Representatives of the local council, the council and the advisory board for people with disabilities also took part in the launch of the first major public construction project in the "Soziale Stadt Steterburg" redevelopment area.

City planning officer Michael Tacke emphasized in his welcoming address that the redesign of this playground is an important project for Steterburg and for Salzgitter as a child- and family-friendly learning city. The special feature: In three participation campaigns initiated by the neighborhood management, the Department for Urban Redevelopment and Socially Integrative City together with the "Spalink-Siervers" office, the girls and boys from the two daycare centers and the elementary school contributed their ideas, as did the local residents. He thanked the town council for initiating this urban development project, which cost around 380,000 euros and is funded by the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony. The city is making its own contribution of around 126,000 euros.

City planning officer Michael Tacke conveyed the greetings of Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel, who wished the project a successful outcome. Following the opening of the football pitch on Brotweg in August, progress is continuing in Steterburg.

Landscape architect Johanna Sievers, who is responsible for the planning and construction with her office and was in charge of the participation, was also pleased about this. She thanked everyone involved for getting this unique project off the ground in just under a year. The children are delighted that a fantastic playground will be created on the 4,000 square meter site. As the children have chosen the city of Gdansk as their theme with "Baltic Sea, beach, sea and vacation", the play equipment will also be designed accordingly. For example, there will be a large ship with many possibilities, as well as sand areas and a green classroom. The children are following the construction work, regularly finding out about it and checking out what the company Detlef Reinert Garten- und Landschaftsbau, together with the SRB, will be doing there over the next few months....

Local mayor Christian Striese was delighted with the redesign of the playground, which includes many play and sports facilities for children, who will hopefully make use of this largest and most important green space in the redevelopment area in large numbers. He presented the children with Salzgitter bags containing, among other things, a lunch box so that the children are well equipped for their activities and can always eat more....

Hartmut Alder, Chairman of the Urban Planning and Building Committee, positively emphasized how quickly this project was able to get underway so that all children can hopefully play in late spring 2019.

Information:

Residents and all interested parties can contact the neighborhood management in Steterburg, Lange Hecke 4, telephone number: 05341/8879201, with questions and concerns about the playground construction.

Information about the redesign:

Playground redesign:

Steterburg's children are the experts in this project. With three participation campaigns in the first half of 2018, many children (from the St. Bernward and Stiftsmäuse family centers and the elementary school) and adults (including local residents) were given the opportunity to contribute their ideas. Local and council politicians and the advisory board for people with disabilities were also involved.

The "Spalink-Sievers" office implemented these participation campaigns in collaboration with the neighbourhood management and the Department for Urban Redevelopment and Socially Integrative City.

The advisory board for people with disabilities was involved in the planning in order to incorporate the needs and wishes of people with disabilities into the playground planning. Various points were discussed together, which are to be implemented with the present planning. They should not only serve the idea of inclusion, but also ensure a sustainable design of the playground: A very important element is to ensure that the access route is barrier-free.

In addition, some of the play equipment, such as a swing and a seesaw, will be explicitly designed for use by people with disabilities. In addition, various wheelchair-accessible bench/table combinations will be installed.

The new areas at a glance:

Toddler area in a sheltered spot with a large sand play area:

The toddler play area is provided in the north-western part of the site and has a large sand play area with a small play ship, a wooden platform and baking tables. Other play equipment - for example a seesaw (which can also be used by children with disabilities) and seating - are located nearby.

Large play ship:

The theme of the playground is taken up and implemented with a large play ship. Equipped with various elements (slide, lookout, bridge, etc.), the ship offers high motor and creative-social play value.

Motorically challenging play equipment:

Different play equipment should be arranged in the central area of the playground to enable varied and shared play. The high play value encourages children to move around on the motor-challenging play equipment.

Hilly landscape with green classroom:

Docking onto the existing play hill, a hilly landscape is to extend in an easterly direction. Embedded in the hilly landscape is the "green classroom" in the form of semi-circular seating steps, which were requested by the elementary school as part of the participation activities.

Playground:

As a continuation of and in connection with the hilly landscape, the north-eastern playground area should continue to be available as a play area.

Seating and rest areas:

There will be various places to sit and stay in order to make the playground attractive for people of all generations. There will be bench and bench-table combinations near the play equipment as well as in more remote, quieter areas. Bench-table combinations that can be used by people with disabilities are also planned. A special element will be a round bench, which will be placed around a newly planted tree in a central location.

Routing on the playground:

A new central path axis is to be created between the entrances from Breslauer Straße and Schäfersteig, to which the main elements mentioned above will connect. This should provide more clarity and increase visibility in order to have better social control of the playground.

The existing paved paths (from the Breslauer Straße entrance to Danziger Straße) are to be retained. The new paths are to be finished with the same gray concrete block paving as the existing paths.

Information on the "Socially Integrative City of Steterburg" redevelopment

In 2015, the Steterburg estate was included in the "Socially Integrative City" urban development program. Subsequently, the "Soziale Stadt Steterburg" redevelopment area was formally established in 2016.

The upgrading of the public space plays a central role in the urban redevelopment in Steterburg. By improving the living environment and creating places to linger, play and meet, the quality of life in the redevelopment area can be significantly increased. At the same time, positive effects can be achieved for the external perception (image) of the neighborhood.

The redesign of the Danziger Strasse playground was already defined as an objective in the preparatory studies, included in the area-related urban development concept for the Steterburg area and politically approved with the action and financing concept.