In the Inner Nordstadt and Combahn districts, residents helped shape the mobility transition in Bonn! They took part in numerous events and brought their neighborhoods to life with their own activities during the Bönnsche Viertel Mobility Summer 2023. These included workshops, music, games and much more.
All events offered activities and test runs in which mobility and coexistence in the neighborhoods of tomorrow were put to the test. This allowed everyone to find out together what works well for the city of Bonn and its residents.
The Bönnsche Sommer: activities and events until September 2023
The Bönnsche Mobility Summer took place in the model districts from June to September 2023. During this time, citizens and initiatives were able to propose and try out their own ideas for their neighborhood. These included a youth workshop on particulate matter sensors, a children's survey and the installation of the Freebox mobile in the Combahn district.
Residents set up benches and met in the Macke district at the end of August for a neighborhood discussion. Most recently, the "You and your neighborhood" action day for children and young people organized by the district working group took place in September.
Test week: Seven days without a car
Six households from the two model districts of Bönn, Combahnviertel and Innere Nordstadt, took the opportunity to sign up for the mobility test weeks. They gave up their cars for a week and were sustainably mobile.
Children's survey - even the youngest were heard
From June to September 2023, a participation campaign for children in the district ran to redesign the inner Nordstadt. The "art cart" from the youth art school was on the road - commissioned by the Office for Children, Youth and Family - and invited children to take part in a drawing competition. The "art cart" visited schools, kindergartens and public places.
The little ones were asked to express their ideas and wishes in an age-appropriate way with regard to individual questions and create artistic designs on wooden panels. At the end, they evaluated the results using sticky dots. The results were brought together in a final activity.
The art project was dedicated to the following questions:
- What would you like to experience in your neighborhood?
- What do you like about your neighborhood?
- What bothers you most where you live with your family?
- When you play outside, where do you play and what bothers you?
- How do you drive or go to school?
- What would you like to change in your neighborhood?
The art cart stopped at many stations: Kita Dorotheenstraße, OGS Marienschule, OGS Karlschule, playground Adolfstraße, playground Maxstraße, art cart Frankenbad, OGS Marienschule, Nordstraße youth center and at the Nordschule OGS. There was a finale at Frankenbadplatz.
Organizer:
Youth art school arte fact, Heerstraße 84, Bonn
Contact person:
Andres Koors, Tel. 0228 77 5879
Ms. Irnich-Esser, Tel. 0228 97 68 440, 0175 52 78 589
E-mail: kontaktartefact-bonnde
Young people measure particulate matter
Most recently, two workshops were organized where young people can find out the level of particulate matter in the air. More information can be found here in the press releases.
Day of the Bönn Neighborhoods: Combahnviertel
In May 2023, residents showed what the Combahn district in Beuel could feel like if there was more space to meet, play and make music instead of traffic in their residential area.
Inner Nordstadt: The future at your fingertips
On June 17, 2023, Innere Nordstadt tried out what the district could feel like in the future. The visitors developed ideas for their neighborhood and enjoyed the car-free streets.
In addition to a literary walk, the program included two tours with employees from the Office for the Environment and Urban Greenery. The Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences had invited visitors on a tour of the district under the guiding question "Who owns the district? To you!". The Mobility Working Group also organized a discussion round and a tour. Many ideas and points of view were exchanged at a bar camp.
Children were able to paint flower pots and laugh at the Papperlapupp children's theater. The festival ended with a colorful samba parade through the old town.
Workshop on sustainable commercial transportation
Innovative concepts for commercial and logistics transportation play an important role in the mobility transition. How can delivery traffic in the city be made more sustainable and economically efficient at the same time? Representatives from logistics companies such as Deutsche Post, trade associations, retailers and initiatives from Bonn discussed this at the workshop "Sustainable commercial transport in the Bönnsche Viertel" in April 2023.
The city of Bonn had invited people to the event as part of the "Bönnsche Viertel - Vibrant spaces for people" participation process. "It is important to us to involve the economic players in the discussion about sustainable mobility in the city, to listen to fears and critical voices and to develop solutions together," says Arnulf Marquardt-Kuron from the Office for Economic Development.
