This year's Annual Congress of Aktion Mensch, entitled ‘Shaping change – municipalities become inclu-sive’, began on 26 November in Erfurt. Armin von Buttlar (member of the Aktion Mensch board) gave the welcoming remarks, which were followed by an introduction to the topic by Theo Koll (chairman of the Aktion Mensch board of trustees). Angelina Göb was invited as a keynote speaker and presented the findings from two Hannover-based projects conducted within the BMBF-funded Research Intitute Social Cohesion (RISC) to an audience of around 360 participants on the topic of ‘Social cohesion at the local level’. From a socio-spatial perspective, she discussed how social cohesion can be promoted local-ly in times of crisis and who and what is needed to do so. With a focus on an inclusive, democratically designed local neighbourhood, the discussion then turned to how collective responsibility and mutual understanding can be developed and strengthened.
