The future begins locally. Around 200 events for the city dialogue “My Hanover 2030” focused on the question: How should the growing state capital develop in the coming years? The results were grouped by topic and summarized in an integrated urban development concept.

The state capital of Hanover is taking an unusual approach to “My Hanover 2030”: the urban development concept was not developed exclusively by politicians and administrators. Instead, the focus was on a comprehensive participation process: Discussions lasted around six months, almost 200 different events were held, nearly 150 minutes were written, and around 17,000 Hannover residents took part in the discussions.

This comprehensive input from the city dialogue was incorporated into the goals and strategies of the six departments. The many approaches, ideas, and concrete proposals were reflected in the administration's guidelines. The result is an urban development concept that enjoys broad support from politicians, administrators, and the urban community.

The idea behind this approach was simple: if you want to develop a “living” urban development concept that is oriented toward people's attitudes toward life, it must be preceded by a comprehensive dialogue process. Five questions guided the debates: How do we want to grow? How do we make Hanover a home for many? How do we create good education and a vibrant culture? How do we strengthen independent living and social participation? What do we want and what can we afford?

EBP supported the state capital in structuring, evaluating, and assessing the many answers to these questions. In a second step, the structure and content of the urban development concept were developed. These were then reflected upon in an intensive discussion process within the administration. The project was developed in collaboration with IMORDE Projekt- & Kulturberatung GmbH.

The “launch” took place on November 19, 2015: www.hannover.de