Unveiling Augsburg's Tomorrow: A Glimpse into the City's Ahead
In the heart of Germany, the city of Augsburg has embarked on a journey towards a sustainable future. This journey began in 2014/2015 when the "Future Guidelines for Augsburg" were developed through a collaborative city society process. These guidelines, adopted by the city council, serve as a foundation for the city's sustainable development.
The "Future Guidelines for Augsburg" are divided into four dimensions: Ecological Future Fitness, Social Future Fitness, Economic Future Fitness, and Cultural Future Fitness. Each dimension comprises five specific guidelines designed to steer the city towards a more balanced, sustainable, and inclusive future.
The Ecological Future Fitness dimension focuses on protecting the climate, enabling ecological mobility, improving energy and material efficiency, preserving natural living conditions, and protecting and promoting biological diversity.
The Social Future Fitness dimension emphasizes healthy living, holistic education, living safely, enabling participation in society, and creating social balance.
The Economic Future Fitness dimension aims to strengthen the location, connect living and working, economize in a community-oriented manner, sustainably generate and use finances, and sustainably develop and design areas and buildings.
Lastly, the Cultural Future Fitness dimension highlights recognizing art and culture as essential, strengthening values, living diversity, strengthening participation and societal engagement, and showcasing Augsburg's strengths.
Since their inception, the "Future Guidelines for Augsburg" have been reviewed and updated every six years. The current version, from November 2021, is a testament to the city's commitment to continuous improvement.
The implementation of these guidelines is a task for the entire city society, including civil society, the economy, city politics, and city administration. Since 2017, city council resolutions have been reviewed using a "Sustainability Assessment" based on the Future Guidelines.
The city's sustainability goals, based on these guidelines, are documented in the 2025 Sustainability Report. This report includes 88 indicators aligned with the federal "Sustainable Municipality Reporting Framework" (BNK) standards. These goals cover various areas of sustainable urban development involving administration, politics, civil society, economy, and science. The city plans to review and potentially update these goals starting from 2028 as part of this ongoing sustainability process.
To foster discussions about the city's future challenges, the "Augsburg Future Box" was introduced. Initially developed in 2012, it is an analog-digital future vision game. In 2022, the "Augsburg Future Box" was developed for Augsburg schools and other educational institutions. You can learn more about it on their associated website: https://www.zukunftsbox.unser-website.de/.
The "Future Guidelines for Augsburg" are more than just a set of guidelines; they are a roadmap for a sustainable future, a testament to Augsburg's commitment to a better tomorrow.
