Sportpark Styrum in Mülheim

SOCIAL INTEGRATION IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

SPORTPARK STYRUM IN MÜLHEIM

„Sportpark Styrum“ in Mülheim an der Ruhr is a family-friendly and multi-generational sports and neighbourhood park that offers low-threshold, but also challenging and unusual activities. On behalf of and in close cooperation with Mülheim Sportservice (MSS), landscape architects DTP Landschaftsarchitekten started designing this park in 2017 and built it in two phases. The park was handed over for public use in spring 2022.

The new sports park, located on the site of a former clay court, was created with the enthusiastic participation of local clubs, residents, athletes, school pupils and pre-school children. The park‘s low-threshold, free and stimulating sports offering is the key that can also introduce users to the activities offered by clubs, and educational and cultural institutions. This is supported by firmly established sports and social supervision on site. At the same time, the park has challenging elements for both beginners and advanced athletes.

The sports hall in the vicinity, the municipal day-care centre and the Stiftungspark are linked to the high-intensity sports park and its sports landscape by the „sports link“. This unlocks synergies and opens up the previously closed-off site. Plenty of action in the “sports link” In the ball and team sports area, ball games can be played in an open-air hall independently of the weather. With this covered area, the city of Mülheim is significantly expanding the time available for activities there. The offering also extends to a streetball court, an interactive goal wall, seating for teams and a Teqbal table.

„Styrum Beach“ is an attractive place in the sports park with a holiday feel and special sports offers. Enclosed by a protective dune, there is space here for beach volleyball, beach soccer, long jump and even bouldering on the perimeter wall. Large sunshades invite you to savour the inner-city beach atmosphere.

Location Mülheim a.d. Ruhr, Germany Client / operator City of Mülheim

Landscape architects DTP Landschaftsarchitekten www.dtp-essen.de

Open-air hall McArena www.mcarena.de

Elastic layers Polytan www.polytan.com Parkour and bouldering x-move www.x-move.net

Obstacle course and playground equipment Playparc www.playparc.de Author DTP Landschaftsarchitekten Photos Nikolai Benner

Official opening April 2022

The parkour and fitness area has been designed in great detail and offers a variety of opportunities for athletic training. Modelled grass and asphalt humps, parkour elements, calisthenics equipment and climbing opportunities make this area attractive for active athletes. An area furnished with organically shaped volumes and curved steel tubes makes this space aesthetically appealing.

With near-natural elements on the existing topography, an area has been created on a hill where stone blocks and raised robinia trunks invite users to overcome obstacles and practise precision jumps. Part of the hill is buttressed with L-shaped concrete elements, creating a clearly defined edge at the transition to the central area. At the rear, the hill is supported by a retaining wall designed as a bouldering wall with a natural rock look and climbing holds.

Sports landscape as a peaceful alternative A diverse system of paths, with variations in material and form, and in some places with a moving surface, becomes a sports space in its own right. The system encourages exercise, links the features of the sports park and effectively integrates the surrounding open spaces. This encouragement to engage in exercise is accentuated with ground markings whose uniform design also links the adjacent facilities with each other.

The 500-m track links the sports park with the school playground. The running track is made of materials changing from one section to the next. A kilometre marker and signposts serve as a guide.

Rambling grassed areas form a quiet contrast to the highintensity sports track, providing opportunities to rest, picnic and balance on landscape-integrated sports elements, while also fulfilling ecological functions such as rainwater retention or as a food source for insects.

With the aim of encouraging exercise during breaks, the existing small playground of the adjacent school has been modernised with the development of a new, exercise-stimulating playground for older pre-school and younger school children. The school uses the sports park for its physical education lessons.

THREE QUESTIONS TO THE OPERATOR

MARTINA ELLERWALD AND JOHANNES MICHELS City of Mülheim an der Ruhr Mülheimer SportService Sports development planning

What goals do you aim to achieve with the strategy of an open sports park? The new sports park is not only intended as a venue for classic sports activities. We want families to discover it as an attractive place to spend time with a wide range of exercise opportunities. We‘d also like not only children and adolescents but also the surrounding schools, sports clubs and day-care centres in the district to benefit from the improved sports and leisure facilities.

In particular, the neighbouring Willy-Brandt-Schule with its roughly 1,000 pupils and the two Styrum primary schools use the sports park for school physical exercise lessons and other activities such as break-time games and sports days.

The various functional areas have a distinctly stimulating character and encourage different age groups to get moving, play and practise sport. In addition, various sports courses, open get-togethers for children and adolescents, and sports events are held on a regular basis. There are special activities for many user groups, e.g. a football kick-around for young girls and the hip hop workshop for teenagers. But there is also beach volleyball, which is more popular with students, boules for older people or sports activities in the evening hours. The varied programme of activities brings different people together. The sports park is a place of encounter and of social interaction and the biggest freely accessible sportfor-all hub that we have in Mülheim an der Ruhr. How do you reconcile the differing interests of the clubs, educational and cultural institutions, and non-organised users? Are there conflicts? One of the big tasks in day-to-day running is to ensure that people get along with each other. For us, it was obvious from the beginning that we didn‘t want to leave the facility to its own devices. So we have a permanent coordination office for the sports park. In addition, our maintenance staff are on hand during school hours, and an exercise instructor is on site in the afternoons until the park closes in the evenings. In the best case, the use of the park is handed over by one stakeholder to the next.

For example, recreational athletes use the sports park in the morning concurrently with schools. So mutual consideration is called for. If sports clubs are open about it, they will find a large public there that they can attract as members. Groups can always use a cordon system to clearly mark their area.

Mülheimer SportService networks closely with the Mülheimer Sportbund sports federation, and whenever possible, clubs are involved in the activities available. For example, parkour is available from independent coaches and also from the parkour section of Styrumer TV sports club. In addition, we are open to all offers from other institutions in the sports park, as they are an important aspect of social control in the park.

What kind of exercise spaces or outdoor sports facilities will we need from now on? Freely accessible exercise spaces are growing in number and becoming increasingly diverse. The aim is to offer the population opportunities for physical activity without major barriers. Up to 75 % of the people in Mülheim are physically active every week, but only up to 33 % are members of sports clubs. For this reason, places of organised sport must be joined by places of non-organised activities. This is not pitting one against the other – it should always be about togetherness. The basketball club can also benefit from a streetball court, for instance. And as a club member, you might like to be able to play against your best friend in addition to training. So it can be useful to involve the neighbouring institutions in the planning. As far as possible, no compromises should be made in terms of quality. If you want to exercise, you should find a well-maintained sports venue that encourages exercise.