"City center. Together. Making.": In 2022, the Department of Citizen Dialogue and Administrative Management, under the leadership of Lord Mayor Sibylle Keupen, launched the "City Center Tomorrow" initiative to establish a shared vision for Aachen's city center as well as new forms of participation and dialogue. Since then, a large number of projects have been implemented, events have taken place, new opportunities for participation have been created and much more. This forward-looking approach has now been certified as a best-practice project on the Stadtimpulse platform. The award states that the Aachen city centre morning initiative has been recognized for its "outstanding contribution to the revitalization and attractiveness of our cities and communities". Mayor Keupen is delighted with the recognition: "The Innenstadtmorgen team has brought together many people from urban society to develop a shared vision for the city center of the future and to drive it forward. I am delighted that this commitment has been recognized beyond the region and is now also being honored."

The Stadtimpulse project pool is a wide-ranging, well-structured collection of successful projects on the topics of city centers, retail and urban life. The Stadtimpulse alliance was initiated as a result of the coronavirus crisis by the German Retail Association, the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, the Federal Association of City and Town Marketing Germany and the Association of German Cities, among others. It is also supported by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community.

Aachen's city center is changing every day - visibly, tangibly, vibrantly. In order for this change to succeed, the city society and city administration need to work together as equals. This means that Aachen's urban society (citizens, retail, gastronomy, cultural workers, children and young people and many more) is becoming active itself. In addition to major construction projects, specialist strategies and events, one thing is needed above all: creative, urban, diverse and spontaneous impulses from all the people who make up Aachen.

In order to make the wide range of opportunities for participation transparent, the City of Aachen's City Management has compiled the "Tool Box for the City Centre" - a collection of existing funding and support programs from many different departments of the City of Aachen and beyond, from spatial usage ideas to financial support and dialogue formats. It is not only intended to invite people to get involved, but also to be used, among other things, to strategically develop Aachen's city center with bundled forces. The toolbox is an important component of the best practice certification.

The Stadtimpulse projects were selected by a jury of experts. The jury is made up of one representative from each of the initiators (German Retail Association, German Association of Towns and Municipalities, Federal Association of City and Town Marketing Germany and German Association of Cities) and the project sponsor (CIMA Beratung + Management GmbH). City Management had previously presented the City Center Morning initiative at the German City Marketing Exchange in Münster on September 16.

More about Aachen's city center of tomorrow at www.innenstadt-morgen.de.

Certification via Stadtimpulse: https://unsere-stadtimpulse.de/project/aachen-innenstadtmorgen-tool-box-fuer-die-innenstadt/.