Green corridor along the Panke

The green corridor along the Südpanke - an elongated open space along the historic course of the river in Berlin-Mitte - is part of the overarching green corridor along the Panke.

This runs for around 20 kilometres from the Berlin-Brandenburg border near Buch through the district of Pankow to the mouth of the Südpanke into the Spree at Schiffbauerdamm in Mitte. After its final completion, the green corridor will connect Berlin's historic city centre with the open spaces in the north of Berlin. In line with the Charter for Berlin's Urban Green, a new urban open space will be created that will strengthen the city's climate-resilient and sustainable development, better connect green spaces and ensure a better quality of life in densely populated areas.

Underground river course revitalised

Between Chausseestraße and Schulzendorfer Straße in the Gesundbrunnen district of Mitte, the river divides: the open waters of the Nordpanke flow into the Berlin-Spandauer-Schifffahrtskanal, while the Südpanke - following the original course of the river - flows to the Schiffbauerdamm. In the past, this section of the river ran mainly underground.

In order to reactivate the river as a largely open watercourse, it was necessary to uncover the sections of the river that ran in pipes - by 2005, 886 metres of the 2,456-metre-long Südpanke had been uncovered. In this way, a liveable and ecologically valuable oasis of peace by the water has been created in a small area as a contrast to the urban bustle of the neighbouring Luisenstrasse, Reinhardtstrasse and Friedrichstrasse. Prior to this, part of the green corridor on Südpanke in Mitte, between Invalidenstrasse and Reinhardtstrasse, had already been realised from 1992 to 2005 according to designs by the planning consortium ag.u Lange & Grigoleit.

The green corridor on Südpanke was completed in May 2021 and opened as a new green and open space worth living in. It is part of Berlin's 20 main green routes.