"It would be nice if it were a bit greener," says a woman from Bonn who is waiting for a friend on the square. "You don't really spend much time here. I usually lock up my bike and go into the city centre." In the 62-year-old's opinion, more maintenance and more benches would do the square good. Two young people who are sitting on a ledge and are about to share a serving of fries would not find benches a bad idea either. "So you don't have to sit on the wall," says Max (17).

Johanna Esten is taking a break on the square with an ice cream between viewing flat-shares. She starts university in Bonn in October. Her first impression of Friedensplatz? "It's a nice place to sit. There's a lot going on.You see lots of different people," says the 19-year-old. "What bothers me is the bus stop. It's a bit daft sitting in a cafe and looking at busses." Julian Kuschel from Euskirchen, who is sitting on the wall with a friend, doesn't pay much attention to the design of the square: "I tend to go to the shops."

Some people are sitting on the semi-circular seating area, looking at their mobile phones or keeping an eye on the goings-on in the square. One student says she is just waiting for someone there for a moment. "There are always a lot of people here, so I just tend to pass through quickly," she says. Markus Grau is also waiting to meet someone a few metres away. "Basically I find the square nice with places to eat and drink," says the 36-year-old.

Some of the things applicants Rolf Beu (Grüne) and Hanno von Raußendorf (Linke) had asked the administration in their motion was to completely remove "incomplete railings to enclose trees" immediately and to repair the damaged glass bricks at the bus stop and underground car park access. "If you look at the photos taken today, it looks pretty run-down," said Rolf Beu at the meeting. He said it is shameful how the architecture of the square, designed by Joachim Schürmann in the 1980s, is being treated (see "History").

The District Council adjourned the motion with the proviso that the administration provide information on the condition of the labyrinth fountain, which runs in grooves across the square, and the costs of repairing the tree enclosures. "We are not yet commenting on the questions with which the politicians have now entrusted the administration," the press office informs. The Stadtwerke Bonn (SWB) will now obtain a quotation for the repair of the glass blocks. According to the Civil Engineering Office and the Office for the Environment and Urban Greenery, no structural measures are currently planned for Friedensplatz. The trees are also in good shape, which is why there is no concrete need for action. Bonnorange cleans the square at least twice a day, according to the town council.

Behind the bicycle stands at the bus stop, a person is crouching and shouting loudly every few seconds. An elderly couple watches the goings-on from a bench at the bus stop. "There's always something going on here," says the woman, and tells of fights: "It's like the cinema." Just a short while ago, she says, the police picked up a person who had been peeing in the corner.

"It would be great if the city did something," says Monzer Alagi, whose wife Mayyada Almasara has run the Biber Pharmacy since 2019. Sometimes, he says, the square is a meeting place for drug addicts and homeless people, even outside the pharmacy's door. "This is unpleasant for passers-by and for us," says Alagi. He wishes that street workers or the public order office would come by more often.

Rolf Hiller, who has run the Sudhaus restaurant on Friedensplatz for 20 years, is also familiar with the drama of the square. "Every other day the public order office or the police are there." But there is apparently an unspoken agreement that the groups of drug addicts and homeless people move somewhere else after midday.

Hiller does not see the broken tree fences, which are the subject of the motion in the city council, as the most urgent problem. Overall, he would like to see the city better maintain the space in the city centre and add new items such as benches. The irregularity of the pavement in the square due to tree roots is dangerous and causes at least one person a day to fall over. But the problem is certainly not so easy to solve. All in all, the landlord is still very happy with his location: "The square has a nice flair, especially in the evenings and at weekends, with the restaurateurs, a colourful mix, young and old people. The rest is the normal madness."

(Original text: Christine Ludewig; Translation: Jean Lennox)