"The good work of the neighbourhood management teams is also being recognized beyond the borders of Offenbach," said a delighted Martin Wilhelm, Head of Social Affairs, when he heard about the award in Munich. There, the Hans Sauer Foundation had invited people to the conference "Getting things moving - mobility projects in the neighborhood", where various projects and ideas were presented and discussed from March 9 to 11. Founded in Munich in 1989 by inventor and entrepreneur Hans Sauer, the foundation of the same name promotes innovations that arise from a social and ethical motivation and thus create measurable social and ecological benefits.
Marcus Schenk and Michael Englert jointly represented the neighborhood management teams in Nordend and Senefelder Quartier, both of which had applied for the Hans Sauer Prize along with 28 other neighborhoods from across Germany, with prize money totaling 20,000 euros being awarded in three categories.
A total of eight districts were awarded prizes in the three categories "Social/Fair", "Ecological" and "Spatial", including the "KiJu-Platz Nordend" project.
This was the result of a public participation exercise carried out in Nordend in 2020/21, in which Ruhr University Bochum, together with Hamburg-based urban development agency urbanista, asked for possible improvements in the district. A total of 12 projects were identified, one of which was the one-week closure of Johannes-Morhart-Straße between the youth center/girls' floor and the playground opposite.
According to the neighborhood management, this project is to be extended this year: "The week was a good test run, we would like to see a longer closure," explains neighborhood manager Marcus Schenk. "In the summer vacations, the street should be closed for four weeks so that children and young people in particular have an additional space in the already dense neighborhood." Together with the JuZ, the Mädchenetage and other participants from the neighbourhood, he wants to implement various activities on the square, and the prize money of 3,000 euros will now help to implement and expand this plan.
The Nordend is a superblock
In addition to the presentation of the award-winning projects, the topic of "superblocks" was also discussed at the conference. The concept refers to traffic planning in urban areas and serves, among other things, to calm traffic in residential areas. Examples include the Kiezblock in Berlin, the corner blocks in Munich and the Superilles in Barcelona, which combine quality of life and alternative mobility concepts. Students at the local Academy of Design have recently been working on "OFblock - Designing a Superblock", and district manager Schenk is keen to drive the topic forward: "Nordend lends itself to being developed into a superblock along the lines of Barcelona". City Councillor Wilhelm signals his support: "Offenbach needs more outstanding ideas and projects that help to improve the quality of life in the city districts due to its special situation as a highly dense but not exactly affluent city. And a look outside the box shows that the wheel does not have to be reinvented. Other cities are making exemplary progress."
Neighborhood management is a service provided by the City of Offenbach for residents of the four districts of Lauterborn, Mathildenviertel, Nordend and Südliche Innenstadt/Senefelderquartier.
