Urban laboratory of the Körber Foundation: Bocholt participates

The city of Bocholt is one of 15 municipalities across Germany that have been selected to participate in the Körber Foundation's "City Lab" project. Every year, the three-part series of events brings together a small group of representatives from different cities to jointly develop ideas for shaping demographic change.

"At a first meeting in Hamburg, there was an exciting exchange between the participating municipalities," reports Bocholt's Demography Officer Annette Hünting-Deckers, who is participating in the three-part urban laboratory on behalf of the city of Bocholt.

The "Urban Laboratory for Demographic Future Opportunities" is a project of the Körber Foundation that accompanies cities and municipalities in Germany on their way to becoming age-friendly. Municipalities throughout Germany were able to apply for it. In 2023, 15 were selected, one of them Bocholt.

Project manager Karin Haist of the Körber Foundation is convinced: "It is the municipalities in which demographic change is shaped and which ensure a good life for all generations in an ageing and increasingly diverse society."

The city lab is a workshop and field test for the age-friendly city in one. Each event takes place at a different location - with the special opportunity to get new impulses in terms of content and methods as well as to get to know creative and practical solutions in a small and exclusive circle.

"The focus is on the exchange of colleagues who are committed to sustainably shaping demographic change for their cities," says Annette Hünting-Deckers. After the second meeting in Dinslaken in March, the third meeting of the members of the city lab will take place in Kiel.

Further information on the project is available on the Körber Foundation website.