Post-Corona-City: RWTH and the City of Aachen Develop Perspectives Cooperatively

For the development of city centers, the Corona crisis acts like a magnifying glass. Even before the pandemic, the transformation of the retail sector was the subject of intense debate in Aachen. How does the focus on online shopping change the behavior and needs of citizens and visitors? How does it change shopping streets and pedestrian zones? What are the characteristics of an attractive city center today and in the future? What problems urgently need to be addressed? And what challenges will arise when the world of work and people's leisure time behavior change in equal measure, for example as a result of increasing work in home office.

RWTH Aachen University is now researching this complex field in close cooperation with the city of Aachen as part of the project Post-Corona City: Ideas and Concepts for Resilient Urban Development. The goal is to find practical approaches to solutions on the ground. What will our inner city of tomorrow look like? What can we do today to create high-quality recreational spaces and appealing places in the city center? What opportunities and potentials lie in the challenges that the current Corona situation presents us with?

The interdisciplinary Aachen science and city team is one of 13 projects that have been selected throughout Germany. A total of 222 applications were received by the National Urban Development Policy - a joint initiative of the federal, state and local governments. The federal government is funding the entire project call with 3.5 million euros. 350,000 euros of this will now flow to Aachen.