Creative City strengthens Oberhausen's city center as a creative source of inspiration and a place of social identification. The aim of the project is to explore and establish new uses, qualities of stay and cooperative processes in the urban space through the targeted activation of art, culture and creative industries - as building blocks for a resilient, liveable and economically viable city center of the future.
The project taps into creative potential as an economic and social development driver for the city center. The targeted activation of vacant spaces and the use of existing spaces creates low-threshold access for artists and cultural workers, start-ups and committed citizens. New formats such as pop-up galleries, open workshops and temporary events create flexible spaces for experiments, collaborations and business models that question and expand traditional usage patterns.
At the same time, the project promotes the economic revitalization of the city centre by increasing frequency and visibility. The use of digital settlement management facilitates, for example, the targeted approach of new players and enables a data-based, tailor-made development of the usage mix.
The project also contributes to social resilience: the collaborative development of the urban space creates identification, reduces conflicts of use and increases acceptance of change.
Creative City creates visibility. An attractive city center of the future not only needs functioning infrastructure, but also inspiring content, open spaces and participatory formats that combine economic, cultural and social goals. A total of 14 sub-projects were implemented by the project management team led by Fraunhofer UMSICHT in collaboration with the city of Oberhausen:
From the existing creative quarter Oberhausen.Mitte, spaces were transferred to new uses on a permanent or temporary basis - from the expansion of the Artothek to an open workshop and pop-up galleries. Digital location management and a visitor journey made potential visible and accessible. Urban activities, new cooperation formats and joint marketing are revitalizing the neighbourhood and actively shaping cultural and economic change. Urban space surveys and urban climate concepts open up new approaches for targeted research. Feasibility studies for multifunctional space concepts in problem properties pave the way for new inner-city investments. Creative City is thus an example of urban development in which living, working and cultural life are closely interlinked.
Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT