In the new district of Haunstetten Südwest, 10,000 residents will live and 5,000 jobs will be created. It is the largest housing project in Augsburg. Young people from Augsburg were also allowed to get involved in the ideas competition for the new district, in the spirit of Mayor Eva Weber. It may be another 30 years before everything is finished. “Those who then live and live there should also have a say in what it will look like one day,” says Weber. The CSU politician is therefore happy that the city has now decided on a right for young people to participate in city decisions. Participation, as in the planning of the new district, should be institutionalized in Augsburg in the future.
“Framework concept for the participation of young people in Augsburg” is the name of the concept, in the development of which numerous institutions in the city were involved in addition to the Stadtjugendring (SJR). The unwieldy name will not necessarily tempt young people from Augsburg to get involved in politics. But maybe the promises that come with it make up for it. Young citizens between the ages of twelve and 20 from different parts of the city should be able to contribute and discuss their ideas in a youth forum and then take them to the politicians. In meetings of the city’s youth committee, the young people should even be able to present their concerns directly to the city councillors.
The project is scientifically supported
SJR managing director Helmut Jesske hopes that in this way “the voices of young people will be heard and the decision-making processes will be accelerated”. A basic problem with the participation of young people is the complexity and tediousness of democratic decisions, it doesn’t have to be about the decades-long construction project for a new city quarter. Young people are usually already grown up when a project as simple as a skate park, for which they have campaigned, has finally been built – they haven’t skateboarded for a long time. “The result is completely irrelevant for them.”
“Since the beginning of my time on the city council as the youngest city councilor to date in 2008, one of my greatest concerns has been to enable young people to participate more,” says Verena von Mutius-Bartholy, leader of the Augsburg Greens, who together with the CSU form the city government. It has also taken a long time since 2008 until the participation concept was finally approved. Again and again it failed because of money in the notoriously tight metropolis, for many years there was a lack of political will. The Stadtjugendring has repeatedly put pressure on, also because other large Bavarian cities such as Nuremberg have had good experiences with similar concepts for years.
Youth participation in Augsburg is to be scientifically monitored and evaluated for four years, after which younger children could also be involved. Jesske and the Stadtjugendring also want to check which parts of the concept need to be sharpened. There are young people who want to get involved. Others, who had never come into contact with democratic processes, only learned about them this way. This aspect of education is enormously important to Jesske. “Only when I learn how democratic processes work will I be strengthened and resilient to undemocratic pied pipers.”