Citizen participation in the inner city enters the evaluation phase

Bochol residents were able to share their ideas/thoughts on the Bocholt city centre via various citizen participation formats.

The nationwide study "Vitale Innenstädte 2022" by the Cologne Institute for Retail Research (IFH) gives Bocholt's city centre an overall rating of 2.5. Since 2018, the overall rating of Bocholt's city centre from a school grade point of view has been in the range between 2 - 3 and thus also in line with the nationwide average. But: only 15.6% would recommend Bocholt's city centre to friends and acquaintances - This value has fallen. These results show that Bocholt's city centre has potential for expansion and development in some areas, because new functions, uses, experience areas and points of interest are in demand due to the new challenges for city centres.

The city marketing department is currently working on a city centre strategy process so that the people of Bocholt, but also the visitors to Bocholt, will increasingly recommend the city centre to others and enjoy visiting it. The Stadt+Handel consultancy from Dortmund/Hamburg was commissioned by the city marketing department to coordinate the city centre process and to work out possible improvements for Bocholt's city centre on the basis of the existing concepts and framework conditions. The aim of the new concept is to develop a new perspective on the city centre and to discover potentials in order to develop Bocholt's city centre in an attractive, diverse and future-proof way.

Inner city exchange with 60 young people of Generation Z at the Kinodrom

There was great interest in participating in the inner city concept. On 2 March, around 60 pupils and students accepted the invitation of the city marketing department to Spencer's Bistro in the Kinodrom. In a mixture of open and relaxed question rounds as well as digital questioning with real-time evaluations, Stefan Postert, team leader of the Stadt+Handel consulting office, led through the evening accompanied by the city marketing. "The young generation not only wanted to listen, but also to communicate. The event could have gone on for an hour longer, there were so many ideas - that's exactly what we wanted. That's exactly what we wanted," says Lisa Hebing from Bocholt City Marketing.

Citizen participation in the city centre - at the weekly market/evening market

During the survey at the weekly market/evening market from 23-25 February, citizens were asked what needs to happen to make them recommend Bocholt's city centre to others. Numerous ideas and possibilities for Bocholt's city centre were expressed by interested citizens and collected by the city marketing department. From ideas such as façade greening, bicycle parking and more seating along the Aa, there were also very creative and concrete ideas such as a cake bike, selfie spots and a vegan restaurant.

Public participation online

Over 200 citizens also took part in the online survey.

In parallel, politics, trade, gastronomy and property owners will be specifically involved in another participation format. After the various participation processes have been completed, the city marketing department will collect and evaluate the ideas and criticisms of the citizens. Under the existing framework conditions, these suggestions will be incorporated into the city centre concept in cooperation with the Stadt+Handel consultancy office, depending on the possibilities.