Stories of Transformation, Spaces of Possibility: Participatory Approaches to Exploring Experiences of Change and Future Imaginaries in Wolfen-Nord
How can diverse experiences of transformation be made visible and brought into dialogue—and how might these conversations generate ideas for socially just, ecological, and democratic urban and neighbourhood development?
Structural Change is far more than a technical or economic process. It profoundly shapes people’s everyday lives—affecting memories, hopes, experiences of loss, and imaginaries of the future. Particularly in post-industrial and post-socialist neighbourhoods such as Wolfen-Nord, different experiences of change intersect: from biographical ruptures following German reunification, to negotiating new ecological challenges, to migration, processes of arrival, and the desire to build a good life locally.
This participatory knowledge-transfer project develops innovative formats at the interface of research and practice. It addresses a central question: How can diverse experiences of transformation be made visible and brought into dialogue—and how might these conversations generate ideas for socially just, ecological, and democratic urban and neighbourhood development?
Wolfen-Nord as a Site of Multiple Transformations—and Possibilities
Wolfen-Nord exemplifies both the challenges and opportunities facing (post-)industrial regions in eastern Germany. Between environmental remediation, decarbonisation, the restructuring of the chemical industry, and demographic change, new neighbourhoods are emerging—physically as well as socially—in which questions of social justice, ecological sustainability, and democratic participation are deeply intertwined. In such neighbourhoods, heterogeneous actors and highly diverse experiences of transformation come together: orientations toward the past (losses following German reunification, melancholy, (fossil) nostalgia, affective remembering) intersect with orientations toward the future (hopeful or resistant imaginaries of transformation, experiences of migration, arrival, and rebuilding a life in a new place).
To make productive use of this diversity, the project relies on participatory knowledge-transfer formats that enable encounters and dialogue, render differences visible, and at the same time open up shared perspectives for shaping futures “from below.”
A key site for these processes is the former youth centre 84. Revitalized as Kulturzentrum 84, it will also host the long-term neighborhood laboratory “Zukunftsraum 84”– an open space of experimentation, learning, and co-creation. Here, new forms of living, building, working, and social coexistence are explored, accompanied by art, culture, civil society engagement, and scholarly reflection. The aim is to develop participatory and transferable models for climate-sensitive, socially just, and culturally grounded urban development—beyond purely investor-driven logics.
A Collaborative Project: Research, Practice, and Neighbourhood Residents in Dialogue
This is where the cooperation between the Just Transition Center at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the practice partner Zukunftsraum 84 / Wolfen-Nord e.V. comes into play. Together, we seek not only to observe processes of transformation, but to actively co-shape them—through dialogical, experimental, and locally embedded approaches.
The working groups “Transformation and Participation” (A1) and “Diversity in Socio-Ecological Transformations”(A6) contribute expertise from human geography and the social sciences. Our research focuses on contemporary social and ecological transformation processes, which we understand as locally grounded, everyday, and often conflictual practices of change. Qualitative research places particular emphasis on lived experiences and the emotional dimensions of transformation, as well as on issues of social inequality, diversity, and participation.
A key concern is to make visible a wide range of perspectives: those of long-term residents as well as newcomers, with and without migration histories; civil society initiatives, cultural practitioners, volunteers, and people from different generations. These experiences are not only collected, but jointly reflected upon and productively mobilised—as a basis for collective learning processes and for developing new future imaginaries for the neighbourhood.
Goal: Strengthening Participation, Co-Shaping Transformation
The overarching aim of the collaboration is to strengthen participation, foster participatory knowledge production, and support the development of locally grounded future visions. Zukunftsraum 84 functions as a real-world laboratory in which research, practice, art, and everyday experiences come together. Outcomes such as stories, maps, visions, and ideas feed into the ongoing development of Wolfen-Nord while also generating impulses for other post-industrial regions.
Central to the project is an exploration of social participation and the local negotiation of transformation. Key questions include:
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Where do people experience transformation in their everyday lives?
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Which places are associated with memories, experiences of loss and farewell, or with hopes and aspirations?
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What future imaginaries do residents bring with them?
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Who feels invited to participate in shaping change, and who feels excluded?
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What kinds of spaces are needed for participation, experimentation, remembrance, and collective making?
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How can people with diverse backgrounds be reached and meaningfully involved in concrete local projects? How do these processes feed into the neighborhood?
