Mulhouse

Mulhouse is one of the youngest cities in France. Over 20% of the population of the city is under 15 years old and 43% is under 30 years old. This is a huge opportunity, a guarantee of dynamism to the city, in a national and transboundary aging environment. But it is also a major challenge: to train and professionally insert all young people who arrive every year on a labour market undergoing full restructuring. 

As in many other cities, in Mulhouse more and more people live alone. 42% of households of the city are composed by a single person. To avoid withdrawal, loneliness, isolation, the City of Mulhouse attaches gives prominence to the quality of its public spaces that need to be welcoming and inviting for people to invest and meet in the city. The constant support to associations - more than 1000 associations are active in Mulhouse - is provided in order to favour the many forms of living together and increases the opportunities for citizen to participate in the life of the city. 

Finally, Mulhouse also brings together 136 nationalities that interact daily. This diversity of languages and cultures remind us that we must learn to live together in harmony. Living together is also to give voice to citizens but also to the people, no matter what their nationality is, in a way that their opinions are reflected in the public decisions. 

Mulhouse has been pioneer by creating neighbourhood councils at the beginning of the twentieth century. Priorly, Mulhouse had also created Councils for Children, for young and for elderly people. Now, the city renews its participation bodies by creating an agency for citizen participation. Digital technologies are at the service of a renewed dialogue between elected officials and residents. The city will continue to innovate in this area allowing the population, in all its diversity, to create a common world that will help citizen to become freer.