Workshop Portrait – Community Gardening, Learning Spaces and Sustainable Communities
The third BeCom workshop took place from 25 to 28 August 2026 in Berlin, Bernau and Magdeburg and brought together partner organisations from across Europe. The workshop marked an important milestone in the Erasmus+ project “Beautiful Communities – Enriching, Sustainable, Inclusive”, which supports sustainable, inclusive and attractive communities through innovative adult education and practical learning inspired by the values of the New European Bauhaus.
The programme focused on four complementary learning environments, each offering a different perspective on sustainable community development.
Bauhaus Bernau – Design, Heritage and Social Learning
Workshop Schedule
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Arrival of participants |
Ines Benhold, Andreas Sachsenmaier |
Hotel LOGINN Airport, Hotel IBIS, Treptow |
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08:45 – |
Pick up Hotel LOGINN Airport, Berlin |
Ines Benhold, Andreas Sachsenmaier |
Hotel LOGINN Airport, Hotel IBIS, Treptow |
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11:00 |
Guided tour for 25 people, approx. 90 min APP for Bundesschule: |
Ines Benhold, Jens Degener, Andreas Sachsenmaier |
UNESCO-Welterbe Bauhaus. Besucherzentrum Bernau |
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13:15 |
Lunch (á la carte + daily menue) afterwards travel back to Berlin/ Hotels |
Ines Benhold, Andreas, Jens Degener, Sachsenmaier |
Ratskeller Bernau |
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18:00 |
Afternoon sightseeing/ voluntary: evening trip to Spreeufer/ Holzmarktstraße |
Andreas Sachsenmaier |
Oberbaumbrücke, Berlin Friedrichshain |
Wednesday, 26 August 2026
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08:45 |
Pick up Hotel LOGINN Airport, Berlin (with luggage) at the entrance |
Ines Benhold, Jens Degener, Andreas Sachsenmaier |
Hotel LOGINN Airport, Hotel IBIS Treptow Berlin |
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10:00 – 12:00 |
Workshop at NIRGENDWO Umweltbildungszentrum, und Kulturort |
Sarah Nock All Participants |
NIRGENDWO Umweltbildungszentrum, und Kulturort im Lokschuppen Wriezener Park Helsingforser Str. 10, 10243 Berlin |
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12:30 – 14:00 |
Lunch at Terazza Portefino |
Ines Benhold, Jens Degener, Andreas Sachsenmaier |
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trip to Magdeburg, Visit the Schiffshebewerk Magdeburg Rothensee |
Ines Benhold, Jens Degener, Andreas Sachsenmaier |
Schiffshebewerk Magdeburg – Rothensee | |
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Free activities |
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Thursday, 27 August 2026
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08:45 |
Pick up Hotel at the entrance |
Andreas Sachsenmaier, |
IBIS Hotel |
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09:00 – 12:00 |
Meeting Point SBH Magdeburg Brief presentation of planned activities, Discussion of all needs |
Liviana Marinescu, Ines Benhold, Ralf Sachsenmaier |
SBH Magdeburg Schönebecker Str. 84, Tram Station Neue Strasse |
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12:30 |
Lunch |
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SBH SBK 82 Magdeburg Schönebecker Str. 82 |
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14:00 |
Project visits: IKUGA Project visit |
Ines Benhold, Andreas Sachsenmaier, |
Ikuga, Kuckhoffplatz 8 |
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16:15 |
Elbauenpark Magdeburg visit |
Ines Benhold, Andreas Sachsenmaier, |
Elbauenpark Magdeburg Tessenowstraße 7, 39114 Magdeburg-Herrenkrug |
Friday, 28 August 2026
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08:45 |
Pick up Hotel at the entrance |
Andreas Sachsenmaier, |
IBIS Hotel |
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09:00 |
Meeting/Workshop visions for community gardening |
Ines Benhold Liviana Marinescu Andreas Sachsenmaier |
SBH Nordost Meeting Point Schönebecker Straße 84 |
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13:00 – 14:30 |
Lunch |
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SBH SBK 82 Magdeburg Schönebecker Str. 82 |
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from 14:30 |
Good by and farewell! |
for all participants |
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Bauhaus Bernau – Design, Heritage and Social Learning
The visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bernau introduced participants to the Bauhaus approach to architecture, education and social design. The former ADGB Trade Union School demonstrates how buildings, landscape, learning, movement and communal life can be designed as one integrated concept. For the BeCom project, the site provided an important reference for understanding how functional design, aesthetics and social use can reinforce one another.
NIRGENDWO Berlin – Urban Nature and Environmental Education
At NIRGENDWO in Berlin, participants explored environmental education in a practical urban setting. Biodiversity, gardening, climate adaptation and community participation are combined with cultural and educational activities. The visit showed how even small urban spaces can become laboratories for ecological learning and neighbourhood engagement.
IKUGA Magdeburg – Community Gardening in Practice
The Intercultural Garden IKUGA provided the local community-gardening case for the workshop. Participants experienced how gardening can support intercultural exchange, neighbourhood participation, informal education and shared responsibility. During the workshop, ideas for the future development of the site were also discussed, including the concept of a Green Community Plaza as a welcoming entrance, meeting and learning space for workshops, events and everyday encounters.
Elbauenpark Magdeburg – Best Practice for Learning, Nature and Public Space
The Elbauenpark offered a broader best-practice example of how green public space, recreation, biodiversity, education and cultural activities can be combined. Its gardens, nature areas and educational attractions demonstrate how a large urban park can function as an inclusive learning environment for children, adults and organised groups.
A particular highlight was the Millennium Tower, which was explored as a practical model for experiential and digital learning. Its interactive exhibition presents the development of science and technology through experiments that visitors can observe and try themselves. Topics such as mechanics, gravity, air pressure, vacuum, perception, communication and the history of scientific discovery provide an excellent basis for future BeCom online learning modules.
The workshop deliberately combined guided visits, practical observation, discussions, co-design activities and reflection. The four sites demonstrated different but connected approaches to sustainability: learning through architecture and design, learning through urban nature, learning through community gardening and learning through scientific experimentation.
Together, these experiences helped participants develop transferable ideas for adult education, school learning, VET and community-based training. They also strengthened the BeCom approach of linking the New European Bauhaus values of sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion with participation, education and practical local action.
Source / image credit: All photographs: own BeCom workshop photographs supplied by the user, August 2026.
