What value do trees, green areas and drinking fountains have in the city – today and in the future? And what if we were to view nature as capital and put a price tag on its resources and services? How much are we prepared to invest in urban nature?
With climate change, the importance of urban nature and the design of our living spaces is becoming increasingly urgent. With the interactive format ‘What is nature worth to me?’, the Munich-based studio UnDesignUnit invites visitors to their exhibition ‘Stadt Land Fluss’ to explore precisely these questions together in a playful way.
Nature is the capital of our future: it cools cities, purifies water, protects against extreme weather and thus saves immense costs. Above all: climate protection pays off and is many times cheaper than doing nothing – yet the economic value of nature has often been ignored until now. This is gradually changing. In the face of climate change and biodiversity loss, models such as CO₂ pricing, environmental taxes or new charges for resource use are being discussed.
The participatory format picks up on this development and brings it to life: from different perspectives, participants decide what (added) value nature has – and should have – for them personally and for urban society.
The starting point is the former use of the Rathausgalerie, the gallery space in the Munich town hall, as a banking hall, which serves as a symbol of the transactions between the city and its citizens and of the notion of nature as a commodity. In the very place where fees were once paid to the city, the curators invite visitors to reflect on the value of nature in an urban context and to playfully develop their own perspective.
At a stylised ticket booth, which references the former banking hall, visitors can playfully adopt different perspectives – from a young person to a city councillor to an urban planner – and devise measures to redesign public space to accommodate various interests and uses. A map of Munich’s old town, staged in the space like a large game board, invites visitors to negotiate how inner-city spaces can be used and designed – and what role nature plays in this.
Over the course of the exhibition, the completed cards at the ticket Booth and the changing scenario on the game board reveal what matters to visitors and what measures they propose. The ticket booth and the game board serve as vehicles for engaging playfully and discursively with the design of our public spaces in the age of climate change, and for sparking conversation with one another.
The project was realised for the first time as part of the exhibition “Stadt Land Fluss – What is nature worth to me?” (27 September – 9 November 2025) – funded by the Department of Arts and Culture of the City of Munich and the Coordination office for the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
In 2026, the format invited for participation as ‘Playground of Possibilities’ at the Architekturgalerie e.V. as part of the MCBW, and once more during the Sendling-Obersendling Neighbourhood Week in cooperation with the Rathausgalerie GO.
The event held as part of the MCBW was funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy. bayern design provided advice during the application process.
Curation & concept: UnDesignUnit l Sarah Dorkenwald und Karianne Fogelberg
Illustrations of the format: Barbara Schulze Frenking
Architecture of the format: Robert Keil
The Rathausgalerie is an art space by the Department of Arts and Culture of the City of Munich.
In charge fo the arts programme: Nina Oswald
In charge of arts education and events: Stephanie Lyakine-Schönweitz
CI and graphic design: PARAT.cc, München
