Frankfurt: City wants to rebuild Riedbergplatz
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fromSandra Busch
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500,000 euros for unsealing. Surface heats up too much in summer.
On the Riedbergplatz, the dark stone surface heats up in summer, the square becomes an ember. What that means in numbers has now been investigated by students of physical geography at the Goethe University. They examined temperature differences between the paved Riedbergplatz and the densely tree-planted Ewald-Heinrich-von-Kleist-Platz on the Riedberg and presented the results to the Climate and Environment Committee on Thursday evening: The surface temperature on the Riedbergplatz was average over the day eight degrees higher. The stone walls also give off heat throughout the night and into the morning.
The Riedberg Climate Protection Initiative has been fighting for a redesign of the area for a year and a half. “The results of the university are clear,” said Ina Mirel from the initiative. “They prove that Riedbergplatz is one of the hottest places in Frankfurt.” Mirel brought 670 signatures to the committee for a greening of the area for a better microclimate.
And ran into open doors there. At least that’s what Thomas Schlimme (Greens) put it. You can’t seal the city like that. “It’s also about human life.” If it doesn’t cool down, it is life-threatening for the elderly and the sick, for example. The issue is also undisputed for the SPD, CDU and the left.
Environment officer Rosemarie Heilig (Greens) said that in principle all places in Frankfurt are wrong. The city now has a program to redesign squares, and 500,000 euros are earmarked for Riedbergplatz. “It’s time to never plan such places again,” said Heilig. “But I’ve seen plans again that don’t look better either.”