Barbecue area in the Saaleauen: Young people design their city

A recent example of this is the public barbecue area in the Saaleauen, which was officially opened on June 12, 2025 - an idea that emerged directly from youth participation.

As part of the youth participation format "Hof2040. Das Camp.", which took place in August 2024 at FreiBad Hof, young people aged between 12 and 27 were able to contribute their ideas on urban development in workshops. The event was organized by the municipal youth work of the city of Hof and supported by several partners, including Stadtwerke Hof, the media agency "anders & besser", the EIBA in the Hof deanery and the youth migration service in the Caritas association's neighbourhood.

The city of Hof provided a budget of around 7,500 euros for the implementation of ideas. Together with AI-supported tools, the submitted proposals were visualized before four specific projects were released for online voting. The barbecue area in the Saale floodplains came out on top with 38.91 percent of the votes.

Less than a year later, the idea has become a reality. At the opening ceremony, young Hofer residents planted fresh herbs in a specially created raised bed together with the "Pioneers of tomorrow". In future, these can be used by all visitors to refine the barbecue food. Afterwards there were Hofer sausages, grilled chocolate bananas and cool drinks - organized by the young people themselves.

Special thanks go to the Hof YMCA and the Hof Protestant Youth Organization, who are sponsoring the new meeting place. They will ensure the long-term maintenance and care of the space.

Further information on the youth participation project can be found at: https://www.hof.de/2040/junge-menschen-machen-zukunft

Photos (City of Hof)