Baden-Württemberg: For a coffee in the cemetery? Cemeteries in transition

The classic burial is pretty outdated, the number of urn burials has been increasing for years.

Baden-Württemberg: For a coffee in the cemetery? Cemeteries in transition

The classic burial is pretty outdated, the number of urn burials has been increasing for years. New questions therefore arise for cemeteries. What to do with unused grave areas? There are many ideas - cafes? Playgrounds? natural oases? Even building land could be created.

Karlsruhe (dpa/lsw) - Due to the increasing number of urn burials, more and more space is becoming available in cemeteries in the southwest - the municipalities and cemetery administrations are now coming up with a number of ideas to deal with it in a sensible and sustainable way. Paths of mourning, insect-friendly former burial grounds, even playgrounds are being laid out in order to literally fill unused burial areas with life again. Because burials, which need a lot of grave space, are pretty out, also nationwide. On the other hand, the number of cremations has been increasing continuously for many years - and urn graves need less space.

Freiburg, for example, expects that by 2030 only 60 percent of today's area will be used for graves and is thinking about recreational areas. For years, the city of Karlsruhe has been creating natural areas and fields in its 24 district cemeteries and the main cemetery, realized a facility for grieving children with a playground or designed a garden of life. A city spokesman says that beehives will also be set up and that much emphasis will be placed on species protection and the avoidance of pesticides.

In Tübingen, among other things, trees are being planted, valuable poor meadows have been created and piles of dead wood for animals have been laid out on former graves that are now no longer used, as a city spokeswoman explains. Because of the problem, a so-called cemetery development concept has now been commissioned in Stuttgart. "The first results are expected by mid-2023," says a city spokeswoman. A spokesman for the city of Pforzheim says that an "all-encompassing cemetery development plan is currently being prepared for all cemetery areas".

The city of Ladenburg is also noticing that the number of free spaces is growing and, according to a spokeswoman, is relying on a dual strategy in order to still be able to use space: On the one hand, there is now the option of having your pet buried and there is also a Muslim burial ground planned. On the other hand, the cemetery with its many open spaces is to be gradually transformed into a park-like facility. The spokeswoman says that expansion areas that were once reserved are no longer needed. Instead, these are to be converted into living space. "A corresponding change to the development plan is in preparation."

According to Frank-Michael Littwin from the National Association of Cemetery Administrators in Germany, the concepts must be well thought out. "Because abandoned graves often do not result in a coherent area." In addition, many municipalities have to adjust their grave fees, which used to be based on the grave area - a system that no longer seems sensible.

Depending on where you're going, "it could happen that at some point there will be more open space than graves," says Littwin. If the rule that urns no longer have to go to cemeteries but can be kept at home should also be abolished - "then we'll have even more space," he says. "The general question is how do we treat the space with respect?"

In its July issue, the new magazine of the Federal Association of German Undertakers examines exactly this question: In times of climate crisis and cities longing for greenery and nature, cemeteries could become oases of calm for stressed city dwellers. And in addition to playgrounds, urban gardening, cultural tours or cafés could also be useful, it says: "Why not?".