First City Councilor and City Building Official Kai-Uwe Hirschheide

My guiding principle has always been to work for the people. Particularly in our hectic times, which are characterized by many changes, it is important to me that people in Wolfsburg are satisfied, feel safe and experience their city as a pleasant place to live and work. The quality of the built environment and the formation of neighborhoods are important prerequisites for this. Places where people can meet are becoming increasingly important from a social point of view. Every day, these conditions help us to identify with our city in public spaces, while shopping, at work, at school and at home. This should also apply to our many guests.

Quality standard

This quality standard also applies today with the current requirements and efforts to create many high-quality different apartments with new neighborhood squares among others in Hellwinkel. We need attractive and qualitative living space and must continue to develop our existing residential areas. The spatial quality of a city in particular is an important location factor for retaining a highly qualified workforce. As a Volkswagen city, Wolfsburg must meet the challenges of the new, industrial, digital world head-on. Our dynamic economic development needs sufficient and attractive space for an attractive range of housing and for new commercial enterprises. Being able to react flexibly to ever faster changing economic requirements is our credo for forward-looking planning.

Important is

It is important to find a balance in the many challenges and projects between the already existing qualities that need to be preserved and the new ideas that require further development.

Special attention

Particular attention is being paid to the city center. Functional and design improvements are necessary to ensure that our center meets current and future requirements. Much has already been achieved here with the reconstruction of the pedestrian zone, the Piazza Italia and in the courtyards. A linchpin of this major task is the realization of the projects in the craftsmen's quarter and above all at the "Nordkopf". The path to making the city center more attractive and more diverse in its offerings is not yet complete and can only lead to the goal if we continue to succeed in walking it together.

Challenge

A major challenge is the continuation of the ambitious innovative urban development that has been successfully implemented in recent years. Projects such as the new hotel construction in Aller-Park, the Erlebniswelt in Allerpark, the MobileLifeCampus as well as the educational campus at Klieversberg, the emergence of the new residential areas in all areas of the city, the development of new commercial areas in the north of Wolfsburg, the development of educational landscapes, the design of open/green spaces - for recreation, ecological settlement or further development of the landscape - as well as the development for mobility in a multi-layered form appropriate to Wolfsburg's growth opportunities are important guarantees for Wolfsburg's future viability. We will strengthen Volkswagen's location for future-oriented mobility in line with demand and offer ourselves as a "laboratory" for innovations.

Wolfsburg is a special city: As one of the youngest European city foundations with many examples of modern, experimental urban development and outstanding architecture, it is also important to me to commit myself to our city in the spirit of the nationwide Baukultur initiative.

The goal is to create quality spaces worth living in addition to secure jobs!

Career and responsibilities