Citizens' and planning workshop Merkendorf 'together a solution for our market place'

Under the motto 'together a solution for our market place', a citizens' and planning workshop took place over five days in February and March 2016 in the Middle Franconian town of Merkendorf in the district of Ansbach.
The team from Rockinger, Büro für Landschaftsarchitektur . Mediation . Moderation organized and moderated the events.

First, at an information and kick-off event with all interested citizens, the opportunities and topics of a combined and open-solution citizens' and planning workshop for the future of the marketplace were presented and discussed.

Two weeks later, about 30 - 40 interested citizens and three planning offices from Schnaittach, Erlangen and Dresden participated in the three workshop days in Merkendorf.
During a joint walk through the town on the first day, the citizens were able to explain to the planners at length what was important to them about their market square and what they would like to change.

With this information and impressions, the workshop phase could then begin with the questions: 'How should the market square be used in the future?' and 'What should be considered in a redesign?' The citizens used the remaining 2 ½ days enthusiastically the possibilities to peel out the problems again and again in the moderated, joint discussion and to open up the potentials in the existing situation and in possible changes. Goals and evaluation criteria for individual topics (use, equipment, traffic) were established and ideas and concrete measures were collected. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of moving the war memorial out of the centre of the market square were discussed, as well as the questions arising in this context about an appropriate, timely approach to the topics of commemoration.

The moderation team collected all the mentions and contributions, formulated and sorted them and compiled them into handy tasks for the planning teams. From this and from the conversations and discussions with the citizens in large and small groups, the planners were able to derive essential principles and impulses and - under the eyes of the citizens - begin to develop concrete ideas for the marketplace and the handling of the memorials in sketches, plans and drawings. In numerous variants and a total of three presentations to the citizens with intensive discussions and feedback, these ideas matured into initial concepts for the future of the marketplace in Merkendorf.

Following the three workshop days, the planning offices had two weeks to further develop these ideas into differentiated plans. In a final event, the teams presented and explained their work. The again numerous present citizens and citizens used the opportunity for new questions and discussion about the implementation of the set goals and criteria in the presented plans.

In the subsequent moderated jury meeting with representatives of the City Council, the administration, the citizens and external planners, could be unanimously recommended to the City Council the commissioning of the office Rehwaldt landscape architects from Dresden.