ENVIRONMENT
Germany's greenest cities
By German Brief *
 ON THIS PAGE: Green spaces dominate German cities | Table: Germany's greenest cities | Research methodology
ON OTHER PAGES: American cities save money by replacing obsolete urban infrastructure with green spaces | Trees in German cities |
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Green spaces dominate
Germany’s largest cities
June 2022: Almost 70 per cent of the land areas of Germany’s largest cities are devoted to parks, woodlands, fields and private gardens. With green spaces making up 86 per cent of its urban area, Siegen, in North-Rhine Westphalia, is the ‘greenest’ German city. Ludwigshafen, home to BASF, the world’s largest chemical company, is the least green of Germany’s 79 Großstädte, cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. There are 17 cities where green spaces make up 80 per cent or more of their land areas. The list of 17 includes university cities like Aachen, Freiburg, Saarbrücken and Münster. The German capital Berlin is placed 63rd in the overall table, while Hamburg, Munich and Cologne are ranked 39th, 74th and 65th respectively.
With an aera of 3.7 square kilometres, Munich’s Englischer Garten is Germany’s largest city park. Berlin’s Tiergarten, Europe’s largest wildlife park, ranks second.
The land area of all of Germany’s largest 79 cities totals, cities with more than 100,000 residents, 13,564 square kilometres, equivalent to the size of Montenegro, while their green spaces amount to 9,457 sq km, an area roughly the size of Cyprus. Green spaces include parks, woodland and agricultural land within city borders and also private gardens.
Germany's greenest cities
|
Rank
|
City
Population
|
Total area
in sq km (1)
|
Green spaces
in sq km (2)
|
Green spaces
(% of total area)
|
|
1
|
Siegen
103,000 |
115
|
99
|
86%
|
|
2
|
Göttingen
117,000 |
117
|
99
|
85%
|
|
3
|
Bergisch Gladbach
112,000 |
83
|
70
|
84%
|
|
4
|
Salzgitter
104,000 |
224
|
188
|
84%
|
|
5
|
Pforzheim
126,000 |
98
|
82
|
83%
|
|
6
|
Aachen
249,000 |
161
|
133
|
82%
|
|
7
|
Hildesheim
102,000 |
93
|
76
|
82%
|
|
8
|
Freiburg
231,000 |
153
|
125
|
82%
|
|
9
|
Hagen
189,000 |
160
|
130
|
81%
|
|
10
|
Saarbrücken
179,000 |
167
|
136
|
81%
|
|
11
|
Bielefeld
333,000 |
258
|
209
|
81%
|
|
12
|
Münster
316,000 |
303
|
245
|
81%
|
|
13
|
Paderborn
152,000 |
179
|
143
|
80%
|
|
14
|
Hamm
179,000 |
226
|
181
|
80%
|
|
15
|
Jena
111,000 |
114
|
91
|
80%
|
|
16
|
Remscheid
111,000 |
75
|
60
|
80%
|
|
17
|
Reutlingen
116,000 |
87
|
69
|
80%
|
|
18
|
Trier
112,000 |
117
|
92
|
79%
|
|
19
|
Wolfsburg
124,000 |
204
|
161
|
79%
|
|
20
|
Rostock
209,000 |
181
|
143
|
79%
|
|
21
|
Chemnitz
244,000 |
221
|
174
|
79%
|
|
22
|
Solingen
159,000 |
90
|
71
|
79%
|
|
23
|
Lübeck
216,000 |
214
|
167
|
78%
|
|
24
|
Wiesbaden
279,000 |
