Future of Hachenburg city center: Workshop shows new perspectives!

Future of Hachenburg city center: Workshop shows new perspectives!

The first workshop on the further development of the city center took place in Hachenburg on April 23, 2025. Over 30 participants, including representatives from trade, commerce, gastronomy, services as well as members of the city administration and active citizens, were present. The aim of the workshop was to develop a vision for the future of the city center and to change perspective. Different groups of people such as students, young families and seniors should be involved to work out how they will experience the city center. The event was accompanied by the “Stadt+Handel” agency, which is now evaluating the findings collected.

City Mayor Stefan Leukel praised the importance of the joint concept development and emphasized that the process is aimed at long-term participation and quality. The results of the workshop include the identification of challenges and the development of practical approaches to strengthening the city center. The next workshop is intended to concretize the vision and draw up a catalog of measures to sustainably strengthen the city center.

Long-term planning and measures

The project to realign and strengthen Hachenburg's city center has been running since the end of last year and is funded by the state model project "Inner City Impulses". In parallel to the workshops, expert interviews with city center stakeholders also take place in order to take stock of the current situation and determine the potential for future measures. City Mayor Leukel emphasized how important this analysis is for further joint development. Through close communication with the owners, the city is actively involved in reducing vacancies. There are currently four empty stores in the city center, but one of them has been re-let and renovation work on another is being planned.

The city of Hachenburg is also planning further participation formats, including a broad citizen survey, in order to include as many voices as possible in the process. The exchange channels via the press and social media are also established in order to provide citizens with ongoing information. One goal is to create a vacancy management concept with concrete measures to make the city center lively and attractive.

The next water games festival, which was supported by state funds last year, has already been decided and will be celebrated on August 15th. With the combination of events and workshops, the city is keen to actively involve residents in the development of the city center and to revitalize the districts through innovative concepts. The entire process is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and the city of Hachenburg thanks the state of Rhineland-Palatinate for its support and encourages all citizens to participate.

Further information is available at WW Courier and Hachenburg local app visible.