No matter what we call the town center. What counts is who takes care of it.

On a Friday morning I like to stand at the Hauptkanal with a coffee in my hand and watch the Untenende go about its life. People strolling across the weekly market, a few words at a stall, children by the water. That is Papenburg at its most beautiful. And it is exactly on mornings like these that I notice how much a lively center is the heart of a town.

This week I read an article by the Stadtmanufaktur from Hamburg that first made me smile and then made me think. The experts there argue about terms. City management, inner city management, centre management. Everyone understands something different by it.

And then comes the sentence that hits home. Behind the chaos of terms there is almost always a chaos of responsibilities. Translated: it is not so important what we call taking care of the center. What is important is whether it is clear who sets the guardrails, who implements things, and who in the end organizes the flower decorations for the spring festival.

The problem is rarely the money alone

That matches exactly what I hear in conversations with retailers, restaurant owners and clubs here. A good idea for the inner city rarely fails because the will is missing. It often fails because in the end nobody is really responsible. One person waits for the town, the town waits for the application, the application waits for a signature, and the idea waits until nobody has it any more.

Anyone who runs a shop in the Untenende knows this. You have an idea for your shop window, for a joint campaign, for a festival. And then you spend more time finding out whom you even have to ask than on the idea itself. That is tiring. And at some point you simply stop doing it.

The Stadtmanufaktur puts it in a nutshell. Lively places are not created by the nicer term, but by clear roles. That is exactly where I start.

Someone who takes care of the center

For the inner city I want what I stand for overall. Clear responsibility with a name and a face. One fixed person who takes care of the center, whom retailers, restaurant owners and clubs can turn to without working their way through an organizational chart first. A point of contact that does not just administer, but actually brings things together and gets them moving.

That is not a new office for the sake of an office. It is the opposite of bureaucracy. An idea from the inner city should have a short route and a reliable answer, even when the answer is no for once. A clear no within two weeks is worth more than a friendly maybe over two years.

For me that includes the people who carry the center having a say. The retailer knows better than any expert report what is wrong with her street. The publican knows what is really missing on an event evening. Listen and then make a decision, in that order.

A lively center and a strong economy are the same thing

A busy inner city is not decoration that you treat yourself to once everything else is done. It is an economic factor. Every shop window that stays lit is a business that pays rent, employs people and contributes to the town. Every vacancy pulls the next one along.

In over 25 years of professional experience, 8 of them in this city’s economic development, I have seen how quickly a location tips when nobody actively holds it. And how much is possible when one person is in charge and stays with it. A strong center does not fall from the sky. It is the sum of many small decisions that someone makes reliably.

That is why the Stadtmanufaktur’s question matters so much to me. Not: what do we call taking care of the center? But: who really takes care of it? I give a clear answer to that. The center is a matter for the mayor herself, and it gets a face that is approachable.

A possibility-maker is not the one who writes the nicest concept for the inner city. A possibility-maker is the one who makes sure that the good idea from the shop actually gets implemented.

Papenburg can do more. And our center can shine more brightly again when it is clear who takes care of it.

What is missing for you in our inner city, and what makes it lively for you? Feel free to write to me, by email or through the contact form. I am reading along and I answer.