Blankenburg (Harz)
People of all ages should feel at home in our town. That is why we would like to work with you to launch exciting projects for a vibrant Blankenburg for everyone. The ‘Engagierte Stadt’ network and the ‘Deutschland besser machen – mit der zukunftsfähigen Stadt’ initiative of the Körber Foundation, of which we as the flowering town of Blankenburg (Harz) have recently become a member, offer a good platform for this.

Here, local politicians, administrators and civil society come together to jointly pave the way for a sustainable and liveable future in the cities. In small discussion groups, the so-called table talks, you as citizens have the opportunity to develop and realise project ideas for the future of Blankenburg.

Greiz

With just over 20,000 inhabitants, situated in the idyllic Elster Valley, the residential town of the once smallest principality of Greiz, also known as the ‘Pearl of the Vogtland’, offers plenty of variety and relaxation.

Greiz is particularly famous for its castle landscape, with the Upper Castle towering over the town as a landmark. However, there are also numerous other sights to discover, such as the wonderful Art Nouveau architecture of the old town, the Wilhelminian-style villas and the Fürstlich Greizer Park for a relaxing stroll. Greiz attaches great importance to cooperation with clubs and associations and regular dialogue with its citizens.

Numerous social projects have already been realised, such as the promotion of civil society involvement and support for associations, in which the city of Greiz is the sponsor of the Partnership for Democracy in the city and district of Greiz, as well as the Greiz Children’s Festival and the Greiz Fairy Tale Windows. As part of the ‘Making Greiz better’ project, which is part of the ‘Making Germany better’ initiative, Greiz wants to expand this commitment even further and in particular drive forward the topic of ‘city centre development’.

The aim is to develop concrete and realisable proposals with citizens and relevant stakeholders, which will serve as practical suggestions for revitalising the town and its districts. These ideas should not just be regarded as visionary wishes.

Herzberg (Elster)

Herzberg (Elster), located in the south-westernmost tip of Brandenburg near the border triangle with Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, is the district town of the Elbe-Elster district with a population of around 9,000. Due to its peripheral location in the Lusatian coal phase-out region and its location far from higher education, it has to contend with many challenges in order to counteract the downward trend of ‘being left behind’.

Since 1990, the town has lost a quarter of its population; forecasts predict the loss of a further 25% by 2040. Elbe-Elster is also one of the ten districts in Germany with the lowest tax revenue. This means that the town of Herzberg (Elster) is generally reliant on subsidies and has to take action itself to overcome its challenges. Since 2019, it has been actively doing this by implementing innovative projects in a sustainable manner and, with a proactive municipal administration, testing groundbreaking ideas for the future in the areas of participation, education, mobility, digitalisation, administrative modernisation and family friendliness and making them possible in the long term.

Homberg (Efze)

Homberg (Efze) is a small town with 20 districts and around 14,500 inhabitants in the Schwalm-Eder district of northern Hesse. Centrally located in Germany and easily accessible for residents and visitors, the district town of the Schwalm-Eder district is surrounded by the nature of Rotkäppchenland. To the north-east of the town is the Knüll Nature Park, which invites you to relax.
The town centre captivates with its half-timbered backdrop and is the centre of social life. The multifunctional centre has been built directly on the market square. It sees itself as a place of social participation and intergenerational togetherness and is used by a wide variety of user groups. Other ‘third places’ are being created as public spaces and meeting places for all residents of the city.

By participating in ‘Making Germany Better’, Homberg (Efze) aims to promote social cohesion and enable participation. The table discussions are intended to initiate an exchange between administration, residents, associations and institutions and initiate a process to jointly create a vibrant town centre for everyone.

Oberhaid

Oberhaid is conveniently located in the Main Valley between Bamberg and Schweinfurt on the Main Valley motorway, on the Würzburg – Bamberg railway line and is home to three districts with approx. 4929 inhabitants – Oberhaid, Unterhaid and Staffelbach. With its good infrastructure, the municipality offers its residents and guests the best conditions for a good quality of life and leisure at the foot of the Hassberge mountains and on the border between Weinfranken and Bierfranken.
In addition to the numerous cultural and sporting activities (over 50 clubs), the municipality has been investing in a future-orientated and sustainable infrastructure for years. Among other things, a sustainability festival was organised last year as part of a university project, the municipality has been participating in the Fairtrade Alliance of the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region for years, and there have been numerous investments in energy-saving measures and in the construction of PV systems (including on the water). The municipality also invests in exemplary youth and senior citizen work. In order to continue to develop in a future-oriented and sustainable manner, Oberhaid applied to the Körber Foundation to take part in the ‘Making Oberhaid better’ project and was fortunately awarded the contract.

