About this challenge
Czechia
Challenge description
Our city faces a significant challenge of population decline.Over the past ten years, the city has lost nearly 9% of its inhabitants. Today, Havířov has approximately 70,000 residents, but this number continues to decrease. Havířov is located in an industrial region where coal mining has been gradually declining. The city itself was historically built primarily as a residential area for miners working in the region.
Young people often move to larger cities in search of better education and job opportunities, while families relocate to nearby towns and municipalities that offer a higher-quality environment and better recreational opportunities for family life.
Our goal is to attract people back to the city and at the same time ensure that those who already live here enjoy better living conditions. We want to attract not only new residents but also investors who will support the city’s development.
In the past, we tried to mitigate this negative trend through the City’s Strategic Development Plan. Unfortunately, it has been implemented only to a limited extent. Therefore, we would like to learn from the good practices of more experienced cities and experts on how to effectively reverse population decline and what potential challenges we may face during this process.
Young people often move to larger cities in search of better education and job opportunities, while families relocate to nearby towns and municipalities that offer a higher-quality environment and better recreational opportunities for family life.
Our goal is to attract people back to the city and at the same time ensure that those who already live here enjoy better living conditions. We want to attract not only new residents but also investors who will support the city’s development.
In the past, we tried to mitigate this negative trend through the City’s Strategic Development Plan. Unfortunately, it has been implemented only to a limited extent. Therefore, we would like to learn from the good practices of more experienced cities and experts on how to effectively reverse population decline and what potential challenges we may face during this process.
This city is looking for
• Partner cities that faced out-migration and/or natural population decline and managed to reverse it
• Practical advice on turning strategy into real projects
• Good practices in communicating with citizens and promoting a positive city image that strengthens residents’ attachment to the city and attracts new inhabitants and investors
• Experiences in diversifying local economy in a post-industrial/coal-mining regions
• Innovative approaches to attracting and retaining young people, students, and skilled workers
• Practical advice on turning strategy into real projects
• Good practices in communicating with citizens and promoting a positive city image that strengthens residents’ attachment to the city and attracts new inhabitants and investors
• Experiences in diversifying local economy in a post-industrial/coal-mining regions
• Innovative approaches to attracting and retaining young people, students, and skilled workers
City size
Small city (50k to 250k inhabitants)
Author
Sára Bardoňová
Czechia
Project Manager
Magistrt města Havířova
