man has not yet made his own and explored. Instead of being able to speak of natural landscapes, in most regions we have created cultural landscapes shaped by human activity. But even these are now under threat. Growing cities, new housing estates and ultra-modern industrial complexes – in short, endless land take – are leading to a number of landscape losses.

The idyllic Partheland, located to the west of Leipzig along the river of the same name, is also struggling with these problems. Although Leipzig is growing sustainably, according to Rüdiger Dittmar, Head of the Office for Urban Greenery and Water, it is growing. Under the motto “Makeln, Bewirtschaften, Zeigen”, the research project “stadt PARTHE land” has therefore been running since 2014 under the direction of Florian Etterer (TU Dresden). The aim is to improve the value creation and appreciation of natural resources and the unique characteristics of the Partheland. One of the core tasks of the project is to bring together all stakeholders from the city and surrounding area and their interests. The final conference in Leipzig at the beginning of April showed that the efforts are bearing fruit. The achievements of the innovation concept developed so far include the testing of new compensation methods such as production-integrated compensation as well as possible sheep sponsorships with a local shepherd in Partheland.

Cultural landscape management operates in a non-profit zone. There are no legal obligations, the measures to be implemented are uneconomical and ultimately no one is even interested in them. This is exactly where we need to start in the future. In addition to funding and organization, cultural landscape management needs, above all, a spatial connection to the region. The local stakeholders and their knowledge are basic building blocks that can only be built on with acceptance and interest from the population. Ultimately, every piece of land is home to someone and this must be protected.