Get moving!

The history of this place does not begin with the Grüne Dicke­bank, but (as so often in the Ruhr region) with foot­ball. For many years, the grass pitch inside the running track was the sporting home of Schwarz-Weiß Watten­scheid 08. The club belongs on Dicke­bank­straße and has written decades of foot­ball history here—very much inclu­ding at the higher levels of the Watten­scheid foot­ball scene.

The club’s acti­vi­ties are now concen­trated on the eastern half of the sports complex. There, the former cinder pitch was converted into an arti­fi­cial turf pitch in 2023.

The rede­sign is ther­e­fore not intended as a displa­ce­ment of club foot­ball, but as a sensible reor­ga­ni­sa­tion: SW Watten­scheid 08 has a modern, durable arti­fi­cial turf pitch, and the freed-up area has been made available to a much broader public.

A full-size pitch is large, but not auto­ma­ti­cally diverse. It is usually desi­gned for one sport, fixed teams and orga­nised time slots. The Grüne Dicke­bank, cove­ring around 20,000 m², turns this prin­ciple on its head. It is available daily, free to access, and also open to people who are not members of a club.

The central element of the Grüne Dicke­bank is a 3.50 m‑wide asphalt loop that roughly follows the route of the former track. Road markings, inter­sec­tions, bends and small ground model­ling features also make it a move­ment and traffic prac­tice course.

Children learn to ride balance bikes and bicy­cles here, while schools, the road safety asso­cia­tion or other insti­tu­tions can use the faci­lity for trai­ning. Cycling and e‑bike skills trai­ning as well as rollator trai­ning are also possible. The motto “Rolling, Riding and Gliding” ther­e­fore includes diffe­rent age groups and forms of mobi­lity.

The indi­vi­dual sports faci­li­ties are located within the loop. A balance bike track and a scooter loop are aimed prima­rily at younger children. The approx. 450 m² multi-purpose area can be used for road safety educa­tion, cycling trai­ning, roller-skating events and other tempo­rary uses.

The pump track and jump line offer more chal­len­ging routes for BMX bikes, scoo­ters and inline skates. The faci­li­ties are spati­ally sepa­rated from one another, but remain connected via the loop and addi­tional paths. Reserved areas allow for later addi­tions such as further play or scooter faci­li­ties.

The Grüne Dicke­bank is not desi­gned solely as a sports area. Seating steps with timber tops, concrete benches, bicycle stands and smaller seating areas comple­ment the acti­vity faci­li­ties. Many seats are located in the imme­diate vici­nity of the indi­vi­dual courses and provide a good over­view of the site.

An equip­ment container provides storage space for the diffe­rent uses. It was desi­gned with a large-format graf­fiti by the artist duo Farb­ef­fekt, visually inte­gra­ting it into the faci­lity as well.

The various areas can be used inde­pendently of one another and at diffe­rent times. Day-care centres and schools will find suitable options here, as will children, teen­agers, adults and older people. As early as the opening in May 2026, it became clear that this variety is indeed being embraced.

In three loca­tions at the Grüne Dicke­bank, three seating plat­forms by LiF Frei­raum­ob­jekte are arranged around a tree. The gene­rous openings in the middle are deli­bera­tely much larger than today’s tree trunks. They give the trees enough room to grow and ensure that plat­form and tree will continue to work toge­ther in the long term. At the same time, the character of the seating changes over the years: the larger the crowns become, the more natural shade they will provide for the areas below.

In design terms, too, the orga­ni­cally shaped plat­forms fit well into the park. Their coloured HPL surfaces pick up the bold colour palette of the Grüne Dicke­bank and provide a plea­santly smooth, robust and easy-care seat. The result is not classic park benches, but three small seating islands that connect trees, furni­ture and open-space design. And as the park becomes greener, comfort grows with it.

Around 100 new trees, shrub plan­tings and wild­flower meadows are intended to develop the former sports area into a green oasis between resi­den­tial deve­lo­p­ment and a commer­cial area. Espe­ci­ally in the north, the woody plants create a spatial buffer to the adja­cent, modera­tely attrac­tive commer­cial plots. Trees near the seating areas will provide addi­tional shade in the future.

Many of the plan­tings are still young. The land­scape character and shading will ther­e­fore only fully develop over the coming years. The sports faci­li­ties can be used imme­dia­tely, while the green struc­ture gains impact over time.

Despite the asphalt surfaces required for wheeled sports, the faci­lity follows the prin­ci­ples of the sponge city. The rain­water that accu­mu­lates can infil­trate diffu­sely into the adja­cent green and meadow areas. Parts of the exis­ting soil and the removed cinder mate­rial were reused for the terrain model­ling.

Adap­tive, wild­life-friendly lighting enables use in the evening hours while also taking the newly created vege­ta­tion areas into account.

The Grüne Dicke­bank shows how a disused full-size pitch can be repur­posed without displa­cing club sport from the site. Watten­scheid 08 conti­nues to use the neigh­bou­ring arti­fi­cial turf pitch. The former grass and athle­tics area is now open to people who want to do sport and be active regard­less of club member­ship or fixed trai­ning times.

Parts of the old struc­ture remain reco­g­nisable. The running track becomes a traffic and move­ment loop, while diffe­rent courses, prac­tice areas and seating zones are created on the former pitch. What was once a faci­lity geared to just a few sports has thus become a versa­tile place for acti­vity and social inter­ac­tion.