In summer 2022, we developed a master plan for the transformation of Adelsheim, a town of 5,000 inhabitants. As part of the " Living Adelsheim" project, Adelsheim's town center is to be redesigned and made fit for the future in order to counteract the threat of desolation. More space is to be given to different new forms of use. Because participation (rightly) has a bad reputation, but this small community really does have a serious problem with abandonment, we had to come up with something.

After initially spending two weeks undercover in the city as "undercover developers", doing internships at the outdoor pool, the ice cream café, the administration and at an art festival and staying with private host families, we transformed the entire inner city area into sketch paper with chalk spray in a performative act to "mark" the transformation area and get into conversation with people and make them aware of our further program. For a week, we staged things in the city together with the citizens that do not yet exist, but could or should exist in the near future.

We can now hold the result of our work and collaboration for and with Adelsheim in our hands in the form of a final master plan with goals, measures and recommendations for action. Because the term master plan is as difficult as it is ineffective, we have tried instead to simply develop a good plan together with everyone. This good plan for citizens is a 250-page handbook for implementing and trying out the numerous ideas that already exist in the urban community for a sustainable Adelsheim. We are therefore particularly pleased that Mayor Wolfram Bernhardt and the local council liked our proposal to provide every household in the town with a free copy.

• Innovative on-site analysis (undercover deployment as undercover developers)
• Action week with a one-week program for the entire population
• Spatial intervention (the city as sketch paper)
• Citizens' forum
• Advice on disposal fund, city center advisory board and interface management
• Creation of a master plan with objectives, measures and recommendations for action (250-page manual for citizens)

Client

Stadtverwaltung Adelsheim

Year

2022

Location

Adelsheim, Germany