Frankfurt district of Preungesheim
The Frankfurt district of Preungesheim put itself forward to be the site of the first flying artist’s room in an urban setting. Located in the north of the city, Preungesheim has just under 16,000 residents and largely consists of a variety of housing types: next to the old centre of Preungesheim is the New Betts development, late 19th-century villas in Taunus Blick, the Walter Kolb estate, the Karl Kirchner estate that overlooks the prison, and the Frankfurter Bogen residential area that was built in 1999. Life in the different parts of Preungesheim is colourful and diverse: the district is home to people from 118 countries. It is also one of the parts in Frankfurt am Main that is home to the most children.
Equal opportunities is a very important issue in Preungesheim where the child poverty rate is well above average compared with the rest of the city. During the first COVID-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020, the Crespo Foundation sponsored an intergenerational offer of assistance to support young people with home schooling, as well as a digital workshop for students at the local Carlo Mierendorff School.
The excellent collaboration with former neighbourhood manager Angela Freiberg generated shared enthusiasm for cultural participation that is easily accessible by everyone thanks to a flying artist’s room landing on a public square here. In a joint investigatory phase, Gravensteiner Platz was identified as the ideal place for the flying artist’s room. Located at the end of tramline 18, it is a central square that links both old and new Preungesheim and has pedestrian zones and a shopping centre, with a mix of younger and older generations thanks to the neighbouring Carlo Mierendorff School and Wiesenhüttenstift care home.
In 2022 Preungesheim celebrated its 1250th anniversary. Under the slogan “Preungesheim is our business!”, the neighbourhood management of Diakonisches Werk, a social welfare organisation for Frankfurt and Offenbach, invited people of all ages from Preungesheim to take part in a discussion and thinktank session to discuss the future in Preungesheim.
Working with residents and actors in Preungesheim, a joint process has been launched to come up with creative ideas and perspectives to ensure people can live happily alongside one another and that development in the district is sustainable.
“The flying artist’s room is landing on Gravensteiner Platz – the neighbourhood’s central public square – in time for Preungesheim’s 1250th anniversary. It is the first flying artist’s room in an urban setting.
(Angela Freiberg, neighbourhood manager of the social welfare organisation, Diakonisches Werk, for Frankfurt and Offenbach)
“The flying artist’s room will be landing on Gravensteiner Platz soon and the local council is delighted to be hosting it. In Angela Freiberg we have an outstanding organiser/neighbourhood manager whose work has become indispensable. Something really special is emerging out of the collaboration between the Crespo Foundation and all the actors in Preungesheim.”
(Wera Eiselt, mayor of the local council 10)
