Could cemeteries be the future of urban gardening? | DW News

Cemeteries in Berlin are dying, while the city's community gardens are in need of an affordable place to grow. Now the two have partnered up, making for some interesting (raised) bedfellows. In the summer of 2019, the Prinzessinnengärten urban garden officially moved into the New St. Jacoby cemetery, which is owned by a Protestant cemetery association.
The Prinzessinnengärten offer a snapshot of a specific moment in the German capital’s urban development. Where real estate prices have risen nearly 300 percent over the last five years, and therefore the demand for undeveloped land for housing construction has never been higher -- leaving urban gardens in a precarious position. Meanwhile, German law prevents cemeteries from being sold for development, but changes in burial culture mean that many struggle to break even on land that they can’t legally sell. It’s a predicament that could spell a whole new future for urban gardening -- and cemeteries -- in Germany.
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