DID YOU KNOW THAT ABOUT BERLIN: PLAYGROUND BERLIN

Children on the public playground at the Wasserturm in Prenzlauer Berg, 1928. By Willy Römer. From the 2022 exhibition "Aufbruch und Reformen" at Museum Pankow, Berlin.

Did you know that nearly 330 hectare of Berlin’s surface are covered by playgrounds?

The city has 1,881 public Kinderspielplätze. You will find them on city’s own plots (including gaps between buildings cut out through the World-War-Two destruction), in parks, forests, and even on former cemeteries.

Like the city’s Volksparks, they first appeared in the 1880s as part of the Volksgesundheit (public health) programme.

In 1920 after Berlin had joined forces with surrounding cities and communities, becoming “Greater Berlin”, the city introduced a new "Spielplatzgesetz". Although not an Act but a Bill, it was still followed), guaranteeing such spaces were provided and maintained.

Small public playground in Mittenwalder Straße in Berlin-Kreuzberg, created in one of the gaps left by the last war. Photo own.

Today, Berlin playgrounds are in the charge of individual boroughs, and their construction as well as maintenance will be regulated by the updated 1995 laws. Mind you, many of the city’s playgrounds are private: the law requires that as soon as you build a residential building with six flats or more, you also provide a playground for their youngest residents.

Here is a very user-friendly map of Berlin’s playgrounds created by the Berlin Senate for all interested users.