“Innenstädte beleben”- Model project in the pilot phase of the Small Town Academy

Project content

Initial situation

More and more small towns are looking for strategies to maintain or enhance their city centers as vibrant spaces. The main reasons for the desolation of small town centers are migration and urbanization trends. Exacerbated by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the growth in online retail is also presenting small, bricks-and-mortar retailers in particular with the challenge of surviving global competition in the sector. A decline in local economic power is reflected in vacancies and a decreasing variety of offers, which has long been reflected not only in a declining quality of local supply, but also in a fundamental loss of importance of city centers as cultural and social meeting places.

Project content

Under the motto “Innenstädte beleben” (“Revive inner city life!”), a network of small towns – consisting of Zwönitz (Saxony), Demmin (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania), Bönen (North Rhine-Westphalia) and Münnerstadt (Bavaria) – is working together to develop integrated solutions, for example to eliminate vacancies, create a variety of local offerings and activate and enhance inner-city spaces. The German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu / Deutsches Institut für Urbanistik) is providing scientific support for the inter-municipal exchange and the development of sustainable solutions. Here, aconium assumes the role of communication and organizational management between the partners and institutions involved and is responsible for monitoring and documenting the pilot project.

Background

The joint project is one of four model projects in the pilot phase of the “Kleinstadtakademie / Small Town Academy” of the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building (German Abbr.: BMWSB) and the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (German Abbr.: BBSR). The pilot project is being funded over a period of two and a half years as part of the federal government’s “Experimenteller Wohnungs- und Städtebau (Experimental Housing and Urban Development)” (ExWoSt) program.

Goals

Innovative ideas, methods and instruments for inner city revitalization will be developed through an intercollegial exchange between the participating small towns and through the initiation and involvement of local networks. There are also plans to provide impetus for local measures for integrated inner city development and to develop transferable approaches and recommendations for inner city development for small towns. The findings will be incorporated into the “Kleinstadtakademie / Small Town Academy” planned by the BMI and BBSR (from 2023).

Tasks of aconium GmbH

aconium is responsible for project management as well as the coordination and control of the small town network. In addition, aconium GmbH supports the organizational implementation of the dialogue formats in the municipalities, documents the results and takes on communication and public relations tasks.