It didn't turn out nearly as bad as feared.

The population of Frankfurt fell below the 750,000 mark in the summer of last year, which was only exceeded in 2019 for the first time.

But now it is well above that again.

At the end of the year, the population register listed almost 754,000 Frankfurters;

the cleaning up of the population register and the lack of immigration as a result of the corona pandemic in the first half of the year was apparently followed by a small economic upswing in the second.

The population of 759,000 reached three years ago remains within sight, new records do not seem impossible.

If, yes, if the city wants to stay on course for growth.

Not so long ago, in 2001, there were just 619,000 registered residents.

From that year until 2019 things went steadily uphill, only the corona pandemic made 2020 one of stagnation and 2021 one of slight decline.

Shrinking cannot be the solution

Some may be happy about that.

Frankfurt is groaning under the growing pains, the increasing traffic, the densification;

it got crowded everywhere.

And yet: there is no alternative to growth.

Because history does not know stagnation, it is always dynamic, in the long run cities and conurbations can only grow or shrink, and shrinking cannot be the solution - if you long for it, you can take a weekend trip to empty places in the East or in the Northern edge of the Ruhr area with demolished houses and quarters, much tougher social segregation, an aging infrastructure, no flourishing cultural life.

It is not a question of whether growth will take place, but of how, a moderate increase, intelligent coordination of the interests of those who already live in the city with those of others who want to come, for whom housing and jobs are being created have to.

Preparing for further growth is a task, especially at this time when things are stagnating.

None of this is easy, politicians have to negotiate with the population, but isolation cannot be the solution.

The growing city is not a burden, it is the best thing that can happen to Frankfurt and its residents.