"Hamburg doesn't have a reputation problem. Hamburg increasingly has a problem of importance," says Andres. The crucial question is not whether Hamburg is attractive, but rather what the city wants to stand for in ten or 20 years. The study distinguishes between general satisfaction with life in Hamburg and emotional perception of the city. 66 percent say that their daily experiences damage their image of Hamburg. 76 percent believe that the city relies more on emotional capital that was built up in previous decades.
Hamburg is losing its own atmosphere
The alienation is particularly evident in the feeling for the city. 69 percent see Hamburg as less typical than before. 68 percent observe a loss of the specific Hamburg atmosphere, 64 percent consider the city to be increasingly interchangeable. For 63 percent, their own relationship with Hamburg has become more ambivalent.
But the institute does not see this ambivalence as indifference. On the contrary: criticism is often particularly harsh among those who feel a close connection to Hamburg. They react more sensitively to changes because they compare the present with a strong image of the city.
The BSI describes this tension as the distance between the “Hamburg in your head” and the “Hamburg on your doorstep”. On the one hand there is the harbor and the Elbe, the Alster, cosmopolitanism, merchant tradition, culture and Hanseatic understatement. On the other hand, those surveyed experience traffic jams, permanent construction sites, high housing costs, closed clubs, a weaker city center and a lack of common direction.
Clubs and bars create more belonging than pop-ups
The change in urban culture is perceived as particularly serious. 73 percent observe a loss of independent cultural places. 70 percent register the disappearance of bars, clubs and independent offers. 72 percent are convinced that temporary events and pop-ups cannot replace a long-term urban culture. “A city can host more and more events and at the same time lose cultural substance,” says Andres. An event produces visitor frequency. On the other hand, a club, a bar or a cultural place that has grown over the years creates a sense of belonging.
Younger people in Hamburg in particular are more oriented towards short-term scenes, smaller events and social groups. At the same time, they are particularly frustrated by the loss of permanent cultural sites.
A lot of construction, little progress felt
Traffic, construction sites and lengthy infrastructure projects also shape the perception of Hamburg. 75 percent experience the city as slower. 67 percent have the feeling that the interests of citizens are not sufficiently taken into account when making changes. “A city can be constantly building and still feel like it’s not moving forward,” says Andres. In the long run, the daily stress creates a fundamental feeling of standstill.
According to the study, respondents do not generally reject ecological changes. They judge the implementation, the priorities set and the suitability of individual measures for everyday use more critically. Approval of the goals is obviously greater than satisfaction with the way there.
Everyone lives in their own Hamburg
At the same time, the city as a whole is losing importance compared to the personal environment. For 65 percent, the immediate neighborhood is now more important for their own experience of Hamburg than the city as a whole. 62 percent are observing greater formation of social bubbles.
The institute therefore describes Hamburg as a kind of urban archipelago that consists of spatial, cultural and social islands. The identification with Hamburg will not disappear. But the thought that comes up more and more often is: “This is my Hamburg.”
Don't long for yesterday, but for tomorrow
The study sees an unusual finding in a new form of nostalgia. 69 percent don't just miss the old Hamburg. Rather, they lack a convincing idea of what new Hamburg should emerge. 71 percent think it used to be clearer what the city stood for. The BSI calls this attitude “Futureless Nostalgia”, a nostalgia without an image of the future. “People don’t want to go back,” says Andres. “They are looking for an image that is as strong as what Hamburg once stood for.”
