Chaos in the city park: Duisburger defend themselves against grill bans!

Chaos in the city park: Duisburger defend themselves against grill bans!

rising temperatures and sunshine currently pull numerous people outside in Duisburg. But the mood is particularly tense in the Meiderich city park. Residents, politicians and beer garden guests are annoyed by the repeated violations of grill bans. Last weekend there was also a break -in in the kiosk of the local beer garden, where the perpetrators abused tables and benches for their illegal grill parties and provided considerable chaos. The garbage that was left increases the unrest among the citizens.

there in the restaurateurs such as Ibrahim "Ibo" Öztaş report on the fear of their guests, who are less the burglars than the barbecues. Öztaş draws attention to the fact that a temporary ban on grill should not tighten all guests, since many of them live in small apartments without access to a garden or balcony. Nevertheless, local politicians urgently demand measures against the unauthorized grill parties and the increasing vandalism in the city park to ensure the quality of life for everyone.

vandalism and crime in the region

The problems in the Meiderich district are not new; You have tightened over the years. A recently initiated online petition now demands that the state parliament in Düsseldorf deals with the alarming conditions at the Meiderich bus station and on the shopping street. The residents and business people can no longer watch and want a return to a safe environment. The petition also criticizes that the city, police and politics do not act sufficiently.

more and more, business people are increasingly closing their shops before dark, for fear of raids. Some even consider to give up their business while parents are forced to send their children to school to other parts of the city, as they question security in Meiderich.

connection between space and crime

The situation in Meiderich is part of a major problem that has been examined for decades. Historical considerations on the connection between crime and living environment show that highly stressed crime areas are closely linked to unfavorable social structures. The first empirical studies come from the Chicago School in the first half of the 20th century. It was found that the closer you are at the city center, and that social control is often missing in certain residential areas.

The characteristics of such problematic city quarters include structural degeneration and a quick change of residents. In Germany, too, the connection between space and crime has been discussed since the 1970s, whereby so-called fear spaces have arisen. These (half) public spaces are often shaped by an atmosphere that makes people feel that they are in danger. Good lighting and sensible structural measures could contribute to avoiding such rooms.

In the discussion about security in Duisburg, reference is repeatedly referred to the need to reduce the feeling of uncertainty of the citizens through urban planning and architectural measures. Concepts such as the "defensive space" of Oskar Newman offer solutions to combat crime and vandalism through local identification and social control.

The situation in Duisburg-Miederich represents a complex interplay of social, economic and urban development factors, which forces citizens to campaign for changes and a safe living environment. The time for acts is now.