With the founding of the supporting association Freiraum Klingerhuf e.V., an extensive testing phase has been launched this year. In the coming months, different usage concepts will be explored, structures refined, and responsibilities defined. The potential for a forward-looking, community-oriented use is significant. The founding members – Permaculture Niederrhein e.V., the City of Neukirchen-Vluyn, Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, and the association Kulturprojekte Niederrhein e.V. – are jointly responsible for developing the overall concept.
A key project is the gradual development of a food forest of up to 5,000 square metres. Over the next three years, the former grass pitch is to be transformed into a space where communal planting, harvesting, and learning take centre stage. This concept is complemented by further planned outdoor elements, including greenhouses, a solar-powered grandstand, approaches to wind energy use, a multifunctional sports area, an educational trail, as well as innovative forms of living and working such as tiny houses.
In the field of education, Freiraum Klingerhuf is also providing important impulses: The “Young Creatives” initiative at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences is supporting the development of a mini STEM lab. As an extracurricular learning space, it is intended to enable children and young people to develop and implement their own ideas using technologies such as 3D printing and microcontrollers.
In principle, the facilities are intended to be openly accessible to all citizens and to provide space for volunteer initiatives, associations, and the interested public—whether for workshops, courses, or new gastronomic concepts. At the same time, the former clubhouse is already developing into a popular cultural meeting point. Free concerts are held regularly and can be attended without prior registration.
Freiraum Klingerhuf sees itself as a vibrant place of encounter and co-creation. Its success depends largely on the people who get involved, develop ideas, and actively help shape the space.
At the end of April, the STAY2GROW team, together with two international students from Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, also visited the site to get an impression of the area’s possibilities. It quickly became clear to everyone involved: “The 30,000-square-metre site is ideally suited as a STAY2GROW HUB,” enthuses Amr Abdelkhalek. The 28-year-old Environment and Energy student originally comes from Egypt and is active not only in university sports. After completing a degree in Physics in Leipzig, he moved to Kamp-Lintfort in spring 2022. Since then, he has been organising cultural events and excursions for students across Europe for several years, bringing together people from different backgrounds. “I love studying here and definitely want to stay in the region after graduating,” Abdelkhalek emphasizes.
At the same time, he points out an important need: there is still a lack of a central meeting place for students—such as for cooking together or informal exchange, especially also with the local population. “Unfortunately, we are not allowed to cook together at the university due to fire safety regulations,” adds Andrea Polk. As a member of the AStA, she is also committed to ensuring that international students settle in quickly and feel at home in the Lower Rhine region.
In the long term, in addition to concerts, readings, or shared cooking events in the Klingerhuf clubhouse, dance and yoga classes are also conceivable. The planned community centre on the former stadium site could thus become not only a central place for culture, sustainability, and community, but—with a connection to the STAY2GROW project—also an important bridge between international students and the local population.
