The youthful pulse of a historic city

With over 1200 years of history behind it, maybe a city should start thinking about slowing down a bit and enjoying some rest. No thank you. So what is it that keeps it throbbing?

Looked at one way, the whole of Münster’s city centre could serve as a museum. After all, there are exhibits enough –testimonies to a rich history, including venerable churches, solid merchants’ houses, magnificent town houses of the aristocracy... So why does all feeling of being in a museum fail to materialize? Even on Prinzipalmarkt, where the gabled houses were reconstructed to look just as they did before they were destroyed? The reason lies primarily in the enormous numbers of young people who fill the town with their bustling vitality wherever they go: on squares and in the streets, in cafés and shops, in pubs and clubs. Visitors immediately feel it, too: The pulse of this historic city has an excitingly youthful beat.

This vibrant heartbeat is driven first and foremost by the city’s nine universities. In this regard, Münster holds an unusual position within Germany. For on the one hand, there are the pronounced university towns – most of them usually not very big, and with the students accounting for up to a third of the population. And on the other, there are the really big cities, with populations measured in the millions, such as Munich or Berlin, and well over 100,000 students living there. But a city with a population of over 300,000, 20% of whom are students – in that category, Münster is one on its own.

The consequences are noticeable. Every year, the universities draw in young faces with new heads and new talents into the city. And they are soon to be seen everywhere – after all, there are large numbers of academic institutes spread all over the city, and in the inner city, one building in four houses some kind of academic or educational facility. At the same time, the young scene seeks out or creates exciting spaces for itself, with the aim of trying out new things, often in unexpected places: in the former Docklands and the adjoining Hansa Quarter, on a disused industrial site, or in an empty office building. Sometimes only for a short time – a kind of temporary use. In other cases, the new venue persists and becomes a starting point around which other new things crystallize.

And how does that work? Like this, for example: An initiative by a group of creative young people wishes to convert an old warehouse in the Docklands into a non-profit cultural centre. Will the plan work and will it be possible to raise the necessary funding? Not yet altogether watertight. But the annual party event on Hansaring – initially organized to gain support for the project – has meanwhile become one the hippest events for the in-crowd in town. Or the club scene at Hawerkamp, whose festivals have made it a hotspot for indie fans and performers in the whole country. And no one here was particularly surprised when the readers of a trend magazine found a venue in Münster in their search for Germany’s most popular club: Gleis 22, which has long been renowned locally for its outstanding concert programme.

But it is not only rising international stars who come to Münster to show what they can do in front of an inquisitive but welcoming public – the stage is also wide open to home-grown talent. Among other things, the University’s Music Faculty provides the music scene in Münster with a regular supply of first-rate newcomers. And speaking of the stage, Münster is also a nursery for acting talent. The “Junge Theater Cactus”, for example, is one of the figureheads of the city’s arts and cultural scene, and is also a regular participant in nationwide and international events. “And the “Neue Wände” festival, which takes place around every three years, counts as Germany’s biggest showcase of student theatre culture.

Not least to benefit from the many new heads arriving here is the business start-up sector: in gastronomy, for example, with new concepts, lots of vegan cuisine or, e.g., Syrian fast food, produced and sold by young refugees. Nor was it pure coincidence that the skater scene around Titus Dittmann should have started out from Münster on its Germany-wide ascent. Or other popular start-ups, such as the innovative drinks delivery service Flaschenpost, the accessory designers Kapten & Son, or the online medium Perspective Daily.

Whether in culture or politics, gastronomy, night life or traffic: Wherever you look, it is this constant inflow of fresh blood that shape’s Münster’s city life. It may not always be smooth and streamlined – after all, it comes up against the fabric of a historical city and its traditions. But the friction this causes generates a stimulating urban operating temperature. It is infectious, keeps things alive – and prevents Münster from ossifying.

Some interesting facts & figures (perhaps worth following up further?)

• With students accounting for around 20% of the population, Münster leads the field for German cities with over 300,000 inhabitants.
• Münster’s business sector also regularly ensures a supply of new faces: Every year, it takes on over 2,000 young people from the city and surrounding region for apprenticeships and traineeships.
• Münster’s universities only developed their invigorating effect on city life in the wake of the education reforms of the 1970s. For one thing, through the enormous growth in student numbers. And for another, that it was no longer only the children of well-off families who could undergo tertiary education in Northwest Germany and the Ruhr.
• The popularity of the education and science city also has its drawbacks: Living space in Münster is in short supply – and expensive. Creating new, affordable living space has moved up into first place on the city’s list of priorities.
• Going along with youth for progress and the future? Well, not always. The first Skulptur Projekte event in 1977 did indeed trigger massive protests in traditional conservative circles. But it was left-wing students who took physical action and tried to roll Claes Oldenburg’s Large Pool Balls into the Aasee Lake in the middle of the night.
• Manakish is the name of a Syrian fast food, with the preparation and sale of which the elbén project is seeking to build a bridge to normal German life for Syrian refugees.
• The in club Gleis 22 – which is, incidentally, in city ownership – was chosen by readers of the music magazine “Intro” in 2018 as Germany’s most popular club, for the second time in a row. Since it opened, Gleis has presented around 2,500 concerts.

am-hawerkamp.de
b-side.ms
www.elben.org
www.gleis22.de
perspective-daily.de
barackemuenster.wordpress.com
www.vainstream.com
www.docklands-festival.de/en