Young people in Horn demand: EKZ as a meeting point must remain!

Young people in Horn demand: EKZ as a meeting point must remain!

Horn, Österreich - in Horn, an online petition causes excitement and puts the voice of the young people for the foreground. Under the title "Ekz Horn: Our meeting point must not be taken away from us!" Three committed young people, Selina Grundtner-Zögl, Dominik Gutmeier and Kacper Szylak, have collected more than 250 signatures. The goal is to lift the ban on residence for young people in the local shopping center (EKZ) Horn, which was the most important meeting point for them, similar to a “second home”, where they could be safely and relaxed. The ban that has recently affected has the opportunity to make new friendships and to meet spontaneous meetings enormously, as meinbezirk.at reports.

Dominik Gutmeier points out that young people from all over Lower Austria, even from the vastness of Linz, visited the EKZ. The current situation makes you look for alternatives, but the only remaining option, the arena, brings volume problems with it because it is near houses. While you understand the earlier problems in the EKZ, such as the garbage, the young people want more supervision and clearer rules. You are ready to take responsibility to get your important leisure and meeting center.

The reactions of the city

Mayor Gerhard Lentschig (ÖVP) has learned about the petition and is open to discussions with the EKZ management and the municipality to find a common solution. However, the municipality faces challenges because the EKZ is on private ground and has only limited influence. The district police commander Birgit Geitzenauer also explains that the police can only intervene in the event of concrete violations, while the ban on stay is the responsibility of the owner. Center manager Simon Kronsteiner refers to repeated problems such as garbage, damage and noise pollution after the end of business.

The current discussion about the ban on stay confirms the grown need for open space for young people. These are crucial in order to gain identity -creating experiences with their peers and to exchange ideas about personal topics. According to Deutschlandfunk Kultur, freedom is essential for the development of young people. While the public space is increasingly regulated, pandemic has emphasized the urgency of social interactions. Psychiatrists emphasize that contacts with the peers are a basic need that should not be neglected.

valuable freedom for the future

Scientists and city sociologists warn that the decline to youth meeting points and the increasing “privatization” of public space can lead to a repressive handling of young people. Studies show that tolerance towards young people decreases, although youth crime has dropped overall. All the more important are initiatives that stimulate the creation of child and youth-friendly freedom, such as the research of the BBSR emphasized.

It is about systematically integrating the interests of children and adolescents into freedom planning and ensuring that they find places where they can develop independently. Whether in urban places, in empty shops or other forms of community initiatives: a rethinking in urban politics could make a decisive contribution to the fact that enough space for growing up in the future remains the creativity and the coexistence of young people in Horn.