'Adopt a Street' in Offenbach: Turning complainers into co-producers
This case study was written by Florian Birk (2010), updated (2013).
Introduction
Offenbach, a city close to Frankfurt with about 120,000 residents, has started turning things around: fed up with the bad press and complaints about the local living environment, the directly elected mayor, Herr Schneider, decided to take action. In 2007 he launched the initiative "better living in Offenbach", in partnership with the local utility company and other public agencies. This also involved a communication campaign to give the signal to citizens "we care but you must do your part as well". As many "before-and-after" photos demonstrate, the living environment in many disadvantaged neighbourhoods has improved significantly due to the involvement of local citizens. Survey data also demonstrate that overall people now feel safer. But without the commitment and guidance of the professional local manager, Sabine Süßmann, these improvements would not have been possible.
Hier können Sie die Fallstudie auf Deutsch lesen (download the German version).
Objectives
The key objective of the initiative was to improve the quality of life in Offenbach, with a particular focus on disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Even though the local council had engaged in various improvement activities in the past, these had remained largely unnoticed by the public and the local press. Therefore, it was decided to take a new approach which involved partnership working with the local utility company, the police and other public agencies. Another important innovation was co-production with local people. It was also important to the mayor to improve transparency. As Herr Schneider stated "This initiative aims at giving local people, schools and communities more responsibility for their neighbourhood. But this is only going to work if the local council does its homework as well. A citizen who complains about fly tipping on the internet should be able to read shortly afterwards on our website what we have done about this. And the results need to be documented on our homepage on a continuous basis."
Leadership and change management
The project was started in May 2007 with a pilot in a disadvantaged neighbourhood. Staff of the local council, utility company and local people engaged in clean-ups, painting and weeding for three months. In the meantime the initiative has been extended to four neighbourhoods.
Many improvements have been made. For example, many street switch boxes of the electricity utility which had been covered in posters and graffiti have been cleaned up, while others boxes have been redesigned for advertising or arts projects. Furthermore, lighting poles have been cleaned up and painted and green areas along streets have been planted. The walls of subways and public buildings have been cleaned of graffiti. Indeed, whole public places have been given a complete going-over. Local companies acted as sponsors in these efforts and schools undertook arts projects in the areas concerned.
The clean-ups were accompanied by public campaigns – for example on the issue of dogs and dog fouling. Special bins for dog droppings were installed on streets and, in addition, fines of €50 were introduced for those who would not make use of the new facilities. Schools joined initiatives such as "Clean Hessen" and launched arts festivals for children. Another new initiative was the launch of neighbourhood offices with a neighbourhood cafe where local people could talk to the community organiser responsible for their neighbourhood‘.
Further mentors are also recruited through other social projects run by the local council and nonprofit organisations. "We are happy to participate in this successful project" says Kalle Hildebrand, a social worker in StartHaus Offenbach, which works on social inclusion issues. What still needs to be improved is the engagement of ethnic minorities in the peer programme.
Outcomes
Since the start of the co-production initiative, the citizens have taken part in many activities. For example, in the neighbourhood Nordend the following activities have been carried out:
- About 500 poles have been cleaned.
- About 70 switch boxes were cleaned and painted.
- 11 reverse sides of the "Pedestrian Zone" signs have been refurbished.
- 2,000 flower bulbs have been planted.
- 10 uncared for and damaged plant bubs were removed and another two relocated.
- 20 further dog fouling bag-dispensers were installed.
"Before and-after" photos clearly demonstrate that anti-social behaviour and vandalism have reduced after the "cleaner, safer, greener" activities of the citizens and the council. This positive view is also shared by local citizens: the participants at a public meeting after the three-month clean-up thought that their engagement had been worthwhile. The utility company and the councillor Paul-Gerhard Weiss also thought that this initiative has been positive and needed to be extended to other neighbourhoods.
When local people take responsibility for their street they not only take better care of public spaces but they change the outlook of other citizens, as well. As Frank Weber, head of Department for Cleansing (and responsible in the city for local prevention policies) suggests: "When local people collect litter, they visibly take responsibility for the environment and become a role model for others". Last but not least, clean-up days in the local neighbourhoods create social capital and improved social cohesion. When young people decorated the flower pots in the Ludwig Straße with mosaics, some local citizens gave them drinks and chocolate to thank them for their engagement.
Success indicators
The utility company wanted to find out what the citizens in Offenbach thought about the changes. It distributed a questionnaire at the Christmas Market in 2007. Altogether 179 questionnaire were returned and analysed. The results show an upward trend for improvement – in particular young people (up to 45 years) thought that cleanliness has improved even though, in general, citizens were still dissatisfied with the overall level of cleanliness. Most citizens thought that safety has improved as well (in particular women).
Costs and savings
The project has been financed with a small budget. Apart from a full-time job for the project manager – Sabine Süβmann – the costs invested in each neighbourhood are €60,000 – 100,000. This mainly includes investment costs for bringing about improvements but also PR.
Clearly, public spaces which are taken care of require less maintenance. However, there have been no direct savings, since before the initiative nobody took care of public spaces and just accepted the run-down state of the local environment. All in all, the initiative has improved the quality of life if of local people in disadvantaged areas with little financial investment and built up social capital.
Learning points
The most important benefit for the utility company was the co-production of better outcomes with local citizens but also partnership working with public and private agencies. As the past showed, the utility company cannot make a big impact by acting alone. Of course, co-production with local communities is not always easy and often there are conflicts between citizens with their own ideas and the utility company which has to ensure that citizens act within existing regulations. For example, sometimes citizens want to go for planting of green areas which is not in line with legal requirements or too difficult for maintenance.
However, the overall assessment is positive. Where local people have taken social responsibility and it has become visible to other citizens that people care, then there is less littering.
Further information
More details and 'before-after' photos can be found on the Offenbach website in German.
Hier können Sie die Fallstudie auf Deutsch lesen (download the German version).
Main Contact
Sabine Süßmann
Project Manager of the utility company Offenbach
Email: Sabine.Suessmann@gbo-of.de