AidA-Pilot Regions in Germany and Austria and Current Project Status in GOVQoL

In Germany, the GOVQoL pilot municipality is Grassau, a market town in Bavaria located in the Chiemgau Alps near Lake Chiemsee. Grassau benefits from a good quality of life, a strong natural setting, active community structures, tourism, local businesses and good basic services. At the same time, the municipality faces increasing housing pressure, rising land prices, traffic from commuting and tourism, demographic ageing and the challenge of balancing local development with landscape protection. Within GOVQoL, Grassau focuses particularly on neighbourhood development. The first workshop brought together the mayor, members of the municipal council and the committee for construction and town development to discuss first ideas for improving quality of life in one district. Participation in Grassau currently exists mainly through formal planning procedures and local dialogue, but it is not yet systematically embedded in everyday governance. The next project steps aim to link the GOVQoL process with local public engagement formats, including an “Ortsteilfest” and idea-collection activities for residents.

Located in Vorarlberg, Nenzing is an Austrian market town with good basic services, access to nature, cultural and leisure offers, healthcare provision, schools, childcare and active local associations. The pilot process in Nenzing focuses strongly on quality of life in relation to leisure value, recreation and social meeting places. The first workshop took place in October 2025 with the mayor, municipal council members and tourism representatives. Participants discussed what makes Nenzing a good place to live, which spaces and structures contribute to quality of life, and how individual needs can be better addressed. Key challenges identified include an unattractive and underused village centre, vacancies, traffic noise, a decline of traditional pubs, missing small cultural spaces and the need for stronger professional structures in tourism. The current status shows that the first workshop has generated important ideas, but the process still needs further consolidation through stakeholder interviews, more direct exchange and a clearer local quality-of-life strategy. Future measures may include improved public meeting spaces, youth participation, cultural and intergenerational activities, support for clubs and volunteering, better tourism and leisure infrastructure, and regular citizen feedback.

The LEADER Nationalpark Region Kalkalpen is another Austrian pilot area. It consists of 22 municipalities in Upper Austria and is shaped by the Kalkalpen National Park, nature-based tourism, forestry, agriculture, regional products and strong inter-municipal cooperation. The region has a high environmental quality and strong local identity, but it also faces typical rural Alpine challenges: peripheral location, limited accessibility, demographic change, youth outmigration, dependence on a narrow economic base, climate change pressures and the need to balance conservation with development. Within GOVQoL, the pilot process focuses particularly on citizen participation and voluntary work. The first workshop addressed Smart Villages, digitalisation as an opportunity for rural areas, the importance of citizen participation and the role of volunteering in quality of life. A second workshop was held in May 2026 with a stronger focus on civil engagement and voluntary work. The region already has project-based participation through LEADER processes and volunteer engagement in conservation, culture and social services. However, a dedicated quality-of-life monitoring framework is not yet in place. The planned roadmap may include municipal leisure plans, village workshops, youth panels, local volunteer programmes, small-project funds for associations, joint mobility solutions and simple annual QoL monitoring based on citizen feedback and project reviews.

Weyer, also located in Upper Austria, is a rural market municipality in the Enns Valley and part of the Kalkalpen region. Weyer is characterised by dispersed settlements, extensive forest areas, SMEs, trade, services, construction, tourism, forestry and agriculture. The local quality-of-life challenges are strongly linked to demographic ageing, population decline, commuting, service provision across a large territory and the need to strengthen the town centre. In the GOVQoL pilot, the focus is on the “Unterer Markt”, a central area affected by vacancy, functional weaknesses and transition pressure following the 2025 bypass. Weyer needs a realistic and broadly supported action concept to reactivate the area and strengthen its role as a social and economic meeting point. Current project activities include interviews with property owners and adjacent stakeholders, an assessment of local needs and potentials, and the identification of priority fields such as active ground floors, housing, meeting spaces and social infrastructure. Further steps include a participatory workshop or focus group with key local actors, the development of a shared vision and the preparation of a concrete roadmap with implementable measures.

Overall, the GOVQoL pilots in Germany and Austria show that quality of life in Alpine communities is not only a question of services or infrastructure, but also of governance, participation, social cohesion and the ability to translate local needs into concrete action. Grassau, Nenzing, the Nationalpark Region Kalkalpen and Weyer all have strong assets: attractive landscapes, local associations, basic services and regional cooperation structures. At the same time, they need more systematic approaches to participation, monitoring and strategic decision-making. The current project status shows that the pilots have moved from initial analysis and workshops towards more concrete roadmaps. The next phase will be crucial for turning identified challenges and local ideas into practical measures that can improve quality of life and strengthen local governance in the long term.