Tempelhof: The joy of wasted space

 

My son has fallen in love with riding his bike as fast as he can down the runways at the old Tempelhof Airport.

Imagine it. Wide open, flat space. No cars. No stop signs or traffic lights. Just the wind running through his helmeted hair. And it's always windy, so the headwind can be a struggle, but the tailwind makes it seem like he's flying. 

Not long after planes stopped flying from it, the City of Berlin turned the old airport into a public park  

And it's a big park. It's 360 hectares, and it's flat and wide open. It's like stepping onto a prairie, well, a small one, but you get the idea. 

Rain or shine, there are people strolling, running, riding bikes, grilling, picnicking, canoodling, and flying kites.

In a city where any building can be a club, making an old airport into a park for everyone captures the Take-What-You-Got-And-Make-it-Fun spirit of Berlin.

But a big open space in the middle of the city must be torture for property developers. What a waste of space! Think of the condos that could go here. The retail space. The revenue.

So, every now and then, a developer tries to get the park rezoned. And people, normal people, push back and stop it.

Because an open space isn't wasted space for a six-year-old discovering the freedom of high speeds on a bike or for the 40-year-old father struggling to keep up with him. It's something we all need.