Supporting urban restructuring activities through intensive public relations work
(Brandenburg)
Source: Stadt Guben
Guben is a small town on the German-Polish border with its historical centre situated in Poland (Gubin). Since the 19th century, numerous textile manufacturers, which, apart from a few exceptions, after the German unification had to stop production, have formed the town’s economic basis.
In 1990, approx. 33,000 people lived in Guben. Now it is less than 20,000. For 2030, the population is expected to decline to under 18,000 inhabitants. In 2001 already, the housing vacancy rate was 21%. By 2015, a demand for demolition of 2,300 to 2,800 dwelling units is expected. In its integrated urban development concept, the town of Guben and its two large housing companies have selected 1,586 flats to be demolished. The demolition measures mainly concentrate on the so-called housing estate IV which had been built by industrial construction method in the 80s. In this context, the town attached great importance to involving and continuously informing the residents.
Source: Stadt Guben
Planned measures in the field of urban restructuring were mostly communicated via citizen’s meetings and informative brochures. Much time and effort was spent to both activities and financed with urban development funds. The mayor, employees of the housing companies and relevant administrative, planning and marketing experts regularly attended the meetings during which planned measures were presented and discussed with citizens. The brochures presented all planning activities and realisations. Measures and projects in the field of urban renewal and the “Stadt 2030” (city 2030) project were also mentioned to provide citizens with an overview of the overall development of the town.
Furthermore, workshops on concrete projects and to update the integrated urban development concept were carried out. Apart from the mayor and relevant staff of the local administration, interested citizens and representatives from the industrial, supply and disposal as well as the municipal policy sectors participated in these workshops.
Since the beginning of the urban restructuring activities, the town council has pursued a consistent information strategy with regard to planned demolition measures. First of all, an informative meeting is arranged for the relevant urban district. Then the affected tenants are informed in more detail during a separate meeting. In a next step, one-to-one discussions are arranged between tenants and landlords, which are also attended by an “urban restructuring manager” in an advisory capacity. The residents’ moving expenses will be refunded, either moving with a moving company or the costs for a rented pantechnicon plus removal allowance. When equipping the new flats, the wishes of the moving persons will be individually considered. In this way, especially low-income households get incentives to agree to moving.
| Year | Events |
|---|---|
| 2002 | integrated urban development concept |
| 2002-2004 | 1,300 flats demolished |
| Since 2002 | regular informative meetings arranged and citizens information booklets published |
Intensive public relations work has created a positive attitude among citizens on urban restructuring in Guben. The need for demolition measures could be commuicated to citizens during informative meetings and workshops. Continuous and comprehensive public relations work has helped citizens to identify with the goals of urban development. This was confirmed by a survey among citizens executed in the context of evaluating the “Urban Restructuring in the New Federal States” programme.
The demolition and improvement measures could be executed by mutual agreement and rapidly, last but not least owing to the good cooperation between the town council and the housing companies. Success is also based on the strong commitment of the mayor of Guben, who gave top priority to urban restructuring and together with citizens made it one of the most important priorities of urban development.
The projekt site ist to be found at postal code: 03172 - town: Guben - street: Corona-Schröter-Straße .
Record inserted on 19.02.2010 by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) within the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR).
Last update: 14.06.2011
