The mission was: to create future scenarios for Chemnitz. First in general, then very concretely – and all this in four hours. Around 150 Chemnitz residents got involved in this project, chose favourite projects, presented their own ideas, created utopias, made tangible suggestions… And so on 27 October, the old Hartmann factory became a large-scale laboratory for urban development with a cultural focus.

 

At the official start of the national application phase for the competition for the European Capital of Culture 2025, the series of civil dialogues this time focused on the hearts and minds of Chemnitz’s citizens with regard to the city’s cultural infrastructure and togetherness. In this context, the focus was on possible “intervention areas” for Chemnitz2025, i.e. places where something has to happen in the future, where something should change. 18 proposals were presented by the administration, in addition to which the citizens submitted others, ranging in general from cycle path projects to the idea of a culture island on the Hartweg to the “Apple2000” project. All of them are now part of further considerations and rounds of ideas.

 

In this first event, however, after a vote, the six most popular projects of the day were more intensively sounded out for chances and utopias in workshops. Specifically these were: the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff area, the Gewerbehof Stadtwirtschaft, the <a href="http://wiese.chemnitz2025.the railway viaduct, the sports forum, the town on the river and the new spirit in old industrial halls. Exciting perspectives have been created, which are now to be processed and further discussed. All results will be presented in detail here in the next few weeks.

Photo: City of Chemnitz/Ernesto Uhlmann