WeberWorldCafé: “Demographic Change – Challenges and Answers for Local Communities“

Our next WeberWorldCafé will take place on February 28th, 2 pm – 6:30 pm in the city-hall of Dortmund

Dortmunder Rathaus, Friedensplatz 1, 44135 Dortmund

If you want to participate in the event, please register before Tuesday, February 20, 2018 via wwc@maxweberstiftung.de

Many modern societies are increasingly confronting demographic change, i.e. the ageing and shrinking of population. This is particularly true for Japan and Germany, which are the worldwide “frontrunners”. The social, economic and political implications are most strongly and directly felt at the level of local communities. It is now well understood that respective local strategies need to be comprehensive, in order to address the various social and economic conditions that impact the general well-being of citizens at all stages of life, while at the same time being responsive to the specific local conditions, as no single solution can do justice to the diverse problems different communities face. Additionally, such strategies dealing with the demographic change on a local level need to be inclusive, engaging various stakeholders, mobilizing and utilizing their knowledge and expertise in search for context specific solutions. Finally, facing demographic challenges, local communities have to be open to innovation, not only in a technical, but more so in a “social engineering” or institutional sense, as the unprecedented challenges require new approaches and solutions.

The idea of the WeberWorldCafé on “Demographic Change – Challenges and Answers for Local Communities” jointly conceived and organized by the German Institute of Japanese Studies (Tokyo) and the Institute of Gerontology at the Technical University of Dortmund is to bring together researchers, policy makers and civic society representatives with proven expertise in local demographic policies from Germany, the EU and Japan, to discuss how local communities can best prepare to cope with the demographic challenge. The event is organized in close cooperation with the city of Dortmund. The discussions will take place on four tables representing different dimensions of the demographic challenge and accounting for the broad scope of the issues involved.

First round of discussion: Actors and their roles

Table 1: Local politics

Table 2: Families and generations

Table 3: Business

Table 4: Civic Society and NGOs

Second round of discussion: Cross-sectional issues – areas of collaboration

Table 1: Care – where, how and by whom?

Table 2: Compatibility of family and work

Table 3: Social Inclusion of elderly

Table 4: Financing models

Poster        Call for Science Reporters           More information on the WeberWorldCafé-Blog.