A Small Town’s Dialogue with Civil Society

Stadt­men­sch should empow­er peo­ple to take the ini­tia­tive and imple­ment their own project ideas. Var­i­ous instru­ments have been devel­oped for this pur­pose: There is the Stadt­men­sch Acad­e­my and Think Tank, which offers exchange, advice and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties on top­ics such as con­cept devel­op­ment, project man­age­ment and pub­lic rela­tions to help peo­ple set up their own busi­ness­es. The Stadt­men­sch-Fonds sup­ports ini­tia­tives. © Jens Paul Taubert

The small town of Altenburg in Thuringia is shrink­ing. Since the 1980s, the pop­u­la­tion has declined by over 40%. Numer­ous indi­vid­u­als and ini­tia­tives have there­fore been active for sev­er­al years. They want to coun­ter­act the down­beat atmos­phere. The coop­er­a­tion of var­i­ous ini­tia­tives, sup­port asso­ci­a­tions, and cul­tur­al institutions—Stadtmensch—is sup­port­ed by a pro­gram under the Nation­al Urban Devel­op­ment Pol­i­cy and work­ing on pur­pose­ful­ly expand­ing exist­ing mod­els for the co-pro­duced city. In con­crete terms, the aim is for civ­il soci­ety to assume respon­si­bil­i­ty for pub­lic indoor and out­door spaces. Calls for ideas bring forth projects, the imple­men­ta­tion and pro­mo­tion of which are decid­ed upon by locals through var­i­ous pro­ce­dures. An impor­tant cri­te­ri­on: the projects should serve the com­mon good.

Link to Audio guide

Lov­ingSelf-orga­ni­za­tionExchangeActi­va­tionPar­tic­i­pa­tionCom­mu­ni­ty

Project

Stadt­men­sch

Con­trib­u­tors

Erlebe was geht gGmbH, respon­si­ble body; Fed­er­al Min­istry of the Inte­ri­or, Build­ing and Com­mu­ni­ty, co-financing

Year

Since 2018

Loca­tion

Altenburg, Ger­many

How best to dis­trib­ute fund­ing? »Stadt­men­sch« try a vari­ety of meth­ods. Some­times darts are thrown on a city map, some­times projects wor­thy of sup­port are select­ed through a mul­ti-stage process. © Stadtmensch
Var­i­ous actions in pub­lic space are intend­ed to encour­age more peo­ple to get involved and revi­tal­ize pre­vi­ous­ly unused places in the city. Here: the audi­ence of a radio play instal­la­tion in the con­text of the sec­ond Mit­Mach­Markt. In addi­tion to the Mit­Mach­Markt, there is the Stadt­men­sch-Fes­ti­val, a bazaar on Altenburg’s his­toric mar­ket square, where the numer­ous ini­tia­tives from the fields of art and pol­i­tics, sports and the envi­ron­ment, social affairs and cul­ture can meet and exchange ideas. © Anja Fehre

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A Model Project for Refugee Integration

The pho­tog­ra­ph­er and author Nico­la Zolin doc­u­ment­ed the rise and fall of the city of Riace and its for­mer may­or, who wel­comed refugees with open arms, cre­at­ing a spe­cial kind of utopia. The fol­low­ing images are tak­en from Zolin’s 2018 pho­to series »The World is a Small Town«. The Mari­na of Riace on the south­east coast of Italy, where a boat with sev­er­al hun­dred Kurds strand­ed in 1998. © Nico­la Zolin

For­mer may­or Domeni­co »Mim­mo« Lucano of the south­ern Ital­ian munic­i­pal­i­ty of Riace was co-founder of the asso­ci­a­tion Cit­tà Futura—City of the Future. In col­lab­o­ra­tion with aid orga­ni­za­tions, he took in refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Pales­tine, and Lebanon. With this came state sub­si­dies that were then also invest­ed in the village’s infra­struc­ture, which—many today believe—would like­ly have died out with­out the new res­i­dents. And so, togeth­er with the locals, aban­doned hous­es were repaired. The new­com­ers were also intro­duced to local tra­di­tions of glass mak­ing, ceram­ics, and embroi­dery. But from the begin­ning, there was resis­tance to what was seen as an idio­syn­crat­ic approach, which final­ly led to the project’s col­lapse a few years ago. Lucano was accused of mal­prac­tice, abuse of his posi­tion, and had to leave Riace. In the mean­time, how­ev­er, he’s back forg­ing new plans.

Link to Audio guide

Lov­ingExchangeActi­va­tionCom­mu­ni­tyMigra­tionSol­i­dar­i­tyDiver­si­ty

Project

Riace Cit­tà Futu­ra / Asso­ci­azione Cit­tà Futura—Giuseppe Puglisi

Con­trib­u­tors

Domeni­co Lucano, for­mer may­or of Riace; res­i­dents of Riace, refugees, Ser­vice of Pro­tec­tion for Refugees and Asy­lum Seek­ers (SPRAR), co-Winanc­ing; Cit­tà Futura—Giuseppe Puglisi, asso­ci­a­tion; Nico­la Zolin, photographer

Year

Since 1999, year of foundation

Loca­tion

Riace, Italy

A view of Riace Sopra, a place from which peo­ple had moved away for decades to find work in the north of the coun­try or North­ern Europe. The fate of the vil­lage changes with the fugi­tives that the for­mer may­or Domeni­co Lucano has placed in the emp­ty hous­es of the vil­lage. Ini­tia­tives are estab­lished with res­i­dents so that those who want to stay can set­tle down. © Nico­la Zolin
The for­mer teacher Domeni­co Lucano became may­or of Riace in 2004 and is estab­lish­ing a cul­ture of welcome—a cel­e­brat­ed inte­gra­tion and devel­op­ment project. Togeth­er with local res­i­dents, he found­ed the coop­er­a­tive »Cit­tà Futura«—City of the Future, in order to take a stand against the eco­nom­ic exploita­tion and social exclu­sion of refugees, while at the same time attract­ing more tourists to the region. © Nico­la Zolin
It is said that over the years more than 6,000 refugees from about 20 nations have come through Riace. Only a few stayed, many want­ed or had to move on. The sign that stood at the entrance of the town dur­ing the reign of Domeni­co Lucano is an expres­sion of this diver­si­ty. © Nico­la Zolin
6,000 peo­ple protest against the arrest of Domeni­co Lucano. © Nico­la Zolin

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