The Rhine as seducer and admirer
In the border triangle of Basel, between Germany, France and Switzerland, 20 municipalities have joined forces. Their goal: to develop the region’s lifeline – the Rhine – into a landscape park with riverside, urban and hillside landscapes. The group is coordinated by IBA Basel 2020. You can find more information about the IBA Rheinliebe projects here.
The Rhine has always had a special significance in the tri-national agglomeration of Basel. Where the three countries of Germany, France and Switzerland meet, it is more than just a trade route: it is a park, swimming pool and tourist attraction. However, administrative planning boundaries have never allowed the Rhine to be developed as a connecting landscape element across all borders. The IBA Basel 2020 wants to change this. Since 2010, it has been working with the Rheinliebe project group to jointly transform the section of the Rhine between Bad Bellingen in the east and the two Rheinfelden towns in the west across borders.
In order to implement its measures and projects, the project group, with the support of the landscape architecture firm Rabe Landschaften from Hamburg, has chosen a unique strategy that gives the Rhine an identity: It views the Rhine as a gentleman that needs measures to seduce its visitors (new developments towards the banks) and measures that contribute to its admiration (platforms, viewpoints). Complemented by measures in the two further categories “Paths and connections” and “Landscape corridors”, a project landscape resembling a string of pearls is created, which makes the Rhine – for residents and visitors to the region – perceptible as a coherent landscape park.
Six lighthouse projects
In an interview with Garten + Landschaft, Guirec Gicquel names six lighthouse projects that are intended to bring people and the Rhine together again. In addition to the six lighthouse projects, there are also other smaller projects at 40 project locations that complement the plans of the IBA project group and help to bring the banks of the Rhine in the Basel region together to form a coherent network.
The six lighthouse projects include
Bad Bellingen moves closer to the Rhine
Rheinfelder Rheinuferrundweg extended
Rhine riverside path St. Johann Basel – Huningue
You can read the full interview with Guirec Gicquel in Garten + Landschaft 02/2018.