Living Neighborhood: Planting, learning and celebrating together

The new concept for one of the main projects in the Chemnitz 2025 program focuses on personal initiative and participation

As part of the Living Neighbourhood program, one of the main projects for the Capital of Culture 2025, Chemnitz residents are being called upon to green their city in neighbourhood initiatives in their immediate living and working environment. Increasing heat and drought are becoming an ever greater challenge for both people and plants in cities. Future models for green cities are needed that actively involve residents in their design.

At the heart of the new concept for the Living Neighborhood project are planting activities that are jointly initiated, planned and implemented by various stakeholders. Institutions, educational institutions, associations and other stakeholders have been and will be actively approached and can organize planting activities independently or in cooperation in the future.

Chemnitz 2025 GmbH sees itself as the driving force, providing support with coordination and funding. The aim is to activate numerous different actors from civil society to participate in this project – be it with an individual action or an overall city-wide activity, depending on individual needs and possibilities.

Four large plantings are planned for spring and fall 2024 and 2025, respectively. These are assigned to different themes and also include thematic educational offers and artistic activities.

The new concept for the Capital of Culture project Living Neighborhood was developed with the involvement of various partners. These include the City of Chemnitz’s Grünflächenamt, 205 schools, allotment garden associations and allotment garden sites, the Chemnitz school model, an all-day school with a special profile that is open to the city, the 6 congregations of the Kulturkirche, Chemnitz University of Technology and various housing associations. Discussions with these groups will continue on an ongoing basis, with the stakeholders organizing their activities on their own initiative with the support of Chemnitz 2025 GmbH.

Aims of living neighborhood

In principle, the Living Neighborhood project pursues the following goals:

  • participation through personal initiative
  • the activation of partnerships
  • addressing biodiversity, plant diversity and climate change
  • initiating educational programs on environmental and climate issues, as well as urban design topics.

Four main themes will guide the Living Neighbourhood project through the years 2024 and 2025. Chemnitz 2025 GmbH and its partners will organize joint activities on selected dates in spring and autumn of the years 2024 and 2025. The content will be based on a respective main theme.

The activities include

  • plantings
  • educational offers
  • artistic activities.

Main themes of Living Neighborhood

Photos: Ernesto Uhlmann

Project archive WE PARAPOM!

Planting Assembly Places in November 2022

In November 2022, another building block was added to the Capital of Culture flagship project WE PARAPOM! The first gathering places were created; these are places where trees are planted by many participants together and in large numbers and the apple trees “gather” in a figurative sense.

On 12 November 2022, 50 first graders of the school “Chemnitzer Schulmodell” planted apple trees together with their sponsors from the 9th grades and parents in the apple park in Hilbersdorf. The plantings were supervised by the regional groups of BUND and NABU. A week later, apple trees were also planted in Kleinolbersdorf – 22 in total.

You can read more about it here.


A conversation about artistic interventions on 02.07.2022

In the context of their research to develop an artistic intervention for “WE PARAPOM!”, the artists Zbyněk Baladrán, Amica Dall (Assemble), Paul Rajakovics (transparadiso) and Apolonija Šušteršič will present their working methods and selected projects on 2 July 2022.

In the subsequent exchange with the audience, cultural actors of the city, all interested Chemnitz residents and guests are invited to propose topics for “WE PARAPOM!” and to discuss them together with the artists and urban ethnologist Kathrin Wildner (metroZones) in relation to current social issues in Chemnitz. The exchange of different perspectives on the city, of experiences and desires, opens up new visions that leave the “impossible” behind and strive for the impossible.

The programme can be found here.


Second public performance on 01. – 03.04.2022

The second public appearance of “WE PARAPOM! – European Parade of Apple Trees” invites all Chemnitz residents from 1 to 3 April to take part in the second phase of planting and to set an example of what civil commitment can do, what art can do, and what Chemnitz can do as European Capital of Culture.

The plantings around the area of the Museum Gunzenhauser and Zwickauer Straße will be accompanied by an extensive film programme around the question “What is the norm? It will take place in different public places and thus link very different publics. The European Parade of Apple Trees is curated by the Austrian artist Barbara Holub.

The whole programme can be found here and a short review can be found here.


First public performance on 06.11.21

On 6 November, “WE PARAPOM!”, one of the trend-setting art projects on Chemnitz’ way to becoming European Capital of Culture 2025, will start. The European Parade of Apple Trees – curated by the Austrian artist Barbara Holub – will run right through Chemnitz. And you can become part of the project!

The parade crosses property boundaries and thus prepares the ground for people to come together. It is accompanied by artistic interventions that will be realised continuously until 2025. The parade and the apple are symbols for a series of themes that are specifically addressed by artists: Standardisation and norms, migration, homeland and climate change as well as questions about the current situation of democracy.

A review and a video can be found here.

Photos: Ernesto Uhlmann