"Summer of Pioneers"
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
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Project Description
The "Summer of Pioneers" is a project for “trial” living and co-working in rural areas. For 6 months, 20 selected creatives and knowledge workers ("pioneers") are provided affordable, furnished living spaces as well as co-working spaces in a previously vacant castle by the participating municipality, Tengen in southern Germany. In return, the pioneers contribute to the community with new impulses and cultural activities, and thus contribute to the revitalization of otherwise neglected areas.
Geographical Scope
Project Region
Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Description of the project
Summary
The Summer of Pioneers is a proven concept for “trial” living and co-working in rural areas in Germany. As part of an application procedure, 20 creatives and knowledge workers ("pioneers") were selected and were being provided affordable, furnished living spaces as well as an especially designed co-working space in a previously empty castle by the participating German municipality, Tengen in Southern Germany. In return for this "all-round care package", the pioneers contribute to the community with new impulses, ideas and specific projects, cultural activities in cooperation with the local community, and thus contribute to the revitalization of otherwise rural areas and to the conversion of a previously emtpy place into a meet-up place for the entire community (see Schloss Blumenfeld).
The first Summer of Pioneers took place in 2019 in Wittenberge / Brandenburg. Due the huge and internationally acknowledged success of the project, more “Summer of Pioneers” projects were implemented in the following years in different regions of Germany - among them Tengen in southern Baden-Württemberg, where the project started in June 2021. In this context, Tengen is exemplary for many other small towns and rural areas in Germany: scenic beauty, but high vacancy rates and many young people leaving the region due to a lack of suitable housing options and office spaces.
On the other hand, a growing number of urban creatives and location-independent workers are getting tired of living in big cities and long for a quieter life in the countryside but are lacking community and office spaces in rural areas. Our Summer of Pioneers takes on the dilemma of both sides and turn it into a win-win-situation - both for the participating pioneers as well as the hosting municipalities.
Key objectives for sustainability
For the Summer of Pioneers, 20 creative and digital workers were invited to Tengen to start a "rural life on trial". The pioneers were provided with free coworking space and furnished living space for just €150 per month in the historic Blumenfeld Castle, which was previoulsy empty and not in use. In return, they got involved in volunteer projects on site, make their knowledge and network available to initiatives for the common good, and host cutural events open to the public.
For the project in Tengen, the vacant Blumenfeld Castle directly near the town centre had been reactivated. In terms of its location and structural design, the historic building from the 16th century offers an ideal projection surface for the longing of the participants of the Summer of Pioneers. Until 2017, a nursing home was housed in the historic castle, and since then the building was empty. Also due to its former history of use, the castle offers an ideal room layout, sufficient residential units and generous space for coworking spaces. The vacancy was secured in a relatively good condition and could thus be reactivated relatively easily by the municipality and transferred to a new, permanent and progressive use.
The project is a great example of utilizing existing infrastructure to serve a new common purpose: The renovation of the castle was done in a cost-efficient way and it is now serving as a central hub for the local community with cutural events and a café which is run by one of the pioneers. With our project, the historic castle was revitalized while at the same time, the pioneers faciliated the transformation process for the entire region.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The following goals were the key objectives of our project:
- Revitalizing the castle
- Finding a sustainable model to operate the castle and cafe
- Bringing new impulses and ideas to the region
- Activate local citizens and integrate them into a public welfare-oriented model.
With the Summer of Pioneers in Tengen, the previously empty/unused historic Blumenfeld Castle has been transformed into a place of the future where cultural events take place, temporary workplaces can be booked and where living space has been created for the participants of the Summer of Pioneers. In 2022, the Schlosscafe will also reopen and serve as a meeting place for citizens (https://schloss-blumenfeld.de/). Furthermore, the coworking space will be open to all people in the region, and the combination of temporary housing and coworking space will test the extent to which Blumenfeld Castle is also suitable for creative retreats for individuals or entire teams. For the first time in many years, we were also able to provide space in the Schlosscafé for a regulars' table for the residents of Blumenfeld and Tengen.
