Master Plan Neumünster – Young People Plan the City of Tomorrow
Where do young people like to meet, where would they rather not go, and what do they need in their town?
On behalf of the City of Neumünster in Schleswig-Holstein, De Zwarte Hond is developing the masterplan together with the mobility planners of 1komma2 and the location development consultants of Lokation:S. The aim is to make the city center with all the challenges of the coming years fit for tomorrow.
The group that spends the most time in the streets of their city is the youth. Yet they are still only marginally represented in participation formats. De Zwarte Hond has therefore embedded youth participation regularly in the planning process. Now in Neumünster: around 50 students from Holstenschule and Klaus-Groth-Schule, from class 11 and 12, shared their views of the city.
After a short introduction to the masterplan, the three classes set off on different routes through their city centre. Station by station, they observed, assessed, and marked. They explained where they feel safe, and what offers for young people in town they would need.
Many of these insights go into a youth map: the city center from their perspective, in their language. And here is the decisive step: this map is not a school project. It feeds into the masterplan, into decisions about public space. Because young people have a great deal to say about their city — if you listen to them.