Citizens’ initiative of Waiblingen: In the turning lane – politics

There are small construction sites around Sabine Zeiner’s house. There are scaffolding on houses, a drill can be heard from somewhere. In the middle of Waiblingen, which is near Stuttgart, many people are currently renovating their houses. Zeiner’s neighbor recently fully equipped his roof with solar cells. “It is completely self-sufficient,” explains Zeiner appreciatively. She herself draws electricity and heat from photovoltaic and solar thermal systems on her roof. The 58-year-old sees this as an important step towards climate neutrality. And that is what she wants for her entire city – by 2035. However, she does not see it as a private matter: “The municipalities make the difference, cities can set the pace.” That is why Zeiner founded a citizens’ initiative: “Waiblingen climate-neutral”.

People used to take to the streets to fight against nuclear power

Citizens’ initiatives have been a form of democratic design since the 1970s. The population is exerting pressure from below. Initiatives are goal-oriented, so they work towards something specific, be it the prevention of a building project or – recently – the climate neutrality of a city. Most of the time, something specific should change locally, in terms of local politics. In the past people took to the streets against nuclear power, today climate change is at the fore. It is difficult to say how many citizens’ initiatives there are. The reason: “Citizens’ initiatives have no fixed organizational form,” says Martin Gross. The political scientist who teaches at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institut in Munich is an expert on local politics. The concept of the citizens’ initiative is a self-attribution. “I can hand out a few flyers and call myself a citizens’ initiative. That’s why there are only estimates.” And they range from 1,000 to 50,000 citizens’ initiatives in Germany.

Sabine Zeiner does more than just hand out flyers. Together with her fellow campaigners, she collected over 1000 signatures for a resident application in the summer. The Waiblingen city council therefore had to vote in October on whether the municipality should become climate neutral by 2035. Zeiner got the idea for the initiative from the newspaper. There she read about the successful resident application of the Climate Alliance in the neighboring community of Schorndorf – and decided without further ado to found such a project for Waiblingen.

Around 40 people from Waiblingen are now there. What kind of people are they? “An initiative brings together different people from all age groups, professions, political opinions and genders,” says Zeiner. In Waiblingen, for example, students and pensioners, community service providers and company bosses get involved. “United on one goal, you can then represent a broad section of the population in a very credible manner.” Climate protection is not just something for young people. An old woman once asked her if it couldn’t be faster than 2035. “That would be nice! That is already an extremely demanding goal,” admits Zeiner with slightly reddened cheeks.

Orchards can also contribute to climate neutrality

An excursion with Sabine Zeiner through Waiblingen. When she approaches a red light in her VW, she turns off the engine before her car comes to a stop. Tools from the apple harvest lie on the back seats. The early retired graduate engineer owns some orchards that she cultivates herself. For them, apples are also a symbol of climate neutrality: “It is absurd how much stuff is carted in from abroad. Instead of apple juice from China, the city could promote the orchards.”

Stop in the suburb of Beinstein. Here Zeiner shows that things are already going well in Waiblingen. A residential area was built on the former company premises of Mineralbrunnen AG. The desolate wasteland became living space. Zeiner points to the roofs paved with solar cells. As early as 2006, the city introduced compulsory solar systems for new buildings – as the first municipality in Germany. Climate-neutral building and renovation is an important point for the members of the initiative.

After all, after successfully collecting signatures, the members have only achieved one goal. Now that the initiative’s proposal has been approved, the city is faced with the task of achieving climate neutrality. “Waiblingen climate-neutral” has developed ten topics for this purpose, ten levers for the next few years. “We don’t want to tell the city how to do it. That would be arrogant,” says Zeiner. The measures in their “Climate City Plan” should be suggestions. Also included: electricity and heat from renewable energies, resource-saving management, more public transport and CO2-saving construction.

The advantage of a citizens’ initiative: impartiality

But why does one choose the form of the citizens’ initiative at all for such a goal? Political scientist Gross sees an advantage in the non-partisan nature of such alliances. Local problems could be viewed separately from party views. Members of various parties are also represented at “Waiblingen climate-neutral”. “Climate change,” emphasizes Sabine Zeiner, “concerns almost all parties.” In addition, says Gross, an initiative reveals interests that tend to get lost in the political process. “You get more attention than with a letter to the editor or a direct complaint to city council members.” In addition, the hierarchies are flatter than in parties, which makes collaboration easier.

