Welcome to the Prinzessinengarten at Moritzplatz! We
welcome all fellow gardeners, friends and comrades.
To help you orientate yourself, here is some informa-
tion about the garden and the ways we organise this
space.
A lot has changed in 2020. The company which
formerly ran Prinzessinengarten, Nomadisch Grün
GmbH has now moved to the Jacobi Cemetery in
Neukölln. In March 2020, our organisation, Common
Grounds e.V, secured the lease for the garden, which
included the responsibility to organize public ser-
vices in the space.
Together and on an equal footing with neighbours
and interested parties, we are establishing a large-
ly self-organized, inclusive and non-commercial
neighbourhood garden, which is to be maintained
in the long term as a “green lung” open space and
consumption-free, low-threshold meeting place for
everyone.
We garden on the ruins of capitalism.* The soil in the
garden consists almost exclusively of gravel and rub-
ble – much like the condition of the soil in large parts
of the city of Berlin. We have set ourselves the task
of working with all those who would like to contribute
to regenerating the soil of the area as far as possible,
including different types of composting, the introduc-
tion of effective microorganisms, and the creation of
different habitats for as many plants, fungi, animals
and, of course, people as possible. Our goal is to
pursue a different, much more sustainable, meaning-
ful “soil revaluation” than that of money, concrete or
gold, which is currently spreading worldwide in urban
and rural spaces and is trampling the soil underfoot
literally and metaphorically.
The garden is considered a common good and is not
managed in a conventionally profit-oriented way. This
is not a space for making monetary profit. That means
everyone in the garden works on a voluntary basis,
each according to his or her abilities and needs. Fur-
thermore no one should derive claims of ownership
or decision-making powers from their activities here.
We always strive for consensus decisions in the
group through a regular plenum, with other people,
without hierarchy.
Our plenum takes place every Sunday here in the gar-
den. The people in the garden are also not “users” or
“service providers”. We would like to appeal to every-
one to treat everyone and everything in the garden
with responsibility and care.
We would like to collect and share knowledge. We
see the garden as a place of learning for everyone.
We prefer to implement projects in the garden in a
largely self-organized and self-empowering manner,
e.g. by designing them as workshops. If possible, we
do not outsource the implementation to outside com-
panies. We find this is more cost-effective, it makes
the garden more durable and maintenance is easi-
er if the infrastructure is built up by the gardeners
themselves.
(Common grounds e.V has applied for funds from
the Berlin regional government for the construction
of infrastructure, but so far we have not received a
positive decision. If a positive decision is received,
it will be made transparent and discussed within the
garden group). Requests for events in the garden
are also discussed in the garden group. Events are
planned with a focus on compatibility with the loca-
tion, and the needs of the garden, to prevent overuse.
If the request is approved, an advisor from the group
must be found to supervise the event and familiarize
the guests with the garden.
The opening hours are generated by volunteers who
give their time to open the garden. They receive a key
and take over the responsibility for the garden during
the opening times.
Breathing life into this space is challenging and rais-
es many questions. We don’t know the answers to
everything, but we are very excited about the good
solutions that we will find together!