City difficulties persist as potential council members withdraw, with official notices set to be distributed by the month's end in August.
Greifswald Introduces Innovative Future Council to Shape City's Future
A new initiative, the "My Greifswald 2030 - What moves me?" Future Council, is set to launch in Greifswald this fall. Funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the federal programme "Democracy lives!", this council aims to ensure the city's future is shaped by its residents.
The Future Council, led by project leader Jonas Dietrich, will consist of 60 Greifswald residents who will contribute their perspectives, ideas, and wishes until 2028. In mid-August 2025, the city administration randomly selected 2,000 people from interested residents and invited them to participate.
The council will hold a total of eleven sessions starting this fall. Its purpose is to explore what moves the people of Greifswald and actively shape the future of their city. The Future Council will develop themes important to Greifswald citizens, aiming to create concrete recommendations for them.
The letters were sent out randomly to ensure a diverse representation in the Future Council. The selected participants for the Future Council will be chosen by lottery from the expressions of interest received. Jonas Dietrich, the project leader, states that they want to see if this procedure complements existing participation formats.
The recommendations will be presented publicly at the end of the process, allowing citizens to respond. The Future Council is testing a lottery-based body as a new method for citizen participation. The invitations were delivered in recent weeks and will be completed by the end of August 2025.
The Greifswald city council decided to establish the Future Council as a temporary project in March 2025. This council is an exciting step towards more inclusive and participatory decision-making in Greifswald. Stay tuned for updates on the progress of the Future Council and the impact it will have on the city's future.