The workshop started at the City Hall with a one-hour walk, during which the group was able to talk about the current mobility conditions and their needs in the inner Nordstadt. Afterwards, the participants learned more about the "Bönnsche Viertel" project and its goals.
Best practice: Example from Hanover
As an example of best practice, Tim Gerstenberger from the "Smart City I" Strategies and Projects staff unit in Hanover reported on the experiences and lessons learned from the Urban Logistics model project. The aim of the joint project between the city of Hanover, universities and companies is to develop clean, quiet, effective and therefore future-proof logistics concepts.
In small groups, the participants discussed key issues and challenges for commercial transport in the Bönnsche Viertel districts and developed approaches for action. There was a lively exchange with a wide range of proposed solutions: for example, the increased use of electric vehicles and cargo bikes, the expansion of hubs and greater networking between the various services and between suppliers and recipients were discussed.
Online participation
From April 1 to 16, 2023, residents shared their ideas for the mobility of tomorrow digitally - in the Combahn district and the Inner Nordstadt. The online participation directly followed the kick-off event. The results of the participation and the kick-off event can be viewed online on the city's participation platform "bonn-macht-mit.de".
A party to kick things off
The project kicked off with a launch party on Saturday, April 1, 2023, in the foyer and on the forecourt of Bonn Opera House.
Mayor Katja DörnerWith the Bönn Neighborhoods, we want to find out from citizens what they think is needed and what we can do as a city to pave the way for sustainable mobility in their neighborhoods. We also want to make it possible to experience how a sustainable mobility system can create and shape new open spaces.
At the kick-off event, various departments of the city administration were present in the foyer of the opera house for a direct exchange of ideas. More than ten Bonn initiatives from various subject areas such as mobility, climate and environmental protection presented their initial ideas and invited young and old to join in. Mayor Katja Dörner welcomed all those present and invited them to actively participate in shaping their own neighborhoods.
In an ideas workshop, visitors to the kick-off event contributed creative suggestions for active, safe and barrier-free mobility in their neighborhood.
The following initiatives were among those involved:
- The "Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club" (ADFC) with its cycle course ("Rabo")
- The "Radentscheid" presented the manifesto of the free street and offered a simulation game for traffic calming in residential areas.
- Pupils from Bonn presented their "Car-Free Day" campaign together with Radentscheid activists.
- The Bolle Bonn initiative came with its fleet of cargo bikes to try out.
The event ended with live music from the band Marion & Sobo.
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Evaluation
Evaluation report assesses participation process positively
The goals of the participatory process "Bönnsche Viertel - Living Spaces for People", in which Bonn citizens in two model districts discussed sustainable mobility, were largely achieved. This is the conclusion reached by the promediare office and the Institute of Geography at the University of Bonn, which provided scientific support for the process.
Citizens and local initiatives were able to propose and try out their own ideas for active, safe and barrier-free mobility in their neighborhoods at a large kick-off festival at the Bonn Opera House, the "Bönnsche Stadtstraßen" action day and other events during the "Bönnsche Mobility Summer". The city of Bonn wanted to achieve three main goals: To make local stakeholders and their concerns visible, to increase social dialog and to promote acceptance of adopted goals.
In order to find out to what extent these goals could be achieved and what conclusions could be drawn for follow-up projects, the experts from promediare and the University of Bonn combined various research methods such as participant observation and participant surveys.
Low-threshold opportunities for dialog promote visibility and acceptance
The evaluation report shows that the participation process was successful in making the stakeholders in the model districts and their concerns visible. A majority of respondents were able to contribute their own ideas and needs thanks to the diverse opportunities for participation. Children were particularly addressed as a separate target group in many events.
According to the report, the goal of improving social dialog was also largely achieved. The direct opportunities for exchange, including with people from the city administration, were perceived by several target groups as particularly appreciative and helpful. The extensive and low-threshold opportunities for dialog also led to increased local acceptance.
In some areas, the experts still see room for improvement: for example, they recommend offering even more formats in future that are specifically aimed at certain groups of people. For example, some people with limited mobility stated in the interviews that they would have preferred discussions in a protected location such as a meeting place.
The cooperation with local civil society initiatives, artists and independent youth welfare organizations was rated particularly positively. The city would therefore like to continue such formats and thereby also promote civic engagement in Bonn.
The evaluation report is publicly available here (opens in a new tab).