Vegetables, art and co.: a port community consisting of the city, clubs and restaurateurs want to motivate Rostock to upgrade the Warnow riverbank.
Want to make the city port more beautiful for everybody (from left): Paloma Tobón Hernández, Sascha Hofmann und Christian Behn. photo: Ove Arscholl. City port. Barbecuing, jogging, sailing, camping, walking along the Warnow riverbank – there are many reasons that drag Rostock citizens or vacationers to the city port. Only one does hardly appear on the list: attractivity. The area benefits from its location at the water, but has only little charm to offer. Instead gravel areas alternate with parking spaces. That’s supposed to be changed.
The city port shall bloom to the Federal Garden Show 2025, but the new port community does not want to wait until then: The alliance of the municipal port authority, associations and restaurateurs plan to beautify the city port now. The kick-off should meet the taste of many: Along the quay side vegetables will soon be flourishing. The non-profit workshop of the DRK (German Red Cross) is currently building 15 portable raised beds, which are supposed to be located and planted between “Silohalbinsel” and the ferry dock “Kabutzenhof” explains Christian Behn from Rostock port
authority. He adds: “They are managed by the port community.” Fellow gardening – and harvesting – anyone who feels like is allowed to do so. The more the better. Because the hope is: Those who help
developing the city port also ensure that it remains beautiful. At the same time it incites others.
Currently there are no green spots to look for. Instead of pumpkin and co. mountains of trash are growing – especially since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic. Because clubs bars and discos are closed, more people than usual meet at the city port. The result can be particularly seen in the early hours of the morning: bottles, cigarette remains, disposable grills and to-go mugs are scattered all over the place. “Most do not notice how much rubbish actually accumulates, because we remove a large part quickly”, says Christian Behn. But the port authority cannot constantly play the cleaning crew and keep the city port tidy – also for financial reasons. “The cleaning cost amount to 80,000 € per year.” Particularly annoying is that a few people prefer to rather leave their rubbish instead of throwing it into the next dustbin two meters away. “Maybe 3 percent of the people act like that, but they spoil the city port for all of us.”
Therefore Behn and his colleagues from the port community want to initiate a rethink in society. Not with prohibitions or raised index finger, but with a motivated image campaign. From the end of April 88 posters with the slogan #Mein HafenDeinHafen (my port/your port) will advertise for a clean city port. The message will be also spread using the LED screen on the street “Am Strande” says Paloma Tobón Hernández.
Antje Bernstein (raw interpretation Andreas Schubert and Katharina Häusler from Johanna team)