Sidewalk Solidarity – Gehwege für Alle: Pedestrian safety unites Pankow-Niederschönhausen residents, organizations, and community leaders

Sidewalk Solidarity –  Gehwege für Alle is a local citizens' initiative in Niederschönhausen, which advocates for accessible, safe, and inclusive sidewalks. Fourth-year student Sanskriti Shrestha presented the Sidewalk Solidarity project at the February edition of the Kiezrunde Niederschönhausen, hosted at Bard College Berlin. In attendance were representatives of local organizations, as well as the SPD spokesperson for mobility and public order in Pankow, and candidate (Direktkandidat) for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in Pankow, Sebastian Kascha. 

After months of project planning, Sanskriti shared the everyday barriers that exist due to uneven sidewalks, obstacles like tree roots, and lack of dips in the curbs for wheelchairs and walkers. The recent ice and snow that covered Berlin's streets has brought new attention to the condition of many local pedestrian areas and exacerbated the mobility challenges some face even on fair weather days. Sanskriti described how these barriers affect everyday life, making it difficult and potentially dangerous for disabled, elderly, and injured people, as well as those with young children using strollers to get around. She asked local organizations, local politicians, and Pankow residents to join the project to make a clear, collective call: Berlin must be accessible for all. 

The Kaspar-Hauser-Stiftung, already a project partner, endorsed Sanskriti’s presentation. Other organizations like the Stille Strasse 10 e.V. expressed their support for the initiative and stressed that the problem of inaccessible sidewalks is not isolated to Pankow, but affects all of Berlin. The Stadtteilzentrum Pankow invited Sanskriti to the next Inclusion Working Group, supported by the Albert Schweizer Stiftung.

The discussion came with many suggestions for various paths to take to encourage the responsible authorities to improve the sidewalks, which the project team will now work on. Many emphasised the importance of continuing to raise awareness about the issue in order to bring it to the attention of relevant authorities and policymakers. The complexities of finding out who is responsible and what kind of budgets exist was also discussed and the project team are following leads to find out this information, supported by Sebastian Kascha. 

Sanskriti’s presentation made a meaningful impact at the Kiezrunde, one that ensures the project is advancing towards its goals of accessible sidewalks. Local connections were created by this presentation, which will allow the project to go further than campus life, to make a lasting impact in the wider community.

On April 14, Sanskriti will lead a tour of the neighborhood, to demonstrate the difficulty of navigating the sidewalks with a walker and wheelchair.

• What: Sidewalk Solidarity Niederschönhausen Solidarität Spaziergang (Neighborhood Tour)
• When: 14 April 2026 at 17:00
• Where: Meet at Platanenstr. 24, Berlin 13156
• Who: community leadership, local stakeholders, and press
• RSVP to Lorna Cannon at [email protected]. 

Post Date: 03-25-2026