Town center quo vadis ?

A big question for many small/medium towns in our country. The structural change has mainly led to empty stores (because of changed shopping habits) and brought them into a defensive position. Our town is facing this challenge, as this little town we visited today. It is Lichtensteig in the Toggenburg area.

Both towns have something else in common: working with 'Netzwerk Altstadt', the Swiss network which is helping and consulting towns to create strategies when facing this sort of challenge.
http://www.netzwerk-altstadt.ch/Netzwerk_Altstadt/Netzwerk_Altstadt.html

Compared to other small towns, ours has the advantage that overall it is still growing, but it is becoming clear, that the shops that were once there, will never be back. Three main functions of town centers remain and shall be strengthened:
- living
- meeting place
- identification

Various workgroups and different stakeholders are currently working on scenarios.