Today we met Dr. Norbert Stamm from the Office for Sustainability of the City of Augsburg. He presented the sustainability policy and values of the city, and we also shared our “Future We Want” project.

Dr. Stamm educated us about the method of decision-making used by the city council. Instead of a democracy, there is a sociocracy: all decisions are made by consent, rather than majority vote. A decision is reached only if there are no big objections, and small objections are negotiated. This was a new perspective to many of us that we were fascinated to learn about.

We also saw many of the sustainability campaigns run by the Augsburg city council and the local associations, including their actions against fast fashion. One example that we really liked, the city of Augsburg has a slow fashion walking tour!

Overall, it was a highly educative morning and we are so happy to have had the opportunity to learn the sustainability functions of the city, its challenges and successes.

6 September, Augsburg