The Langer Tisch is an art installation by Uschi Huber and Boris Sieverts in Cologne, Germany: a long wooden table placed on a very long strip of grass. It embodies everything a successful public artwork should be—practical and inclusive, yet also utopian and provocative. Like a lot of public art, it strives for survival. The six GDI students who worked on this site (Samuel, Nathan, Roy, Ninji, Satoka, Lucyz)  grasped these qualities and expanded upon them, building on the idea of length as the central motif. They unlocked the project's full potential by imagining an even more ambitious and provocative vision inspired by the length – and brought this dimension into the idea of Langer Park.

Langer Tisch represents conviviality in its purest form. It stretches 28 meters of “tableness”: sharing food, playing games, having drinks, talking… everything we do around a table. At Langer Tisch, though, we can do with more people. At its installation in 2017, it was embraced by the residents of Cologne—so much so that they even petitioned to save it when the city planned to remove it. In the summer, it serves as a regular gathering spot for celebrations, meetings, and spontaneous friendly get-togethers.

The artists describe the process of public appropriation, which was totally intended, take on many forms. A long table in an exposed piece of land, whose quaint length is a dramatic invitation to passers-by, does not merely remain that - it transforms into a public space provocation. It draws attention to a missed opportunity in Cologne: a residual - but generous - strip of grass by the street, with the potential to become a new community park.

Unfortunately, the energy and support required to transform this space into a vibrant neighborhood park have not yet fully materialized.

The future of Langer Tisch is in danger: the city has refused to take responsibility for its upkeep, leaving the task to the artists and a few dedicated individuals. The table is aging, and while some residents invest in maintaining it, many don’t even know about it or show little interest in using or preserving it.

Six students at the GDI workshop took this on as a challenge: How could a subtle design intervention – mindful of not altering the artwork – help invoke a sense of ownership among neighborhood residents and the broader city? Could they shine a new spotlight on Langer Tisch and instill pride that might encourage more regular maintenance by residents and greater support from the city? Could Langer Tisch become the first spark of a community-driven placemaking program, turning a single table into the catalyst for the development of a neighborhood park?

The students imagined Langer Park: a playful, fictional utopia for the place. In this park, everything would be extra-long, offering a unique concept that stands out not only in Cologne but in Europe as a whole. They implemented two key interventions: 

_A Langer Park poster campaign, which teases and illustrates potential additions to Langer Tisch – such as a Langer swing, a Langer hopscotch, a Langer hammock…

_A real-life Langer bookshelf, designed to prototype Langer Park into a reality and spark the curiosity of passers-by. The students built and installed an extra-tall bookshelf next to Langer Tisch. In Cologne, book swapping is a well-established practice, and by the following day, some books had already moved around!

Through their interventions, the students uncovered the hidden potential of Langer Tisch, imagining a playful way to transform a 28-meter-long table into a fully appropriated third place, by transforming people’s perception and image of it.

Langer Park is an excellent example of tactical urbanism, suggesting that with a strong imagination and minimal resources, a community can collectively build a different vision and future for a place. Will the neighborhood residents and the City of Cologne believe in Langer Park’s playful utopia, and turn it into a long-lasting reality? We hope they will. As the Langer Park slogan says: “Life is short, this park isn’t”.