Culture and parks “very good”, childcare and housing situation “poor”: every five years Munich residents issue a certificate to their city. In 2021 they gave their opinion on nine different areas, from climate awareness to digitalization. Result: Munich is not a model student, in some areas it is definitely a problem. Nevertheless, city planning councilor Elisabeth Merk, who presented the population survey on urban development to the planning committee on Wednesday, concludes “that Munich is still a large city with a high quality of life”, albeit one with “problematic areas”.
For the survey – the sixth since 1992 – the planning department randomly selected 22,000 Munich residents from the population statistics. 7073 of them filled out the questionnaire in writing or on the Internet between mid-January and the end of February, a response rate of 34 percent. Some questions have been changed or added to the catalog compared to 2016, for example the topic of home office.
Because, according to the evaluation, Corona has fundamentally changed the relationship of many Munich residents to the place where they work. A good two-thirds of the employed people surveyed could have been sitting at their desks at home before the first lockdown, but only one in ten made use of it – every now and then. During the pandemic, however, 49 percent worked almost exclusively at home. That is how it should stay, say the respondents, for at least half of the working hours.
54 percent of Munich residents have confidence in the city council
But first you have to find a home: When asked about the city’s biggest problems, 49 percent named the high rental and purchase prices of apartments – ahead of traffic – and 34 percent named the low availability of housing. It is therefore logical that 77 percent of those surveyed demand that the city should spend more money on affordable housing and housing.
A majority (59 percent) are at least not opposed to densification on their own doorstep. For 91 percent, however, the prerequisite is that affordable housing is then created. And more with measures such as the expansion of attic storeys (56 percent) than with demolition and new construction (34 percent) or the development of open spaces (27 percent).
Green City Councilor Bernd Schreyer emphasized the surprisingly large approval of the densification during the debate in the planning committee on Wednesday. In view of this attitude, it may be possible to reduce the consumption of land in the outskirts. The study also shows that affordable living space must be created. Every fifth person spends more than 40 percent of their income on rent, and at the same time the gap between rich and poor is widening.
86 percent are satisfied with the cultural offerings
Simone Burger (SPD) also sees the housing cost burden ratio with “great concern”. The numbers are “incredibly drastic”. Nevertheless, she opposed playing off the two major goals of the town hall coalition against each other, namely the creation of affordable living space against keeping green spaces and fresh air corridors free. The trigger for their warning was the hint from Alexander Reissl (CSU) that three out of four respondents would invest more money in living, but only one in four would invest more in environmental protection.
Brigitte Wolf (left) suspected in view of the survey period in the middle of the Corona winter that the pandemic could have distorted some results. Heike Kainz (CSU) also thought this was possible, who was “a little shocked” that the voluntary work in the city had almost halved compared to the 2016 survey, from 49 to 26 percent. City planning councilor Elisabeth Merk admitted possible corona effects, and Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) suggested making general comparisons with previous studies in the future so that developments could be identified.
The citizen survey also showed that 86 percent of those questioned are satisfied with the cultural offerings in the city and 77 percent with the attractiveness of parks and squares. Childcare, on the other hand, has met with a lot of criticism: 40 percent of the parents surveyed are at least dissatisfied with the care. The people of Munich also miss parking spaces, whether for bicycles or cars. The digitalization of the administration is well received. 65 percent of those surveyed state that they have already used online services such as daycare finder, dog registration or ordering certificates. 54 percent have confidence in the city council. However, only one in four (28 percent) is interested in local politics.