Prof. Dr. Alexander von Birgelen

Function: Deputy Head of Department
Organizational Unit(s):Department of Urban Horticulture and Plant Use Professorship for Plant Use

Contact:
Phone: +49 6722 502 773
eMail: Alexander.Birgelen(at)hs-gm.de

Postal Address:Von-Lade-Straße 1
D-65366 Geisenheim

Address: Building 6701
Room 107
Rüdesheimerstraße 5
65366 Geisenheim

Since 01.01.2020 Mr. von Birgelen has taken over the office of Vice President Teaching at the Geisenheim University.

Alexander von Birgelen studied landscape planning with a focus on plant use at the Technical University of Berlin. After his studies he worked as a freelance landscape planner. Since 2008 he is a founding member of the Berlin planning office Strauchpoeten. From 2006 to 2010 he worked as a research assistant at the Technical University of Berlin, Department of Plant Use and Vegetation Technology. This was followed by a position as deputy professor for plant use at the Technical University of Dresden from 2011 to 2015. In 2014 Alexander von Birgelen completed his doctorate at the Technical University of Berlin on the topic: "The vegetation of urban post-dismantling landscapes in large housing estates of the 1970s and 1980s in East Germany - potentials and limits of their open space development". In October 2015 he took over the professorship for open space plant science and use at the Geisenheim University of Applied Sciences and the management of the maintenance and development of the university's parks. Alexander von Birgelen has been involved in the nationwide working group on the use of plants since 2005.

Stollberg M., von Birgelen A. (2024): Was Fassadenbegrünung wirklich leisten kann. Stadt + Grün (03) S. 34 - 39.

von Birgelen A., Stollberg M. (2023): Living Wall Plants Are Affected by and Affect Temperature: How to (not) Measure Plants’ Temperature in a Living Wall Experiment. Sustainability 15 (15) DOI: 10.3390/su151511672

Stollberg M., von Birgelen A. (2023): Vertical plants: Plant design of Living walls. Frontiers in Horticulture 2 S. 1 - 26. DOI: 10.3389/fhort.2023.1091026

Hietel E., Stollberg M., von Birgelen A. (2022): "Unkräuter" in der Dach- und Fassadenbegrünung. Stadt + Grün (6) S. 33 - 40.

Stollberg M., Moser G., Müller C., von Birgelen A., (2022): Meadow-living walls: Creating attractive vertical greenery with meadow seed mixtures – Experiences and recommendations from a three year field trial. Ecological Engineering 185 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2022.106817

Stollberg M., von Birgelen A. (2022): Plants and polyester: suitable plants for a textilebased living wall system. Acta Horticulturae (1345) DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1345.25

Pieper M., Bocksch M., von Birgelen A. (2022): Welche Auswirkungen haben Stickstoff-Düngung und Schnitt auf das Wachstum von vier heimischen Bermudagrass-Ökotypen?. Rasen, Turf, Gazon 53 (2) S. 31 - 38.

Stollberg M., von Birgelen A., Mählmann J. (2021): Begrünte Fassadenkacheln - Pflanzen für die Wandbegrünung. Stadt + Grün (09) S. 43 - 48.

von Birgelen A., Köpke S. (2020): Pflanzenverwendung in freier Natur. TASPO-Gartendesign (2) S. 44 - 47.

von Birgelen A., Braun-Fischer S. (2018): Geisenheim – Hochschulstadt der Zukunft. Jahrbuch des Rheingau-Taunus-Kreises 70.2019 S. 43 - 46.

von Birgelen A., Günther H., Stollberg M. (2017): Begrünte Fassadenkacheln - Studie zur Fassadenbegrünung mit textilen Vegetationsträgern. Stadt + Grün 65 (3) S. 64

von Birgelen A. (2017): Das grüne Lehrangebot - Die Parkanlagen der Hochschule Geisenheim University. Jahrbuch des Rheingau-Taunus-Kreises 69.2018 S. 73 - 75.

Henning G., von Birgelen A., Kühn N. (2016): Potenziale von Stauden in der Vertikalbegrünung. Stadt + Grün 65 (3) S. 41 - 46.

(2015): Akademische Freiheit vs. Berufsständische Autonomie. 978-3-00-050894-3

BIOCHAR-MACADAM URBAN-GREEN SUBSTRATES AS CLIMATE ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION STRATEGY - Knowledge transfer, competence building and practical application for mitigating the heat island effect and for managing heavy rainfall events in urban areas

Project start: 01.07.2023
Project end: 30.06.2026
Sponsor: Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit

The preservation and planting of urban green, especially trees, play a crucial role in the adaptation of cities to global heating, as they provide natural cooling. Larger trees transpire up to 500 litres of water per day. Shade and evaporative cooling reduce the effect of urban heat islands. However, road salt, soil compaction and pollutants stress urban trees. Heat and drought intensify, so that new plantings often fail to grow and existing trees increasingly die before they reach a size that has an impact on the city's climate. Alternative tree substrates could provide a remedy, and also improve the infiltration of water from heavy rainfall events. One promising approach are biochar macadam substrates (PMS), i.e. defined mixtures of rock gravel, plant charcoal and compost. After compaction, the crushed stone results in a passable but pore-rich structure that creates space and aaeration for root growth and which are capable of absorbing high levels of precipitation. The production of the biochar also locks up biomass carbon over decades to millennia (=carbon sinks, i.e. carbon (dioxide) removal). PMS were developed in Stockholm and are so far only used in Sweden, Austria and Switzerland. The goal of "Black2GoGreen" is to create a network of municipalities, municipal enterprises, associations as well as manufacturers of biochar and biochar (tree, green-roof) substrates to transfer knowledge about already implemented solutions to Germany.

Pflanzenverwendung für substratlose wandgebundene Fassadenbegrünung –Potentiale und Herausforderungen

Event: 11. BuGG-Fassadenbegrünungssymposium
Date: 21.11.2019
Location: Düsseldorf (Deutschland)
Speaker: von Birgelen, Alexander

Vertikale Pflanzenverwendung; Fassadenbegrünung mittels vorgezogener textiler Vegetationsträger

Event: DGG
Date: 01.03.2018
Location: Geisenheim (Deutschland)
Speaker: von Birgelen, Alexander

Prof. Dr. Alexander von Birgelen

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