Wanne (district)

Wanne, as part of the former town of Wanne-Eickel, is known to many for its moon and the corresponding hit song from the 1960s. But what else can be said about Wanne?
The centre of the independent town of Wanne-Eickel until the municipal area reform in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1975, Wanne is now part of the town of Herne as a district. The district is located in the north-west of the city of Herne and borders on the neighbouring towns of Gelsenkirchen and Herten.
In order to make the centre of Wanne-Mitte fit for the future, the urban redevelopment project ‘jetzt Wanne!’ (2007-2014), visible signs of renewal were created.
Numerous measures were realised between 2007 and 2014. For example, the redesign of the post office and town hall park, the remodelling of Gerichtsstrasse and Wanner Strasse and the comprehensive redesign of Buschmannshof brought about major changes. In the course of the numerous new construction and remodelling measures, many citizens also took part in the renewal process in ‘their’ district. With the Project Office for Urban Arts and its international ensemble, which is supported by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as the House of New Arts Ruhr, which is currently being planned, Wanne offers an important contact point for urban art culture in the Ruhr region. It is an important building block in the transformation of Wanne’s city centre into an urban and colourful district of a modern European city. Due to their central location in the Ruhr region, surrounded by larger medium-sized and regional centres, the centres of Herne-Mitte and Wanne have experienced a loss of importance as retail locations in recent decades, as have many other city centres in the region. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, a significant increase in vacancies was observed in the city centre of Wanne. In addition, Wanne is also confronted with a number of social challenges. But above all, Wanne is colourful and diverse. And Wanne is facing a large number of changes as part of major projects. This presents numerous opportunities for the development of the district, as well as the much-praised vision of Wanne as a metropolitan neighbourhood. Above all, Wanne offers a home for a wide variety of people, from the original Wanner to the large number of new immigrants and people of different gender identities.
Together, we want to ‘make Wanne better’ and create a liveable city centre for everyone.

Kaufbeuren

Rendsburg

In our initiatives, we see it as our task to get people talking to each other in order to tackle social challenges together. After all, it is the citizens who have the expertise when it comes to their city. From 2019-2022, we were therefore already active in five districts and eight cities as part of the predecessor project ‘Making my city better’. In the numerous local citizen dialogues, there were no limits to creativity and many exciting projects were developed and implemented.

Hamburg

In Hamburg, together with Zeit:Hamburg, we invited people to pub talks in various neighbourhoods. Young and old came together over cold drinks and collected ideas for a greener city centre, the expansion of cycle paths and more social interaction.

Halle

Together with the Halle Community Foundation, we have organised citizens’ dialogues at various locations in the city – with great results: Citizens arrange regular rubbish collection campaigns, a car-free inner city ring road is planned and intergenerational exchange is promoted at senior citizens’ dances.

Western Pomerania

From the Uecker-Randow region to the old district of Demmin and the island of Rügen – under the patronage of the Parliamentary State Secretary for Western Pomerania in cooperation with the Foundation for Volunteering and Civic Engagement in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the State Centre for Political Education in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, we let the citizens of Western Pomerania have their say. With great success: the ideas of the citizens have found their way into the Vorpommern strategy for the development of the federal state until 2030.

Stuttgart

In Stuttgart, the political participation of young adults was promoted: Together with the Stuttgart Community Foundation, young people were able to formulate specific wishes for the future of the Stuttgart-Nord district as part of the youth dialogues. In addition to a youth café in the Nordbahnhof district and a recording studio in the North Children’s and Youth Centre, a calisthenics facility is to be built on the district’s green spaces, where young people can exercise outdoors on various training equipment.

Stendal

Social cohesion is a top priority in Stendal. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, we joined forces with the Altmark e.V. volunteer agency and the Bertelsmann Stiftung to organise digital neighbourhood talks and gather lots of ideas for intergenerational interaction. A games café where children and senior citizens can spend afternoons together is just one of the many suggestions that are now being put into practice.

Ruhr region

More than 1200 ideas for Bottrop, Herne and Oberhausen were collected by the citizens of the Ruhr region during pub talks. The ideas ambassadors played a key role in the success of the project, which was organised in cooperation with the Brost Foundation. 20 committed people from the region led the pub talks, documented the results and passed them on to make realisation possible.

Forst

The region around Forst and neighbouring Spremberg is reinventing itself. In order to feel even more at home, citizens at the district talks, which were organised in collaboration with the Forst e.V. competence centre, expressed their desire for the expansion of the cycle path network and more meeting places.