Shaping the city together with the urban society!

Identifying and addressing the needs and concerns of citizens

The city of Merseburg has decided to update its Integrated Urban Development Concept - the ISEK 2030 - on the basis of a broad-based participation process. In doing so, it wants to take into account the complexity of the transformation processes it is facing, as well as the diversity of its neighbourhoods and the concerns of its citizens and urban society.

What makes it special: Instead of contracting out the elaboration of the concept to a planning office, the city decided to draw up the IUDC itself and to commission inter 3 for the professional moderation of the participation process.

Innovation management supports cooperation at eye level between city administration and city society

Innovation management will ensure that the needs, concerns and solution proposals of the citizens brought in during the participation process are interlinked with the goals and possibilities of city policy and city administration and are taken up in a credible and transparent manner.

The process will include:

• a multi-day leadership workshop for the city administration as a starting point,
• a variety of district events where citizens can voice and prioritise their concerns and suggestions, and
• three large city forums where (interim) results and implementation alternatives can be made visible and explained.

The aim is to think consistently about the complex transformation requirements and to approach them pragmatically in such a way that as many citizens and groups in urban society as possible feel seen, heard and taken seriously.