Jena's city center on the way to the future

City of Jena presents city center vision 2035

What will Jena's city center look like in ten years? This is the question addressed by the "City Center Vision 2035", which will be presented to the City of Jena's Urban Development and Environment Committee on 21.05.2026. The final report shows how the city center can develop in the future: as a lively meeting place with more quality of life, diverse uses and new ideas for life in the city.

The city of Jena initiated the report at the beginning of 2024 together with the Jena Economic Development Agency. The project was led by the offices "Stadt + Handel" and "Die Zukunftsoptimisten". More than 40 stakeholders from administration, politics, business, culture and civil society took part in workshops and interviews. The results of a survey of the population and visitors were also incorporated into the analysis.

Young, dynamic and cosmopolitan

The jointly developed mission statement describes the city center of tomorrow as "young, dynamic and cosmopolitan" - with more space to linger, more greenery and a good mix of retail, gastronomy, culture and work. In future, the city center should not just be a place to shop, but an attractive urban space with its own identity.

"The great strength of the city center vision lies in the broad participation. The results clearly show that inner city development is seen as a joint task," explains Dirk Lange, Head of Urban Development. "The city center vision provides a common direction. It is not a finished construction plan, but a basis for how we can develop the city center step by step," says the department head.

Another focus is the future of city management. The evaluation confirms its important role as an interface between the city administration, business and other stakeholders in the city center.

Good conditions for Jena

"City centers are changing everywhere in Germany. People no longer just come to the city to shop. They want to experience places where they enjoy spending time, meeting people and discovering things," explains Wilfried Röpke, Managing Director of Wirtschaftsförderung Jena.

The report confirms that Jena already has good prerequisites today - for example thanks to its compact city center, committed players and established formats. At the same time, it is recommended that more cultural, social and experience-oriented offers should be promoted in future. Public spaces and first floor zones should also be able to be used more flexibly - for example for pop-up stores, cultural projects or consumer-free spaces. In future, it will be particularly important to better network stakeholders and coordinate joint projects more closely.

"The city center is a city's calling card. Its development therefore remains a joint ongoing task for administration, business, culture, trade and urban society," summarizes department head Dirk Lange.