ISEK Beckum city centre

City centres are facing ever greater challenges, including the loss of importance of traditional retail, social changes, the lack of affordable housing and the consequences of climate change, such as more frequent heavy rainfall events and heat stress. Due to constant challenges, the development of a city centre is never complete. As a holistic planning instrument, an integrated urban development concept (IUDC) helps to take into account all relevant aspects of urban development such as transport, economy, environment, culture and social issues and to bundle measures. Essentially, the aim is to implement the right measures in the city centre on the basis of an ISEK, for example to encourage businesses and property owners to invest in the location.

As part of the redesign of the Beckum city centre ISEK, the challenges facing the city centre were identified and subsequently presented in an urban spatial concept, among other things. Based on this, a total of 18 measures were selected in 4 fields of action, which the city of Beckum believes have a high probability of implementation in the next 10 years and at the same time have a high impact on the development of the city centre. The core measures are the further development of the inner-city Werse green corridor and the remodelling of the Markt 1 and 2 buildings as a place for art, culture, history and tourism. The town of Beckum intends to apply for urban development funding for these measures. Further realisation of the measures can only take place once the funding has been approved

Two public forums on the development of the town centre took place as part of the redrafting of the ISEK Beckum town centre. The public had the opportunity to find out about the plans and make suggestions. An online participation was also organised. The results were summarised. The suggestions were taken into account during the creation of the ISEK or will be taken into account during the implementation of specific measures.

The ISEK Beckum city centre is also the basis for the establishment of a statute on the formal definition of a redevelopment area in a simplified procedure in accordance with Section 142 (4) of the German Building Code (BauGB). Above all, the redevelopment area is a mandatory prerequisite for the use of urban development funds. In addition, the formal designation as a redevelopment area is accompanied by accelerated tax depreciation opportunities (Section 7h of the Income Tax Act, Section 11a of the Income Tax Act, Section 10f of the Income Tax Act) for the modernisation of the private building stock. This opportunity is to be advertised with the support of a refurbishment management team in the defined area and, in the best case scenario, utilised to address the refurbishment needs in the private building stock outlined in the expert report on real estate. The statutes of the city of Beckum on the formal definition of the "Beckum city centre 2025" redevelopment area are currently being drawn up.