How should Pinneberg deal with heat and heavy rain?

More green spaces, fewer sealed surfaces and better protection from heat: Pinneberg’s Citizens’ Jury on climate adaptation has presented its recommendations. The randomly selected citizens developed nine goals and 15 concrete measures. They also proposed issues that could be put to a local referendum in 2027.

How should Pinneberg deal with increasing heat and heavy rainfall? Which measures are particularly important? And which issues should ultimately be decided by all citizens? These were the questions considered by the mini public during four meeting days between 11 and 26 September 2026. The members heard from experts, discussed the issues with one another and ultimately produced a citizens’ report.

The city council had already decided in October 2024 to convene the Citizens’ Jury. Climate adaptation was chosen as its topic in December 2025 at a joint workshop involving members of the city council and the municipal administration. The Citizens’ Jury was asked to consider how Pinneberg should implement climate adaptation, which issues should be given priority and which measures might be put to a local referendum.

A “mini-Pinneberg”

For the Citizens’ Jury, the city contacted 1,500 residents selected at random. More than 150 agreed to take part. A group was then selected from among the respondents with the aim of reflecting the diversity of the city as closely as possible in terms of age, gender, educational background and migration background.

Ultimately, 28 citizens took part in the deliberations. In the citizens’ report, Mayor Thomas Voerste and Chair of the City Council Natalina di Racca-Boenigk describe the group as a “mini-Pinneberg”. Over two weekends, the members met in four sessions, heard from experts and developed their recommendations.

At the same time, the city is developing a climate adaptation plan with the specialist consultancies ZEBAU and rabe landschaften. The two processes were linked: experts presented their preliminary analyses to the mini public and provided feedback on its proposals. In turn, the Jury’s recommendations will feed into the further development of the climate adaptation plan.

Climate adaptation should be considered across the board

The Citizens’ Jury first agreed on nine overarching goals. The strongest support went to the call for a comprehensive strategy: the city should plan ahead and take climate adaptation into account in all future projects. Fifteen members ranked this among their three highest priorities.

Protecting particularly vulnerable groups came second with 14 votes. Twelve votes went to preserving and expanding existing green spaces.

Other goals include the sustainable use of water, better flood protection and the removal of sealed surfaces, more cool spaces and shade, and better public information about the consequences of climate change.

15 concrete measures

Based on these goals, the Citizens’ Jury developed 15 concrete recommendations. The most strongly supported proposal was to green city-owned buildings and remove sealed surfaces in public spaces, particularly school grounds. Twelve members ranked this among their most important recommendations, and no one expressed objections in the final vote.

The city should therefore examine which of its buildings are suitable for green roofs and façades. School grounds should be unsealed and greened. Pupils, teachers and families should be involved in the planning wherever possible.

Two further proposals each received ten votes: making the city centre and surrounding areas greener and creating more shade in public spaces. The jury members were very specific about where action could be taken. Seating areas in the Rosengarten, for example, should be shaded. More greenery could provide shade between Miteinanderweg and the railway station, parts of the pedestrian zone could be unsealed, and public playgrounds should be assessed for additional shading.

To help green the city, the Citizens’ Jury also proposes neighbourhood gardeners who could support local projects. Action days and tree or flower-bed sponsorship schemes could directly involve citizens.

Protection from heat and heavy rainfall

The mini public also recommends publicly accessible, climate-adapted spaces. A refuge offering water and seating should be reachable within 15 minutes from anywhere in the city. Municipal buildings and schools could be used for this purpose, as could churches, welfare organisations, supermarkets or gyms.

Bus stops should also provide better protection against extreme weather. Existing stops without shelters should receive them wherever possible. Proposals include larger shelters, green roofs, folding seats, adequate lighting and, where appropriate, solar panels. The Citizens’ Jury recommends starting with a pilot project.

When it comes to heavy rainfall, the group supports the “sponge city” principle. Additional retention basins should not merely collect rainwater temporarily but, where possible, store it for use during dry periods. Private households should also receive financial incentives to install cisterns.

Other recommendations concern climate adaptation in schools, nurseries, hospitals and care homes, the city’s public information activities, gravel gardens and the more responsible use of resources in municipal buildings.

Citizens should continue to have a say

One recommendation concerns public participation itself. The jury members propose a digital platform called “Climate-adapted Pinneberg”. Citizens could use it, for example, to submit ideas for climate adaptation measures. Information and participation events should complement the digital platform so that people without digital access can also take part.

Decision-making authority would remain with the city council. The results of public participation would serve as an additional basis for its decisions.

Three favourites for a local referendum

One distinctive feature of the Pinneberg project is the planned combination of a Citizens’ Jury with a local referendum. Participants therefore also discussed which climate adaptation issues would be suitable for a binding public vote.

In total, the jury developed nine possible referendum topics. The three favourites are more shade in public spaces, the removal of sealed surfaces in public areas, and climate-adapted bus stops throughout the city.

It has not yet been decided which proposals will actually be put to a vote. The municipal administration and supervisory authority must first examine whether they are legally and technically suitable. The local referendum is scheduled for April 2027.

It is precisely this combination that is intended to give the process political impact. While a Citizens’ Jury develops recommendations, citizens can subsequently make binding decisions on specific measures in a referendum.

Now it is up to politicians and the administration

The citizens’ report was published on 8 October 2026. It was produced by Mehr Demokratie (More Democracy) and the Gesellschaft für Klima und Demokratie (Society for Climate and Democracy) as part of the joint project “Klima trifft Kommune” (“Climate Meets Municipality”). The project is funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the German Postcode Lottery.

Mayor Thomas Voerste also sees the process as an example of what randomly selected public participation can achieve. “The Citizens’ Jury has demonstrated how participatory democracy can work in practice in our city,” he said. Adapting to the consequences of climate change is “one of the most pressing issues of our time”, making it important to involve as many people as possible. Thanks to the Citizens’ Jury, the city now has additional proposals and ideas “to help Pinneberg make further progress in this area”.

Deputy Chair of the City Council Gerhard Hüls, who represented Chair Natalina di Racca-Boenigk at the handover, also praised the participants’ work. “When citizens come together in a solution-oriented way and without ideological blinkers, a wide range of exciting ideas for Pinneberg’s future emerge,” Hüls said. The Jury’s recommendations provide politicians with “valuable input on how to protect our city from heat and heavy rainfall”. He said he was looking forward to the next stages of the process, “including a possible local referendum”.

Participants hope to see action

The participants themselves are also looking ahead to implementation. Friederike Hanisch says: “I would like to see the Citizens’ Jury format used for other issues as well.”

Hamed Ali puts the expectation of political action even more clearly: “We all simply hope that this will now be implemented, that something will finally change.”

The decisive phase therefore begins after the mini public has finished its work. The citizens have put forward their proposals. It remains to be seen which of them the city council will take up – and which ones the people of Pinneberg may be able to decide on themselves in 2027.