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More green for the city: Park(ing) Day” brings a breath of fresh air!
On September 19, 2025, Kassel and other Hessian cities will celebrate “Park(ing) Day” to transform parking spaces into green oases.
More green for the city: Park(ing) Day” brings a breath of fresh air!
International “Park(ing) Day” will be celebrated again on September 19th, which focuses on converting parking spaces into green oases. This creative campaign aims to raise awareness of the loss of quality of life caused by car traffic and raise awareness of the benefits of green spaces. At the end of this week, numerous events will also take place in Hessian cities such as Frankfurt, Kassel, Darmstadt and Marburg. The Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) will provide information about alternatives to owning a car, such as buses, trains and car sharing, because more space for safer walking and cycling paths is the goal of these heart-warming campaigns. A good example of this is the VCD Rhein-Main, where Mathias Biemann advises people to sell their own car and switch to car sharing in order to relieve traffic in our cities. Borken newspaper reports on colorful events with lawn carpets, tables, chairs, board games and even joint music-making sessions in many cities.
But what does that mean for us here in Germany? According to current estimates, there are around 46 million cars in Germany that sit unused for an average of 23 hours a day. This not only takes up valuable space in our cities, but also has negative effects on our health and land consumption. Benjamin Stephan from Greenpeace explains that significantly more environmentally friendly mobility could be achieved by halving the number of private cars by 2035 compared to 2015. A role model in this regard is Copenhagen, which has successfully switched to environmentally friendly transport and is considered one of the most livable cities in the world.
More green in our cities
The need for sustainable urban mobility can hardly be overemphasized. The Federal Environment Agency promotes initiatives that strengthen public transportation, cycling and pedestrian traffic. A reduction in car use is essential here. The results of a research project show how important measures such as expanding cycling and walking infrastructure and improving public transport services are. The introduction of road user fees and the creation of car-free inner cities are also included in order to make urban areas more livable.
The commitment to “Park(ing) Day” is a step in the right direction. By creatively redesigning parking spaces, we can not only experience the space in a new way, but also initiate an important discourse about urban mobility. It is important that we all get involved and work for a sustainable future. Because one thing is clear: the more green we bring into our cities, the better quality of life we will regain.