Territorial marketing

Two weeks free of charge: a German city's initiative against depopulation and undernourishment

A small town's experiment in eastern Germany to attract skilled workers and attract young people to start families

by Chiara Ricciolini

10 June 2025

Nikolaikirche (Chiesa di San Nicola) sulle rive del fiume Oder a Eisenhüttenstadt. (Alamy Stock Photo)

3' min read

Key points

Requirements
History of the city
Denatality

3' min read

Two weeks, a furnished flat to live in for free and a city with events and job offers to discover. This is the initiative devised by the municipal administration of Eisenhüttenstadt, a town in Brandenburg, eastern Germany. The hope is to find future citizens in order to counter depopulation and a decline in population.

From 6 to 20 September 2025, anyone with a valid work permit in Germany or the European Union will be able to live for free in one of the two accommodations made available by the municipality, in order to see whether this city born of industrial socialism can be a place to stay. The initiative is called 'Jetzt Pläne schmieden', literally 'let's make plans'.

And that is what the city hall, together with the local real estate company GeWi, hopes will happen: that participants will come to the city, and wish to stay to work and have a family. The aim of the initiative is in fact to attract skilled workers, young people and people who are willing to settle in the city

The requirements

To apply, you need to fill in a form in German, demonstrating a C1 level. The programme is designed for those who already have the bureaucratic requirements to live and work in Germany. Visas and support for obtaining them are not provided. Pets are not allowed and the flats are not accessible to people with disabilities. Each stay requires a deposit of 250 euros, refundable at the end of the period.

During the two-week period, the 'probationary' residents are expected to be actively involved in city life through guided tours, meetings with local associations, acquaintance talks with companies, collective meals in public places. The programme also includes a symbolic step: at the end of the experience, each participant will have to write a love letter to the city, telling what they saw, what they felt, what they might want to build there.

The city's history

Founded in 1950 as an East German model town, Eisenhüttenstadt was built next to a steelworks. The houses, boulevards and schools followed an idea of society organised around production. After reunification, it lost more than half of its inhabitants.

An important centre is the steel plant, the heart of the city's economic life. Today it is part of the ArcelorMittal group and has announced the introduction of two hydrogen electrodes to produce green steel with the support of state and European funds.

Thus, Eisenhüttenstadt could become one of the first hubs of low-emission steelmaking.

Denatality

Germany is facing one of the most severe demographic crises in decades. In just two years, the birth rate has plummeted from 1.57 to 1.35 children per woman, the lowest figure since 2009. In 2023 alone, 46,000 fewer children were born than in the previous year. A vertical fall that tells of more than just a delay in family choices: economic instability, the ever higher cost of living, the climate of global uncertainty and the growing anxiety linked to the environmental crisis are all weighing heavily.

Over the years, the German state has introduced generous instruments: paid parental leave, or substantial subsidies such as the 'Kindergeld', a monthly subsidy of EUR 250 per child up to the age of 18 for families living in Germany.

But this has not been enough. The decrease concerns both German women (from 1.36 to 1.26 children per woman) and women of foreign origin (from 1.88 to 1.74).