Nature experience area 'wild world'

The ‘Wild World’ nature experience area on the Kienberg is a large open space for children and young people to run around and play in, which they can visit independently and use without any restrictions. With an area of 16,000 square metres, the ‘Wild World’ offers enough space for interaction with nature and other children and young people. This has given the city's children another opportunity for direct contact with nature - without play equipment and without adults dictating the play. The aim is to fulfil important basic needs of children: Free play in nature.

On the one hand, contact with nature and interaction between people and nature are essential for the development of an awareness of nature, and on the other, they are also a basic prerequisite for children to develop healthily as social beings. The concept of nature experience areas for children within their immediate living environment was developed as a result of the decline in near-natural areas in the city and the associated loss of opportunities for contact with nature. Last but not least, the importance of nature experience areas and near-natural open spaces for urban ecology and for an environmentally and socially equitable distribution of open spaces for the recreation of the urban population also plays a role.

The nature experience area on the Kienberg is a pilot area from the testing and development project ‘Naturerfahrungsräume in Großstädten am Beispiel Berlin’. As part of the project, three nature experience areas were set up in Berlin and tested in practice to determine which aspects need to be taken into account during preparation, planning, installation and operation. The Kienberg nature experience area was developed by the Nature Conservation Foundation. The project was funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, represented by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, and the Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection.

The site was opened with the IGA Berlin 2017 on 13 April 2017.