Motivating the population to cope with the demographic change

Abstract

The effects of the demographic challenge will change the nature of politics and the emphasis of political sectors over the next 20 years, especially on a local level. This calls for new ways of thinking, new social skills and a new frame of awareness to allow for sustainable development. The community of Illingen in the Saarland, a town of 18,000 residents, has not denied the demographic change, but has accepted it. It shows how the populace, politics and administration have been confronted with inconvenient truths in a participation process. The process of strategically aimed, participative development planning allows for flexible responses to new situations – even to new suggestions in governmental arrangements. For the first time we can empirically support the claim that demographic change can be controlled using an integrated development concept.