State Fund Bremen: Creating Room for Maneuver

The Länderfonds Bremen: Creating Play Spaces supports innovative approaches to improving and redesigning public play and movement opportunities for children and adolescents in Bremen. The funding program aims to establish locally accessible, publicly available play, movement, and communication spaces to promote a child- and family-friendly environment. By creating new play spaces in squares, courtyards, traffic-calmed streets, or even in vacant lots, long-term, safe, and attractive open spaces for young citizens can be realized. The initiative supports not only permanently installed play equipment but also flexible, mobile offerings or temporary play streets and encourages the participation of the target group in the planning, implementation, and maintenance of the projects.

Eligible for funding are projects involving non-profit organizations, committed private individuals, as well as other initiatives. A prerequisite for funding is that the planned play space is located in the immediate residential environment and that an appropriate own contribution is demonstrated. Eligible costs include, for example, fees for external experts as well as material costs, while ongoing operating costs or project components exceeding 50 percent of the planning and fee costs are not considered. Applications can be submitted continuously, allowing interested actors to flexibly contribute to the creation and improvement of play and movement opportunities. The project-based funding amounts to up to 5,000 euros, thereby providing financial support even for smaller initiatives.

In addition to financial support, the funding initiative offers comprehensive advice and assistance in idea development, application submission, and project implementation. Experts from the responsible institution accompany applicants throughout all project phases, from design questions and safety standards to the involvement of children and adolescents and the final accounting. The approach of creating locally accessible and cost-effective offerings not only promotes the physical development and social integration of young people but also strengthens civic engagement in Bremen. This targeted measure aims to make a sustainable contribution to child-friendly urban space design and to raise awareness of the importance of open spaces in densely populated areas.