Council candidates for the city's future have withdrawn their nominations - invitation letters for the council to be distributed by late August

News Article: Greifswald Establishes "My Greifswald 2030" Future Council

Greifswald, a city in northern Germany, is set to establish a new future council this fall. Titled "My Greifswald 2030 - What moves me?", the council aims to address the question of what drives the people in Greifswald and shape the city's future development until 2028.

The council, funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the federal program "Democracy lives!", will consist of citizens, experts, and representatives from various sectors such as politics, economy, science, and civil society. Jonas Dietrich, the project leader of the future council, stated that the council is exploring new paths in citizen participation.

Approximately 2,000 Greifswald residents aged 16 and over with primary residence in the city have been randomly selected for the council. These residents will receive invitations from the city administration to express their interest in participating. The selection process will be done by lottery to ensure a balanced representation in terms of age, gender, and place of residence in the districts.

The selected participants for the future council will attend a total of eleven meetings starting this fall. During these meetings, topics important to the citizens will be developed. The goal is to derive concrete recommendations for the citizens from these topics. The citizens will have the opportunity to respond to the presented recommendations.

Jonas Dietrich, the project leader, stated that the lottery-based committee is a relatively new procedure that they want to test and potentially use as a supplement to existing participation formats. The future council aims to be as representative and balanced as possible in terms of age, gender, and place of residence in the districts.

The Zukunftsrat of Greifswald, as the council is known in German, will establish a temporary future council at the end of March 2025. The council's purpose is to address the question of what moves the people in Greifswald and shape the city's future until 2028. The recommendations will be presented publicly at the end of the process. Letters will be delivered by the end of August 2025.

The future council is a part of the city's efforts to engage its citizens in shaping its future. By involving a diverse group of citizens, experts, and representatives, the city hopes to create a comprehensive and inclusive vision for Greifswald's development.