Key objectives for inclusion
By bringing creatives from the big cities to the countryside as a group, we ensure a highly dynamic framework that leads to quick results. The pioneers are selected on the basis of concrete project ideas. We provide furnished apartments and a coworking space. In return, they contribute with volunteer work. When selecting the pioneers, we look for participants who are interested in community, the common good and cooperation. By setting a clear goal of completing at least one project within six months, we ensure a high speed of implementation. Agile coaches accompany the process and ensure smooth processes and sensitize the group to typical behavior patterns. In this way, internal tensions are identified and addressed at an early stage. The municipality is a close partner and thus ensures that there is a close connection with local citizens. Formats such as the regulars' table and numerous public events at the castle have also led to the project not only being accepted but actively supported by the local people. Currently, an association is being founded under the leadership of the pioneers, in which the citizens are members and which is to represent a pillar of the future operator consortium.
Results in relation to category
The Summer of Pioneers in Tengen was a huge success in terms of prioritising the places and people that need it the most: Many rural areas suffer from high vacancy rates and a lack of well-educated, young citizens. Our project tackled this problem on both sides by transforming the historic Blumenfeld castle, which had been empty for several years, into a local meeting point not only for the citizens of the region, but also for the participants by providing affordable coworking and coliving spaces. In the future, the café shall be operated by a local citizen and one of the particants will initiate a civic engagement process in order to motivate local citizens to participate in the transformation of the historic Blumenfeld castle.
Furthermore, a few of the participants will remain in Tengen after the end of the official project, and will continue working from there. Hence, the project also helped Tengen to position itself as an attractive location for location-independent workers. Due to the corona pandemic, more and more people are able to work remotely, and we strongly believe that this trend will continue to grow in the future.
In summary, the project achieved several goals: It revitalized and transformed the historic castle into a local meetup spot, it helped reducing vacancies and it helped bringing people from different regions and different social backgrounds together to work on non-profit iniatives to transform rural - and otherwise oftentimes neglected - areas.
How Citizens benefit
The Summer of Pioneers offers low-threshold cultural and leisure activities for all interested citizens by giving back a so-called third place, including a regulars' table, to the village with the castle café. One of articipant in the extended region will also carry out a citizen participation process, which among other things has the goal of activating the citizens to cooperate in order to be able to hand over the operation of the castle, at least in part, from the pioneers into the hands of the citizens.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
Rural areas are becoming a place of longing for more and more people who can work remotely, but there is a lack of appropriate housing options for this target group, while at the same time, many communities suffer from very high vacancy rates. The Summer of Pioneers in Tengen solves these problems in an innovative way: By reactivating Blumenfeld Castle, empty spaces are revived, new living space are made available in a way that is suitable for the target group, and energetic participants are invited to support the transformation process in the community and in the wider region. The results developed in Tengen in the project are transferable to many other towns and communities in Baden-Württemberg as well as nationwide.
Furthermore, by setting up a coworking space in the castle, the conditions for digital working in the countryside were created - and Tengen was positioned as an attractive place to live for creative and digital workers. In collaboration with Fraunhofer IAO, the prototype of a digital booking tool was developed during the SoP co-creatively (https://blog.iao.fraunhofer.de/pioniere-fuer-laendliche-gemeinden-wie-aus-leerstand-innovationsraeume-entstehen-koennen/). Digital tools were also used for community management and public relations. Newsletters, the project's own website (https://tengen-pioneers.de/), and a broad multi-media campaign were used to promote the project nationwide.
Learning transferred to other parties
The project is 100 % transferable not only to territories in Germany, but territories worldwide that face a similar situation: a growing number of
mobile workers, who are tired of living in the big cities and on the other hand rural regions that are desperate for young and creative talent to settle, in order for the region to remain/become viable in the future. The Summer of Pioneers has sucessfully been implemented in several municipalities in Germany: Wittenberge, Tengen, Homberg and Altena, and there will be more locations in 2022. The results developed in Tengen in the project are transferable to many other towns and communities in Baden-Württemberg as well as nationwide and internationally.
