Sustainable development of cemetery areas in inner-city cemeteries

Aachen's historic city center has a low supply of inner-city green spaces. The cemeteries make up around 30 percent of the public green spaces in the city center. They are easily accessible and distributed directly around the city center. In terms of their size and location, they are part of the finger-like fresh air corridors that extend as far as the city center. They have biotope structures in the transition from open space to urban biotopes. In this way, the cemetery areas contribute significantly to the preservation and promotion of inner-city biodiversity and thus to the climate-stabilizing effect.

The "Sustainable development of cemetery areas in inner-city cemeteries" funding project of the Aachen municipal authority aims to promote ecology and biodiversity in the cemeteries in order to better adapt the areas to climate impacts. By strengthening near-natural biotopes, the aim is also to ensure that species-rich structures can have a stabilizing effect on negative climate impacts in the medium term in the event of extreme climatic impairments through a space-cooling effect and species migration back into damaged neighbouring structures.

The project area comprises the 8 inner-city cemeteries (Hüls, Ostfriedhof, Forst, Lintert, Waldfriedhof, Heißberg, Westfriedhof I and II) with a total area of 108 ha

Planned measures: Creation of a development concept with mapping of the biotope structures, creation of flower strips, planting of trees and shrubs, unsealing of individual areas, creation of a dementia garden / sensory garden to improve the quality of stay