Heat protection for Marzahn-Nord
On 22 November 2025, the citizens' jury on Heat Protection held its final meeting in the Marzahn-Nord district of Berlin. Its recommendations have now been submitted to the Marzahn-Hellersdorf district office.
The mini-public recommended and evaluated 28 measures. The following points received the most support and will serve as guidelines for the district in the medium and long term:
- Cooperation with housing associations to improve heat protection
- Preservation of trees and green spaces
- Installation of new water dispensers in public buildings in cooperation with retailers
Budget of €100,000
In 2026, €100,000 will be available for heat protection. The Citizens' Jury wants to use this money primarily to install new benches (especially in Wuhlepark), finance the preservation of trees and green spaces, and redesign Barnimplatz.
The Citizens' Jury met for three sessions between 7 and 22 November 2025. Thirty randomly selected citizens discussed how climate-adapted measures to protect against heat could be designed in the Marzahn-Nord district. The aim was to develop recommendations on how the borough's funds for heat protection could be used effectively and in line with needs in the neighbourhood.
Citizens' café and resident survey
On 21 February 2026, a citizens' café will be held to discuss the measures recommended by the Citizens' Jury. In spring 2026, the results of the mini-public will then be presented to the district council. After a technical and legal review by the administration, the district office will then conduct a resident survey on the recommendations of the Citizens' Jury.
In the resident survey, all residents of Marzahn-Nord will be asked to vote on whether the proposals of the mini-public should be implemented. This vote is expected to take place in April 2026. The district office has committed to using the results as a basis for its decisions on heat protection. The implementation of the first measures is already planned for 2026.
Mini-Marzahn-Nord
The participants were selected to reflect the diversity of the population in terms of age, gender, education and place of residence. To this end, invitations to participate were sent out in September 2025 to 2,000 randomly selected residents of the district aged 16 and over. 374 invitees (18.7 per cent) responded. Many had to decline due to illness or scheduling conflicts. From the 123 acceptances (6.2 per cent), 33 people were ultimately selected at random to form a kind of ‘Mini-Marzahn-Nord’.
At the Citizens' Jury meetings, a professional moderator ensures that the discussions are constructive and fair and that everyone has a chance to speak. Depending on the topic, there are keynote speeches by experts or affected parties. After the discussions and consideration of all arguments, the mini-public will formulate its recommendations at its final meeting on 22 November 2025.
Topic search
In preparation for the Citizens' Jury, topics were collected (‘agenda setting’) in collaboration with representatives from politics, administration and civil society. This process identified the questions to be answered by the jury and the aspects and details that the mini-public needs to know in order to be able to discuss the topic of heat protection in Marzahn-Nord in an informed manner. On this basis, experts and other thought leaders were then invited to present their perspectives to the participants of the Citizens' Jury.
The Citizens' Jury on heat protection is the first mini-public in Marzahn-Hellersdorf. The idea was first introduced by the citizens' initiative ‘Democracy. Justice. Citizens' Assemblies Marzahn-Hellersdorf’, which has been campaigning for many years to establish citizens' assemblies in the district.
Previously, municipal citizens' juries in Bayreuth and Edermünde had already addressed the issues of climate adaptation and heat protection.
Why heat protection?
Global climate change is causing temperatures to rise in Germany too. Higher temperatures lead to more frequent heat waves, which are also lasting longer and becoming more intense.
City dwellers are more affected by heat than people in rural areas. This is mainly because there are more sealed surfaces and fewer planted areas in cities, meaning that more heat is stored. Hot days and tropical nights are therefore much more common in cities.
Long-term climate forecasts for Central Europe show that the probability of heat waves could more than double by the end of the 21st century. In addition, the duration of these special weather conditions could increase by 30 percent.
More people susceptible to heat
As society ages, the number of people who could develop severe heat-related symptoms is growing, as older people are particularly vulnerable. Heat stress can even lead to death in particularly vulnerable people, especially if it lasts longer than three days.
However, other groups such as people with chronic illnesses, infants and young children are also particularly vulnerable to heat-related health problems. Basically, all people are often less productive and weakened at high temperatures because the body is constantly busy cooling down to a core temperature of around 37 degrees.
Combining deliberative democracy and referenda
The Citizens' Jury in Marzahn-Nord is part of the ‘Klima trifft Kommune' (Climate meets Municipality) project supported by Mehr Demokratie (More Democracy) and the Gesellschaft für Klima und Demokratie (Society on Climate and Democracy). The project focuses on linking formally non-binding climate citizens' juries with binding referenda. The Marzahn-Hellersdorf district office is participating in this project as a model municipality. The municipalities of Flensburg, Osterburg and Pinneberg are also involved.
The Robert Bosch Stiftung (Robert Bosch Foundation) and the Deutsche Postcode Lotterie (German Postcode Lottery) are financing the project. Their common goal is to involve the population more closely in concrete political decisions and to make democracy tangible.
The Citizens' Jury process is reviewed and evaluated by the Institut für Demokratie- und Partizipationsforschung der Bergischen Universität Wuppertal (Institute for Democracy and Participation Research at the University of Wuppertal) to ensure compliance with quality standards for randomised citizen participation.
Project honoured
On 4 June 2025, the ‘Klima trifft Kommune’ project was awarded the 'Bewährt vor Ot' (Proven in Practice) seal by the German Association of Towns and Municipalities and the ‘Re:Form’ initiative. The project makes local authorities more resilient to climate change by involving citizens early on in decision-making processes, developing solutions for climate targets and, at the same time, strengthening trust in democracy.
The ‘Bewährt vor Ort’ seal recognises successfully tested changes in administrative practice and rules, as well as projects that have been implemented jointly by an administrative unit and a non-profit organisation. In 2025, a non-partisan jury of administrative practitioners honoured groundbreaking municipal innovations for the second time. A total of 29 projects in four subject areas were awarded the seal.