Press releases

At its meeting yesterday, the main committee of the City of Aachen unanimously decided to implement recommendations from the Citizens' Report 2023 that are feasible in principle and are not yet being implemented.

The City of Aachen's 'People with Disabilities' control center is to examine suggestions from the core message on accessibility and develop concrete projects from them. This core message reads: "Our aim is to enable everyone to reach all destinations independently and to participate in public life without barriers. Aachen should be rebuilt to be barrier-free so that disabled people can participate in public life independently."

The committee also instructed the administration to further optimize the "Park and Ride" offer and the communication of the offer. The core message behind this is: "Our aim is to offer easily accessible and inexpensive parking facilities to make shopping more convenient, including for bicycles".

The main committee also welcomed the idea of actively involving citizens in the planting and maintenance of urban green spaces and instructed the administration to examine a digital version of green space sponsorship. In doing so, the committee addressed the core message on citizen integration, which reads: "1. by involving citizens, the city achieves beautiful identification and initiative in the planting of green strips, tree grates and other areas. 2. the city gardeners are relieved by involving the citizens. 3. the city becomes more "colorful" through the individual planting of green spaces."

Since 2023, the permanent Aachen Citizens' Council has been an important instrument for actively involving citizens in political decision-making processes and strengthening participatory urban society. As a permanent and institutionalized body, the council goes far beyond a mere discussion forum. The first Citizens' Council met in autumn 2023 to address the question: "How can Aachen's city center become an attractive shopping destination again?". Over the course of five meetings, the members of Aachen's first Citizens' Council drew up specific recommendations, which were unanimously adopted by the city council in a comprehensive report on January 31, 2024 and referred to the relevant specialist committees for further consultation. Many of the overarching recommendations are already being taken into account in current projects and measures by the administration. The 21 key messages were divided into three categories in order to ensure that the comprehensive report can be completed in a targeted manner within a reasonable timeframe and that the progress of implementation can be reported transparently:

1. those that cannot be implemented for various reasons.

2. those that are feasible in principle and for which measures are already being planned, have already been implemented or are currently being implemented.

3. those that are feasible in principle but are not yet being implemented and for which a corresponding resolution proposal has been formulated by the administration and will be submitted to the main committee.

The committee document with all explanations can be found in the Council information system at https://ratsinfo.aachen.de/public/vo020?VOLFDNR=1000801&refresh=false&TOLFDNR=1002859.

This year, the Citizens' Council dealt with the question "How can Aachen become more attractive for families with children?". In September, the committee discussed the topic on four dates under the moderation of IKU die Dialoggestalter and worked on the various topics. The citizens' report, in which the participants formulate their recommendations to the Aachen City Council, will be presented at the citizens' forum on December 3.