Active parks

Location of the public territory: Spaces from the port of Varna East, neglected city parks, desolate parking lots and inter-block spaces, the pond … and all kinds of functionless spaces located in different parts of the city.

Current situation: Many abandoned urban spaces can become magnets for people living actively and healthily: spaces from the port of Varna East, neglected city parks, desolate parking lots and inter-block spaces, the pond … and any inoperable spaces are located in different parts of the city. The way children with scooters use the sea observation deck proves that there is a hunger for such spaces.

Project-idea: Creating an attractive, diverse and healthy urban environment: skate parks, adventure playgrounds, climbing walls, outdoor slides, water areas … Places for active sports, suitable for active movement, sports and social contacts. These spaces must be aesthetically connected with the city, its characteristic history and architecture. To be an addition to nature and the city’s cultural heritage. To be built on different scales and in different locations. To be suitable for different ages and social groups. To provide opportunities for practicing sports taking place in an urban environment. To attract children, young people, parents and the elderly, professional athletes, amateurs and disadvantaged people.

Photos: author, bgurban.com, burgas1.org

About the author: Architect Maxim Nedkov was born in 1989 in the city of Varna. In 2008 he left for Munich and in 2014 he graduated as an architect at the Technical University of Munich. As a student he worked in the Department of Load-bearing Structures under Prof. Rainer Bartel and in the architectural office “Lance Architect”. In 2014 he started working as an architect in the design bureau “Lanz Architect”, under the project BWM Classic. In 2016 he returned to Varna and worked as a technical manager. Since 2017 he has been a freelance architect. Contact: maxi_m@abv.bg.

We are also waiting for your suggestions for the initiative “What does EcoVarna look like” at e-mail: ecovarna.info@gmail.com.

Projects must:

– to ensure a balance between natural and anthropogenic factors and to create preconditions for sustainable development of Varna;

– to contain a short explanatory part about the location of the public territory, its current state and vision for its future development;

– to be accompanied by a visualization – a photo of the current state of the place and a color sketch, a diagram of the future;

– be accompanied by a short CV of the author;

The projects will be published in the section “News”, category “Ecocity”, on the site ecovarna.info (after its update). After the completion of the initiative (until the collection of 12 project ideas) they will be submitted to the Union of Architects – Varna. All 12 ideas of “What EcoVarna looks like” will be presented in an official exhibition during the civic forum “Conference on Democracy 2021”, which is held annually on the last Saturday of February.

What EcoVarna Looks Like is part of the Active for Public Spaces initiative.

Translator: Valentina Vagge