Potsdam-Mittelmark asks: What do citizens really want?

Potsdam-Mittelmark asks: What do citizens really want?

Next Monday, July 21, 2025, an exciting new chapter will start for the residents of the Potsdam-Mittelmark district. The district administration has decided to take the votes of the citizens into account more specifically in the future. As part of this initiative, a comprehensive survey is carried out, which runs by August 31, 2025. This survey is a crucial step to focus on the interests of the citizens in the center of the planning and is accompanied by the Complan-Gesellschaft für Local Consulting, which will develop the future guidelines of the district, such as how maz-online.de reported.

The Vice Councilor Steven Koch underlines the importance of this survey to determine the actual priorities of the population. In times of financial scarcity, the district of Klug has to plan and has already announced that around two million euros should be saved for less frequented bus lines. District Administrator Marko Köhler (SPD) emphasizes that local transport must be made flexible in order to react efficiently to the needs of citizens.

Citizen participation in focus

The survey will concentrate on satisfaction in eleven areas, including education, culture, health, transport and security. The participants are invited to select three to five topics that they think should be prioritized. As a result, the district also wants to encourage citizen participation, which plays a growing role in today's world, since many people are dissatisfied with public decisions and want to actively help shape. It turns out that citizen engagement can also promote the willingness of the community to respond to the opinions and needs of the citizens, as explained in an analysis on diw.de

But the survey not only has political relevance, but also a demographic aspect. The district will record the data of the participants, including age, gender and household size. This serves to maintain a clearer picture so that current population forecasts can also flow into the future planning, as in the document on the population forecasts in the district is.

The way forward

After the evaluation of the survey, several steps are already planned. At the end of September there will be a meeting with the district politicians, followed by a workshop with citizens in December 2025. In March 2026, the district council will then vote on the final guideline. The district of Potsdam-Mittelmark thus shows that it sees himself as a problem solver and supporter of the municipalities and is ready to actively address the challenges that are placed on him.

For the citizens, there is the possibility to actively influence the design of their surroundings. The survey link will be available on the district of the district at www.potsdam-mittelmark.de from July 21, 2025. It remains to be seen which topics the residents prefer and how they will flow into the future planning.