204
|
159
|
78%
|
|
25
|
Wuppertal
355,000 |
168
|
130
|
78%
|
|
26
|
Ulm
126,000 |
119
|
92
|
77%
|
|
27
|
Kassel
201,000 |
107
|
81
|
75%
|
|
28
|
Braunschweig
249,000 |
192
|
144
|
75%
|
|
29
|
Mönchengladbach
260,000 |
170
|
125
|
74%
|
|
30
|
Oldenburg
170,000 |
103
|
76
|
74%
|
|
31
|
Bottrop
117,000 |
101
|
74
|
73%
|
|
32
|
Koblenz
113,000 |
105
|
76
|
73%
|
|
33
|
Mülheim/Ruhr
171,000 |
91
|
66
|
73%
|
|
34
|
Bonn
331,000 |
141
|
102
|
72%
|
|
35
|
Darmstadt
159,000 |
122
|
88
|
72%
|
|
36
|
Heidelberg
159,000 |
109
|
79
|
72%
|
|
37
|
Ingolstadt
137,000 |
133
|
95
|
72%
|
|
38
|
Augsburg
296,000 |
147
|
105
|
72%
|
|
39
|
Hamburg
1,851,000 |
755
|
539
|
71%
|
|
40
|
Kiel
247,000 |
119
|
85
|
71%
|
|
41
|
Heilbronn
127,000 |
100
|
71
|
71%
|
|
42
|
Reckinghausen
111,000 |
66
|
47
|
71%
|
|
43
|
Dortmund
588,000 |
281
|
199
|
71%
|
|
44
|
Osnabrück
164,000 |
120
|
85
|
71%
|
|
45
|
Stuttgart
630,000 |
207
|
145
|
70%
|
|
46
|
Bochum
365,000 |
146
|
101
|
69%
|
|
47
|
Dresden
556,000 |
328
|
228
|
69%
|
|
48
|
Würzburg
127,000 |
88
|
61
|
69%
|
|
49
|
Potsdam
182,000 |
188
|
130
|
69%
|
|
50
|
Krefeld
227,000 |
138
|
95
|
69%
|
|
51
|
Bremen
567,000 |
325
|
222
|
68%
|
|
52
|
Essen
582,000 |
210
|
143
|
68%
|
|
53
|
Moers
104,000 |
68
|
45
|
66%
|
|
54
|
Hannover
534,000 |
204
|
133
|
65%
|
|
55
|
Offenbach
131,000 |
45
|
29
|
65%
|
|
56
|
Karlsruhe
308,000 |
173
|
111
|
64%
|
|
57
|
Gelsenkirchen
259,000 |
105
|
67
|
64%
|
|
58
|
Mainz
217,000 |
98
|
62
|
64%
|
|
59
|
Leverkusen
164,000 |
79
|
50
|
64%
|
|
60
|
Bremerhaven
114,000 |
94
|
58
|
62%
|
|
61
|
Neuss
153,000 |
100
|
61
|
61%
|
|
62
|
Erlangen
112,000 |
77
|
46
|
60%
|
|
63
|
Berlin
3,664,000 |
892
|
526
|
59%
|
|
64
|
Oberhausen
210,000 |
77
|
45
|
59%
|
|
65
|
Cologne
1,083,000 |
405
|
237
|
58%
|
|
66
|
Herne
157,000 |
51
|
30
|
58%
|
|
67
|
Frankfurt/Main
764,000 |
248
|
144
|
58%
|
|
68
|
Duisburg
496,000 |
233
|
132
|
57%
|
|
69
|
Düsseldorf
620,000 |
217
|
123
|
57%
|
|
70
|
Magdeburg
236,000 |
201
|
109
|
54%
|
|
71
|
Erfurt
214,000 |
269
|
143
|
53%
|
|
72
|
Regensburg
152,000 |
81
|
43
|
53%
|
|
73
|
Fürth
128,000 |
63
|
33
|
52%
|
|
74
|
Munich
1,488,000 |
310
|
155
|
50%
|
|
75
|
Halle
238,000 |
135
|
66
|
49%
|
|
76
|
Nürnberg
515,000 |
186
|
89
|
48%
|
|
77
|
Mannheim
310,000 |
145
|
64
|
44%
|
|
78
|
Leipzig
597,000 |
297
|
126
|
42%
|
|
79
|
Ludwigshafen
173,000 |
78
|
27
|
35%
|
|
|
TOTAL / GERMAN AVERAGE |
13,564
sq kms
|
9,457
sq kms
|
69%
|
Sources and research methodology:
(1) The research used the size of urban areas provided by municipal websites as well as relevant Wikipedia pages.
(2) The green spaces research was carried out the Berliner Morgenpost using 185 satellite images.
(3) The population figures date from 2020.
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