Logo Stuttgart
Schlossplatz Stuttgart © Stuttgart-Marketing GmbH

Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart

City on the Move

Stuttgart is the capital of Baden-Wuerttemberg and forms with about 600,000 inhabitants the centre of the Stuttgart Region, which boasts in total 2.7 million inhabitants and employs 1 million people. Europe’s strongest region in terms of exports supports its strength through the automotive and mechanical engineering sectors.
What distinguishes Stuttgart and what makes the city so likeable? Everyone is sure to have a different answer to this. For the City of Stuttgart, it is primarily the people from over 170 nations who live together peacefully and together shape the quality of life. More than half of all children and young people in Stuttgart have a migrant background.

Stuttgart is also famous for its many parks and green areas, a great cultural scene, iconic city districts with a bustling club scene, vineyards in the heart of the city, mineral baths for relaxation and much more – in short: the city is all about a high quality of life. Stuttgart is modern, urban, cosmopolitan, sustainable and sometimes a little edgy. A great city with that certain something and a great place to live. In any event, we want you to discover “your“ Stuttgart and gradually embrace this city with your people, because we want Stuttgart to be your home.

City Hall

Stuttgart City Hall is located on the “Marktplatz” in the heart of the city. The Mayor, Fritz Kuhn, has his office here. Public council meetings are held every other Thursday in the large session room of the City Hall. Stuttgart has 60 city councillors who are elected every five years. They take decisions on all the important matters in the city and set the framework for the actions of the city administration led by the Mayor. The city has 23 districts. Each one of these districts has its own charm and character: ranging from metropolitan to rural. Many Stuttgart residents have a strong affinity with their city district. The City Hall is an open house for its visitors: you can attend many events and exhibitions there. The International Cities for Mobility Congress takes place here every two years. Many other national and international events are organized in the City Hall building attracting every year thousands of citizens and visitors from abroad.

Culture, Festivals and Nightlife

Stuttgart’s rich culture programme will surprise you: Stuttgart Ballet, the State Opera, National Gallery and Museum of Art, numerous theatres, concerts and museums. Furthermore, the many concerts, festivals and celebrations shape life in the city: starting with the Cannstatter Folk Festival (the 2nd largest festival in Germany), the Weindorf Wine Festival and the Christmas Market through to the International Animated Film Festival or the Summer Festival of Cultures – and if you still have energy after these, you can enjoy the trendy clubs and bars in the city centre.

From car oriented urban planning to human centered mobility

Stuttgart is well acquainted with all its transport-related challenges, which result from high mobility demand from citizens and the economy. Nonetheless, the city is also working hard on solutions for urban mobility aimed at increasing the quality of life and at reducing the negative impact of traffic on the environment. Stuttgart is located in the centre of a thriving economic region in Germany with a high traffic volume. The landscape and urban areas limit the size of the inner-city road network. Since a complete peripheral ring road does not exist, public-transport and road users are forced to share a limited transport infrastructure, resulting in congestion on main arterial roads and negative impacts on noise levels and air quality. In former decades transport policies in Stuttgart focused on private car transport. Since the 1970s the public transport network has been expanded significantly. Today Stuttgart boasts an excellent local public transport system which offers high transport standards and is also embedded in the regional public transport system. The municipality is paying much more attention to offer more liveable public spaces that invite to cycle, walk and sojourn.

End of 2017 the city council took the decision to remove 200 public parking lots located in the city centre in order to create more space for cycling and pedestrian infrastructure as well as playgrounds and green areas. The municipality also released a new procedure to enable and regulate initiatives from civil society and other stakeholders to create and implement temporary “Parklets” in the central city districts. Due to its topography, Stuttgart has severe problems with air quality and noise in some areas of the city centre. A lot of initiatives and technical developments have already been realized to improve the situation. These measures involve clean air and noise reduction programmes that include – among others – limited access zones, traffic calming zones, speed reduction on main roads, parking management, public transport priority schemes, traffic management, and mobility information services. To further promote better intermodality various measures, such as park (and bike) & ride stations and mobility campaigns are regularly carried out. The ACTION PLAN “SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY IN STUTTGART” sets the overall strategy and defines thematic areas and measures on a long and mid term basis. It is being regularly updated by the municipality and the city council.

For more information about Stuttgart please visit
https://www.stuttgart-tourist.de/en
https://www.stuttgart.de/

© Cities for Mobility 2024