In September 2014, garden historians from Germany, Austria and Switzerland met in Vienna at the international congress “Green spaces of the 1950s and 1960s between loss, protection and new appreciation” to discuss gardens and parks from the 1950s and 1960s. Their tenor: their condition is not the best. Over the decades, ignorance and a lack of care, and often a lack of appreciation, have led to major losses in the substance of post-war greenery. They therefore adopted the “Vienna Declaration”.
It is supported by the Austrian Society for Historical Gardens, the Historical Gardens Working Group of the German Society for Garden Art and Landscape Culture and the Swiss Society for Garden Culture.
The declaration is the first official document for green spaces of this period and is currently being translated into several languages.
Vienna Declaration
of the Austrian Society for Historic Gardens,
the Historical Gardens Working Group of the German Society for Garden Art and Landscape Culture and the Swiss Society for Garden Culture
Adopted at the International Congress “Green Spaces of the 1950s and 1960s between Loss, Protection and New Appreciation”, Vienna September 26-28, 2014
The post-war period, reconstruction and the return of prosperity shaped two decades that set new standards in many places as the dawn of a new era. Like the buildings of those years, the green spaces reflect the zeitgeist of the 1950s and 1960s. On the one hand, this spirit carried on traditional models and design concepts; on the other hand, it also brought forth progressive planning and design ideas. Their design roots reach back to the first half of the 20th century and in some cases to the end of the 19th century and are also characterized by the ruptures and losses of design and social approaches of early modernism under National Socialism and the suppression of these in the period that followed. The search for a formal language as an expression of a new social identity led to the typical style of the 1950s and 1960s.
In particular, the Federal Garden Shows in German cities, the International Garden Exhibitions in Hamburg, Erfurt and Vienna, Interbau Berlin and the Swiss G 59 contributed to the development of a new garden culture. Lightness of construction, transparency through glazing or delicate supports, curved lines and the use of special water features and new plant assortments were essential elements of the new design language in East and West.
Over the decades, ignorance and a lack of care, and often also a lack of appreciation, have led to a great loss of substance in the garden cultural heritage of this era. The desired attractiveness of cities and today’s efforts to increase density often stand in contrast to the approaches of the post-war period. Under the slogan of urbanity, many sites from this period are seen as disposable assets for the real estate industry.
In contrast, it is all the more important to discover and explore the horticultural achievements of the post-war period and reconstruction and not thoughtlessly abandon them. Open spaces that can be used in a variety of ways and are still valid today can make their contribution to a sustainable city, even in times of climate change.
It is of central importance that attention is paid not only to facilities that are under state monument protection, but also to those that continue to fulfill important urban planning functions. In addition, dealing with these city-defining facilities must lead to the long-term
– safeguarding the horticultural heritage of the gardening profession,
– a strengthening of the garden offices,
– high-quality training and further education in vocational colleges and universities and
universities and
– better legal protection of gardens where necessary.
This declaration is a call for the preservation, protection, research, inventory and safeguarding of the maintenance of parks and gardens from the period after the Second World War. If the sites are restored and continuously maintained, they can once again be used in a variety of ways. Increased efforts must be made to preserve the sensitive horticultural heritage of that era in its diversity for the future.
You can download the declaration as a PDF here.