How should the town centers of Lebenstedt and Salzgitter-Bad be designed in the future? What could an "umbrella brand Salzgitter" look like? The city of Salzgitter is launching participation processes for these new concepts, in which the focus is on the citizens and tradespeople of the two centers. At the kick-off events in the two largest districts, the commissioned offices provided information about the project and a tour of the city centers took place, during which initial suggestions were recorded.

There was a great deal of interest from citizens, tradespeople and local politicians: in Lebenstedt, around 30 interested people attended the event in the Kulturscheune on Thursday evening, while in Salzgitter-Bad there were even around 40 in the town library on Friday evening.

Jan Erik Bohling, Head of Economic Affairs for the city of Salzgitter, informed around 30 interested people in the Kulturscheune about the innovations in the inner cities that have been implemented to date thanks to the "Perspektive Innenstadt" (Perspective Inner City) funding program: The climate-friendly forums with solar benches, water dispensers and misting technology to improve the microclimate are just as much a part of this as the WC facility in Chemnitzer Straße and the future Christmas lights in Salzgitter-Bad and Lebenstedt.

With the participation in the federal program "Sustainable inner cities and centers", an extensive participation process is now starting to make the centers fit for the future.

This was explained by the team from the planning office "cima", who would like to talk to the citizens of both districts over the next few months: How do you get to the city center? What do you like? What don't you like? What is missing? were some of the questions that were answered by citizens during a subsequent city walk in Lebenstedt. "Lack of specialist stores", "no nice places to spend time", the "cheap chains" and the "many vacancies" were criticized. The traditional cafés and restaurants were mentioned positively.

This impression is also confirmed by nationwide surveys: people want "leisure, relaxation and experience" in the city centers. This is why there must be attractions beyond the shopping offers, such as vouchers and special features, to motivate people away from online shopping and into the city centers.

During the two city tours that took place after the kick-off event, numerous participants showed keen interest and expressed wishes, but also criticism of the city centers' offerings, which will be incorporated into the two concepts as useful information.