The Story of Altena in Four Brief Chapters

Altena is supporting the transfer of two specific practices: the pop-up shop initiative and the NGO platform. Both practices emerged in a particular context and it is important for our partners to understand this context in great detail. Two visits to Altena during the early stages of the ReGrow City network enabled partners to explore why these particular practices were developed and how they assisted in responding to long term decline. However, only two or three members of the partner town were able to participate in these important visits while a large number of local stakeholders that come together in the ULG also need to understand the contextual drivers that have led to the creation of the two practices our transfer focuses on. We therefore decided to make a record of the key elements that characterise the context in which Altena tried to engage civil society and reduce vacancy of retail premises. The mayor of Altena, Dr Andreas Hollstein, who for over 20 years has been leading the fight against decline, created a video that documents this context for our partners.

The video tells the story of Altena in four chapters. Chapter 1 describes the slow collapse of Altena from being a prosperous town to become one of the fasted shrinking cities in Germany. Chapter 2 explains how the mayor had to make citizens and businesses realise that the ‘good old days’ will never return and how important a medium term strategic vision for a better future was in overcoming the deep rooted denial his town was immersed in. Chapter 3 then explains the two practices we are transferring in some details before he Dr Hollstein concludes with a reflection on what he has learned and why he is sharing his experience with other mayors dealing with long term decline.

The video takes about 20 minutes in total. Make yourself comfortable, sit back and be taken on a journey to a time when Altena was engaged in a desperate fight for a better future.

If you would like to find out more about how the mayor of Altena experienced his struggle with long term decline contact: a.hollstein@altena.de and @Hollstein63 (Twitter)

If you would like to find out more about the transfer of practices contact our Lead expert Hans Schlappa: h.schlappa@herts.ac.uk