Years ago the people of Waiblingen protested against a shopping center – without success

Sabine Zeiner drives on. Past the large parking lots that only exist to be filled with cars – “That hurts so much!” -, through the city center to the Alte Postplatz. It could be described as a milestone in Waiblingen’s citizen participation – albeit a sad one. The entire area on the square was to be sold in 2004 to a single investor who was planning a shopping center consisting of three blocks on it. Zeiner doesn’t remember it that well. But Kristine Zilian, who headed the “Alter Postplatz” initiative at the time, can tell you about it: “The citizens feared that the fillet of the city would be burned as an investment product,” she said on the phone. Zilian’s initiative against the project was the city’s first civic alliance. The initiative turned into a referendum, which resulted in a referendum – but the necessary majority against the sale to a single investor did not come together. The Waiblinger failed, but the will for more democratic participation remained. “It was like the birth of civic participation in our city, and that made waves in the region,” says Zilian, “many citizens of other municipalities demanded a greater say.” Nevertheless: The area at Alten Postplatz was sold, built on, and has changed hands several times since then. The department store is outdated and a bit sad today, the light tiles on the facade are partly broken.

If “Waiblingen is climate-neutral”, however, a lot could change again at Alter Postplatz. According to Sabine Zeiner, there should soon be more space for bicycles and pedestrians on the up to seven parallel driving and turning lanes. Because the initiative also calls for socially responsible and ecological urban planning. Waiblingen is to become a city of short distances. More space for recreation, less sealing, less space that is lost for parked cars. With a better developed public transport network, cars – including those from Zeiner – and parking spaces in the city center would, at best, be superfluous.

Protest attracts more people

Of course, not everyone in Waiblingen likes that. Zeiner and her colleagues have reported little headwinds so far, but that can change quickly: “There will probably be protests when the first concrete measures come on the table.” Sure, many people like climate neutrality – but not so many wind power and biogas plants in the neighborhood. That could trigger new alliances, “prevention initiatives”, as Martin Gross calls them. Initiatives that are against certain projects, according to Gross, get significantly more attention than those that are not against, but for a specific goal. A prominent example of this are the protests against Stuttgart 21, the renovation of Stuttgart’s main train station. The prevention of S21 did not succeed in 2011, but it roused the citizens in their commitment, says Zeiner. In the region and far beyond.

The Waiblingen-based initiative also wants to achieve this. Members draw attention to themselves on social media and network with other initiatives. Many local movements become one big one that pursues an overarching idea. This, explains Gross, makes a big difference to the civil movements of the 1970s and 80s. “That the initiatives exchange such extreme exchanges with each other and with experts did not exist in the past.”

Open detailed view

The goal and the “climate city map” developed by the civic alliance with experts ultimately also convinced the local council: The draft resolution for the application was unanimously adopted on October 21st. For Zeiner this is “unbelievable”. Of course, the citizens could now say, once the decision has been taken, the responsibility rests entirely with the city. But the initiative wants to continue to be visible, promises Zeiner. “We want to show that the citizens want to carry this heavy package to the end.” The commitment will be institutionalized in a new committee, which will consist of members of the municipal council and citizens. So there are still events, exchanges with experts, close contact with politics and business. The next goal: In the coming year and a half, the concrete measures, i.e. the official “Climate City Plan”, should be worked out and decided.

“Waiblingen climate-neutral” is now part of the Germany-wide initiative “German Zero”. More and more municipalities are joining the alliance, demanding the climate target by 2035 and developing solutions. According to “German Zero”, more than 50 such climate decisions have been made since 2020. In the Rems-Murr district alone, the region around Waiblingen, there are now five alliances. “If more and more municipalities implement this, there will be a domino effect,” Zeiner hopes. She is in the lane just before her house. “Then maybe our generation can still fix it,” she says and adds in Swabian: “After all, we messed things up in the prime of our life.”