Lord Mayor Sven Schulze presents measures to revitalise Chemnitz city centre
The city of Chemnitz wants to drive forward the revitalisation of the city centre with various measures. The first smaller projects that increase the quality of stay and the length of time spent in city centre business locations are to be implemented in the coming weeks. A city centre fund will be used to implement short and long-term measures this year and next. In addition, the new "Economy and Digitalisation" staff unit in the town hall is also taking care of issues in Chemnitz city centre, among other things
"People have become even more accustomed to shopping online due to closed shops. We don't have this problem exclusively in Chemnitz. But even before the coronavirus pandemic, we had fewer people in the city centre than necessary, unlike other cities. That's why we need to strengthen the city centre together with many partners," says Lord Mayor Sven Schulze.
In the coming weeks, for example, the installation and realisation of further street furniture in combination with greening elements is planned. To this end, partners are currently being sought for implementation, locations are being discussed and management is being clarified. The first results are to be presented in the autumn. The further development of existing and new event formats should also attract more people to the city centre. In addition, a central photo point with the inscription "I love C" will serve as an attraction.
The fund for revitalising the city centre contains 80,000 euros per year to support the projects described. Anyone who would like to contribute ideas or financial support to the city centre fund can contact the staff unit in the town hall.
In addition, further discussions are planned with tenants and owners on the possible utilisation of vacant shop spaces.
The employees of the "Economy and Digitalisation" staff unit have initially carried out an analysis of the current situation and are now starting to develop a strategy paper, which is to be drafted for the years 2022 to 2025 with the involvement of various stakeholders.
Important questions are: What significance will the city centre have for us in the coming years and what fields of action can be derived from this? How can we succeed in implementing an experience-based city centre? And how can we create synergies with the Capital of Culture 2025?
An initial campaign has already been launched with the GGG and today's Chemnitz company run. A symbolic contribution of one euro per participating runner goes into a pool of money from which measures to revitalise the city centre are to be implemented.
In its March meeting, the city council commissioned the city of Chemnitz to develop immediate measures to stabilise Chemnitz city centre. To this end, the city is in talks with municipal stakeholders - such as the Chemnitzer Wirtschaftsförderungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (CWE), the RathausPassagen and Rosenhof location coordinators - with the aim of revitalising the city centre, improving the quality of stay and reacting to impending vacancies at an early stage.