Lorene Blanche
co-founder, transformation designer, artist, educator, gardener · Floating Gardens Berlin
URBAN UTOPIA 2026
Floating Gardens Berlin: Regenerating urban biodiversity of semi-public places through connectivity
13:15 – 13:45 · Raum 5: Blauregen
Floating Gardens are an urban garden commons initiated out of a collective impulse of volunteers a year after Floating University opened the rainwater retention basin of Tempelhofer Feld for the public in 2018. The carefully curated plantings of Floating Gardens are shaped by the vegetation and pollinators inhabiting the site, connecting spatial experiments and visitors of Floating University with the rainwater pond ecosystem. What began as a group of leisure gardeners evolved into an eco-infrastructure for collective learning about biodiverse regeneration through urban botanical practice. Floating Gardens are an example of how collective engagement, long-term stewardship, and eco-caretaking in semi-public spaces can reconnect human-made environments with the living creatures inhabiting a place.
Was bedeutet die Verbindung zwischen Mensch und Pflanze für dich?
„Cultivating a connection to plants means, for me, taking care of them in gratitude for their generosity by protecting their presence and the ecological networks they are embedded in, such as pollinators and soil health.“
Welche Pflanze inspiriert dich besonders?
„I love trees and walking the earth beneath their shade. Imagining walking through urban space, surrounded by trees, birdsong, and stretches of greenery overgrown with spontaneous plants like wild strawberries, clover, mosses, daisies (Bellies perennis), self heal (Prunella vulgaris), blackberries, and so many more, fills me with hope. Their no-maintenance presence would transform concrete surfaces into living environments by inviting creatures to hide and feed on them while hydrating and regenerating exhausted soils. And wouldn’t we all be happier if we could snack on self-picked wild strawberries every now and then?“