In the heart of the city, children jump on temporary play castles.

Others are also spreading seeds for urban agriculture, with which the vegetables do not grow on the edge of the metropolitan area but, as in London, underground on unused railway lines.

Many roads lead to the city center, and these are just two of the many possibilities of the future role.

In any case, in order to revitalize the shopping area, municipalities, retailers and restaurateurs have to make a lot more effort, try different things and also reinvent themselves.

Not every store will survive this change, which started with online orders and which the corona pandemic is accelerating.

Jan Hauser

Editor in business.

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Local authorities, landlords and researchers are therefore concerned about the role of the urban center. Scientists from the Stuttgart Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering and Organization have now examined the situation in inner cities in Germany and are showing the way into the future with numerous examples. Temporary play equipment in central squares and urban agriculture based on the British model should bring variety, but also hybrid retail offers, pop-up street bars and virtual city tours should attract residents. The study on the “future of inner cities” on behalf of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom has been presented to the FAZ in advance and is due to appear soon.

The researchers see several challenges at once: How is retail adapting to digitization?

How does the city center remain accessible and how do you deal with increasing flows of goods and deliveries?

How does a lively, quality-of-stay center continue to exist?

The authors Patrick Ruess, Božana Vrhovac and Katharina Yoga call for an open approach to change: “The future of inner cities will be determined more than ever by innovators who dare to try new things, think ahead and cleverly combine this with local conditions.

It is therefore relevant to enable and promote innovation in municipalities. "

This should also help the climate

The researchers suggest that cities take local shops and especially smaller shops with them into digital life and, like Lippstadt, bundle local offers in online marketplaces. In addition, municipalities can set up a “Business Improvement District”: The local retailers and property owners undertake to voluntarily and jointly upgrade the location. Urban production and agriculture like in the London underground should help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with short distances.

The same applies to digitally supported delivery zone management with sensor-based traffic signs and a smartphone app, with which suppliers can see and reserve free parking spaces. Electric cargo bikes could also be booked via the app to make it easier to switch to bicycles, which is being tested in Tübingen. An opportunity lies in when new users move into real estate with handcraft, manufacturing, living and culture, whose tenants had to close their shops as a result of the pandemic.

According to the study, smaller and medium-sized municipalities in particular should market themselves better, communicate more in social networks and, like the city of Bernau, use virtual tours to explore the center, where shops and restaurants should appear. Streets and squares can increase the experience of the city center with pop-up exercise offers, playgrounds or fitness areas. The gastronomy should offer food and drink outside more often and temporarily cultivate adjacent areas for campaign days or other occasions.

But actually, the city center has always attracted people with more than just shops. Even smaller communities organize parades, parties and concerts. Funfair, weekly market, flea market: very different occasions are supposed to boost sales in shops, restaurants and at stands. Some municipalities are trying to intensify this. Those involved will have to come up with more ideas here. Therefore, this year the Federal Ministry of Economics, together with representatives from trade and municipalities, looked for practical examples that strengthen the core of the city. This ranges from virtual worlds of experience to fashion parties to vouchers and should mostly strengthen the retail sector.

The Stuttgart scientists generally praise the value of the city center, which is usually the oldest settlement area and serves as a driver of innovation.

However, they have always been subject to continuous change and the recently increasingly perceived challenges are characteristics of longer-term processes.

Online trading, which even before the pandemic, earned more than 10 percent of total sales in German retail, lost its importance.

Vacancies affect smaller and medium-sized cities more than large cities.

In addition, restaurateurs are moving more often to former rows of shops and grocers are moving back to the centers.

The authors maintain that the retail sector is losing its urban monopoly more and more.

More than a romanticized relic

Many roads lead into the future. The authors see numerous opportunities for inner cities with a high quality of stay and quality of life, because they also provide space for social interaction, added value and creative formats. "Urban centers as pulsating, distinctive and attractive points of attraction for residents and visitors are not a romanticized relic in a globalized and networked society, but an expression of this society in all its diversity." Ideally, change will make the city center better.