Anyone who sat across from Wolfgang Borst in his office in December 2018 experienced a lively, but on one point ambivalent person. The mayor of Hofheim in Lower Franconia was extremely satisfied with the success of the so-called Hofheim Alliance, which has been taking care of a lot since 2008, but above all the fact that the town centers in Hofheim and the surrounding towns in the Haßberge district do not become deserted. The successes did have a small catch: The specially employed “Alliance Managers”, who usually have their place in the office next to the mayor, were evidently so successful that they were lured away by other communities. Which is annoying, but Borst and the Hofheimer have of course more likely confirmed on their common journey. Rightly so, as it now shows: The Hofheimer Land has been awarded the “European Village Renewal Prize” for the fight against vacancies.
This is the 16th time that the European Arge for Land Development and Village Renewal is awarding this prize. It first went to Bavaria in 1992, then to Illschwang in the Upper Palatinate. The last winner from Germany in 2004 was the municipality of Ummendorf in Saxony-Anhalt. With the communities of Aidhausen, Bundorf, Ermershausen and Riedbach, the markets of Burgpreppach and Maroldsweisach as well as the city of Hofheim, Allianz has been pooling its strengths for 13 years now and has therefore taken the right path to deal with enormous structural problems resulting from the former “peripheral zone” the interdisciplinary jury judged in its reasoning.
This is what the half-timbered house looked like before the renovation. No figurehead for the place.
(Photo: Municipality Alliance Hofheimer Land)
The measures of the alliance – systematic “survey of building vacancies in all alliance municipalities”, for example, a support program for the use of existing building fabric, free initial consultation by architects or an online real estate exchange – convinced the jury. After all, around 340 vacancies in the Allianz municipalities were reactivated in this way and replaced with high-quality renovations, saving a total of 45 hectares. The jury praised the “clear development strategy”, the “coordinated planning processes”, the “culture of participation” and, last but not least, the unanimous will to provide “local answers to global questions at the highest level” in the alliance.
During his visit to his office in 2018, Borst remembered a strange situation in the Ostheim district of Hofheim. In 2006 a new building area was desired, a new development in a “contemporary ambience”. The mayor listened to it all. But objected that it seemed more sensible to him if those who want a new home turn to those who call an unused house their own. The idea became the program, Borst convinced with his speech against the vacancy and for the common sense – and is now happy about the price. But he does not want to see it related to himself. The honor is “reward for the team effort” from a total of seven municipalities and their residents. How it should be for an alliance.