It is often said of public spaces that they are “the living room” of a city.

That's where you meet and meet.

There you can have a coffee or go to the restaurant.

People spend their free time there because they like being there.

Because it is attractive, lively and livable.

But is that actually true?

This description hardly applies to any square in downtown Frankfurt.

If you look around in the center, you will hardly find places that are tastefully designed.

Rainer Schulz

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The few that are then also particularly popular: The Opernplatz above all, in the north end also the Matthias-Beltz-Platz and the Friedberger Platz.

However, people don't particularly like staying at the Hauptwache.

And it will be exciting to see whether the city's plan to divert the party-goers, who always make Friedberger Platz in the north end unsafe on Friday evenings, to the Hauptwache works.

Temporarily redesign Main Guard

The city and the German Architecture Museum are now looking for ideas on how the Hauptwache in particular can be made more beautiful.

"Living room Hauptwache 2022" is the title of the project.

In late summer and autumn, the central square is to be transformed into an "experimental laboratory".

A conference with workshops is planned, the participants of which should find out how the inner city can be made so livable that residents and guests feel comfortable.

One approach is to temporarily redesign the space and possibly use it differently.

Ideas for "Urban Modules" can be submitted until the end of May.

These can be weatherproof mobile elements, but also "actions, interventions and dialogue formats", as the city's call for action puts it.

A jury selects the best projects.

Their realization is supported in terms of content and finances.

The architecture museum is also planning an exhibition on the results.

The "Hauptwache Living Room" is part of the "Post-Corona-Inner City" research project, which is funded by the federal government.

Within this framework, exemplary solutions are sought for a crisis-proof development of the inner city.

"With the participation of the public, ways are to be found to make the city center more of a place worth living in again," says Mike Josef (SPD), Head of Planning.

As a central place and with its function as a traffic junction and popular meeting place, the Hauptwache offers ideal conditions for such an urban spatial experiment.