Project partners local associations, restaurants, owners of private properties of local interest

Contact data
Dr. Regine von der Haar
City of Langenhagen
Marktplatz 1
D – 30853 Langenhagen
0049 511 7307 9469
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Key words Network, involvement

Main problems to be solved (analysis) Langenhagen is well-known as a traffic knot, hosting the airport Hannover and several major highways. The image therefore is one of a loud city without any tradition, that is not worth living in. About 14.000 people come to Langenhagen to work there every day but they don’t live there nor buy goods. Nevertheless Langenhagen has a longstanding history of 700 years and remote places in the landscape. The culinary bicycle tour brings inhabitants and anyone who is interested to places of interest, where they get information on the City, on some interesting spots and regional food and tradition.

By now Langenhagen is no point of interest and people don`t know about tradition, craftsmen or shops. They spend their money in neighbourhood cities and tent to move there but not to move to Langenhagen to live here. Therefore the tax income of the city is instable as it is not from inhabitants but from bigger firms. The internal branding with the FahrKulTour (which is a mixture of the German word for driving, culture/ culinaria and tour) goes well and the second tour in autumn 2012 showed raising interest from inhabitants of neighbourhood cities to take part and get known to Langenhagen – a fact that never occurred before. Its not the real tourist but people that can easily come to Langenhagen that we want to reach. Smse that took part in the tours gained more publicity and much more customers. The combination of nice landscape, the fact that you can see points where you normally have no right of entrance, very high organisation (security and the feeling that somebody cares for you), the opportunity to take part in it as a single person (guided tours) and good regional food work very well.

Policy frameworks to be dealt with/fitting in Aim of the project: Enhancing the image of Langenhagen as a place worth living / or to visit for a day or over longer time / to spend money at one of the smes that take part in the tour

(Expected) Results Network, transporting information to inhabitants and visitors

(Expected) outcome within the WP a) About 10 sites of interest are shown each tour, interesting information like their history is written down to be taken home b) Several newspaper articles, a brochure, roll-ups illustrate the tour c) A small film like the one on our homepage shows the fun, people have at the tour – so we promote the next tour d) Now people ask us if they can take part in one of the future tours which shows that there is a major interest to know more about the city and that the identification with Langenhagen is increasing e) Some entrepreneurs like a small bakery that takes part in the tour told that they have much more buyers know due to the promotion they get at the tour. f) The Network is increasing majorly; in autumn we will have a big clinic taking part and some associations (Expected) outcome for the region as a whole (impact of the project; effects may be written in terms of the sustainability triangle = 3 P approach (people, planet, profit), i.e. benefits on the social, economical and physical part) We expect, that the image of Langenhagen is going to the better and that small smes have a better standing if they have the opportunity to show what they produce outside their own rooms. The feeling in Langenhagen is much different at the tours, people are well-mooded and there is a kind of “we-feeling” that normally doesn’t exist in Langenhagen. But what is the strategy to work on branding? The strategy is to convince people that Langenhagen is a place worth living in – and who lives here can spend money here on regional food, can join associations (like the ones that take part in the tour). It`s something to show and feel that Langenhagen is a place worth living in, working in, working for...

Planning about three months for each tour

Costs About 9.000.000 € a whole tour including film, temporary staff and PR (film: about 1.750 €)

Financing 100% VRA

Implementation of the project (cf. CAA) which stakeholders were involved? Entrepreneurs, airport, associations what process did you run through to fit the project into local conditions? The idea was born and put into realization; second time (16. Th September 2012) association joined the organisation, next time, 5the May 2013 people asked us to place their site and history as a station in the tour

Concerning the whole pilot, it is a further step from internal to external branding and a culmination of the aspect bringing information on the history of our City and about entrepreneurs to the inhabitants. The promotion firm get by it gets known better now and each time new firms can be incorporated. how did you sustainably implement the project (locally, regionally)? We hope to find an association to win as a long-term organiserbut so far only the city dares to take over all the work and the costs.

KEY QUESTIONS LIST

1 Which successes were achieved so far in the pilot project? At the second event about 800 inhabitants of Langenhagen joined the tour – they got information about their city and its landscape and tasted regional products

- what is the background / main reason for these successes? Very intensive organisation, good food, private properties to be seen and short distances to be cycled so that people with inabilities could join (the oldest cycler was 82 years ) - what set-backs or problems did you face and what were the reasons for this? We had to hire a lot of people to cover all the stations, as people didn’t want to take over responsibility and work for the project. Furthermore sme’s that took part on one station wanted to make profit instead of taking the free pr as a gift from the project - are there any break-down patterns to be recognized in the project? No - are these set-backs, problems or break-down patterns easy to solve? How? The organization must start very early and setting must be fixed – people that join have to realize what the project is aiming for – to get public relation for free and they must take over their own part - what are the DO’s and the DON’Ts of the project? Don’t trust on anyone when organizing such tour. Have a lot of people that would support you if you need them - what are critical success factors in this project? Good weather and good food

2 What are the expected boundary conditions for the project to be implemented? - in terms of policy frameworks - support - in terms of physical circumstances - weather - in terms of involvement of people / partnerships / entrepreneurs / public bodies – in long-term a group to organize it and openness from more smes - in terms of budget and financial support – the pr must be intensive, about 4000 € a tour, but in autumn we experience a new type of pr, using social media and post cards instead of quite costly calendars etc.

3 Which related projects can be studied or consulted (other innovative best practice examples) before starting to think on implementation? There were no comparable projects to be found in the internet

4 What is the applicability / transferability of the project? a) as derived from the project results - in terms of critical mass (physical, social, budget) - in terms of the needs of the region or location – can be done everywhere - in terms of the starting point for implementation – a big network to be able to have about 7 locations to be seen - in terms of participation and organization – don’t hand parts over and stay with the pr - in terms of time needed for implementation – it must be done about tthree times to get a tradition and to find persons to be willing from themselves to take over the organization in one location - in terms of expected outcome (spin off for other fields: physical, social, economical) – much better identification with the city, some smes got much more buyers after taking part in the tour

b) as derived from testing or implementation the project or the project results elsewhere. What were the results there?

5 Which tools does the project bring in to alleviate / help starting up implementation elsewhere? From our description the tour is easily appliable to other organizations.

6 Sustainability a) How is/can the project be sustainably implemented? What is needed to reach this? - in terms of organization – an association must take over it in about one year (there is one that is majorly interested and competent) - in terms of regional / local networks/partnerships / people - the network that has been built must be the basis for the tour - in terms of budget – the local marketing must put money in it

b) what are the benefits of the project seen from the Profit, Planet, and People side? Profit: the tour made the whole project more accepted. The image of Langenhagen is getting much better and smes found support in us. People start to like their city.