Reclaiming the Spree: Children's Urban Visions for the Osthafen Waterfront

Join assemble.berlin for an interactive outdoor workshop exploring, mapping, and temporarily reclaiming the Osthafen waterfront along the Spree! Presented as part of European Action Week 2026, this event invites children and young people to share their perspectives on the city through playful installations, storytelling, and collective imagination. Together, we will envision better futures for Berlin’s riverfront.

The Osthafen waterfront between Elsenbrücke and Oberbaumbrücke is undergoing rapid transformation. New offices, housing developments, and commercial projects are reshaping the riverfront, while questions of public access, ecological coexistence, and children's perspectives often remain secondary.

This action invites children to become active observers and interpreters of the site. Through a guided exploration of the waterfront, participants will investigate the relationship between the built environment, the Spree, local biodiversity, and public space. Together, they will identify who currently occupies the waterfront and who might be missing from it: birds, insects, fish, plants, children, neighbours, and other forms of life.

Through mapping, storytelling, drawing, and small temporary interventions, participants will imagine alternative futures for the area and reclaim parts of the waterfront as spaces for play, encounter, and ecological awareness.

The action will culminate in a temporary public installation presenting the children's visions for the future of the Spree. These collective imaginaries will invite residents, visitors, and passers-by to reflect on how urban development could better balance social, ecological, and spatial needs.

Rather than proposing fixed solutions, the project opens a space for dialogue about who shapes the city and how children can contribute to imagining more inclusive, playful, and resilient waterfronts for Berlin.