Veedelsspuren – Müllsammelnd die Stadt entdecken

With our new series, “Veedelsspuren,” we invite you to explore the city from an unusual perspective. When picking up trash, our gaze is usually directed downward. That’s where we encounter the remnants of everyday life: cigarette butts, to-go coffee cups, packaging, and all the other traces of a society in which so much is produced for immediate use.

But “Veedelsspuren” doesn’t just focus on what’s on the ground. Together, we also want to discover the other traces that people have left behind in our city: in architecture, urban planning, public spaces, and the stories of our neighborhoods. As we pick up trash, we take the time to look more closely and see the city in a new light.

To kick things off, the tour takes us into the world of 1950s and 1970s architecture. Our member Fred is a designer and has been studying postwar modernism and its lasting impact on the present day for many years. With enthusiasm and a trained eye, he shows us buildings, materials, and design ideas that are often overlooked, even though they continue to shape the cityscape to this day.

Between Brutalism and Neues Bauen, between concrete facades and cigarette butts, between visionary architecture and the challenges of our throwaway society, an unusual perspective on the city emerges. As we collect trash together, we explore questions about how our built environment came to be, how we use it today—and what traces we ourselves leave behind every day.

“Veedelsspuren” combines a city walk, an architectural tour, and a cleanup campaign into a shared journey of discovery. It’s an invitation to anyone who wants to get to know their city better, actively help shape it, and perhaps even discover a hidden treasure or two in their own neighborhood.