Developing roof landscapes together

Square kilometres of public urban space lie fallow in Europe's densely populated regions: roofscapes are often not yet adequately present in the public consciousness as a resource for urban development planning. To change this, organisations in nine European cities have joined forces.

The city of Chemnitz is one of the founding members of the network, which is funded by the Creative Europe programme until 2024. Other partners are working in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Belfast, Faro, Gothenburg, Nicosia and Rotterdam on the creative development of rooftops.

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to the european creative rooftop network:

First Chemnitz roof festival "Colourful roofs"

Numerous rooftops invited visitors to change their perspective on 23 August 2025

On Saturday, 23 August 2025, Chemnitz celebrated the first rooftop festival "Colourful Roofs". Guests were able to enjoy views from 17 rooftops and vantage points in the city.

The open locations included the Schocken department stores', the roof garden in the Wirkbau building, the factory, the vocational training centre for technology 1, the Schloßbergkirche church with the Türmerwohnung, the student residence at Brühl 65 and the Küchwaldbühne stage.

Some rooftops were only accessible as part of guided tours, while other locations offered a special accompanying programme - such as yoga classes at the Marathon Tower, musical contributions at the youth hostel or talks by international speakers at the Garage Campus.

The festival opened up new perspectives on the city. For example, guests discovered from the roof of the Schocken that the roof of the eins building is covered in greenery and bees are kept there - in keeping with the Capital of Culture motto "C the Unseen".

The festival emerged from the European Creative Rooftop Network project, in which the city of Chemnitz was involved until the end of 2024. Among other things, international artist residencies were realised, the roof of the Stadthalle was designed together with the Belgian artist Larsen Bervoets and pupils from the Chemnitz school model and a green roof pilot was built on the garage campus.

The artwork by Belgian artist Larsen Bervoets, which he created together with students from the Chemnitz school model on three roofs of the Stadthalle, has been completed. Over a period of two weeks, they painted a total area of 1000 square metres, which is part of a Europe-wide initiative to develop sustainable and innovative roof projects under the title "Roofscape Landmark Project".

As part of "makers united", the European festival for creativity, technology and innovation, the artwork could be viewed from above during free guided tours.

The project, entitled "Roofscape Landmark Project", is being realised in several European cities by Larsen Bervoets together with the local population and was launched in Gothenburg at the end of April. The aim is to creatively draw attention to the potential of roof surfaces. Lars Bervoets will be travelling to a total of six cities by the autumn. The colours and shapes are repeated in the individual cities and symbolise the diversity of Europe.

The "Roofscape Landmark Project" is a joint endeavour of the European Creative Rooftop Network (ECRN), an initiative of various stakeholders from nine European cities with the aim of developing sustainable and innovative rooftop projects. Chemnitz has been part of the ECRN since 2021 and is a founding member. Under the title "Colourful Roofs Chemnitz", the aim is to record local roof areas and network local stakeholders and experts.

On the roof of Hall G in the heart of the Wirkbau site in Altchemnitz, an intensively greened roof garden with ten large trees, lush perennials and flowering meadows is being created over an area of approx. 1,500 m².

Additional greenery is planned in the form of extensive biodiversity greening on the roof of another building C with approx. 2,700 m² as well as ground-based façade greening with climbing aids. To realise the project between Annaberger Strasse and Lothringer Strasse, the owners MIB Wirkbau Chemnitz GmbH & Co. KG have teamed up with landscape architect Uta Gehrhardt from GEHRHARDT LANDSCHAFT and the architectural firm MEYER-GROHBRÜGGE.

This measure is being co-financed as part of the "Sustainably out of the crisis" funding initiative with taxpayers' money on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon state parliament. The total investment is over 1 million euros.

Background: Chemnitz and the European network

The roofscape of Chemnitz was created during various phases of intensive industrial-cultural development of the urban space and also features a number of pioneering and experimental roof constructions. In their forms and specific requirements, these roof surfaces offer a wide range of possibilities for creative and sustainable conversions and new uses. It is therefore obvious that this urban space reserve, which is currently still (too) underdeveloped, should be made accessible as a field of experimentation for innovations in the area of roof development. Thanks to the intensive working relationships and the "ideas exchange" within the ECRN umbrella network, Chemnitz can share findings on the special features of its roof landscape with partner organisations across Europe and gain insight into solutions that have already been put into practice.

On 1 December 2021, the partner organisations met in Antwerp on the publicly accessible roof of the MAS - Museum am Strom. The nine cities in the network deliberately represent different urban cultures and different planning approaches under different climatic conditions. Nevertheless, they are united by the conviction that the similarities of the European roofscape form the basis of a common cultural heritage and that forward-looking solutions to urban planning challenges can be found through the exchange of experience and transfer of knowledge.

Contact person:in

City of Chemnitz:
Sabine Fekete
0371 488 4123
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European Creative Rooftop Network:
Nikki Kamps
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Further information