The course has been set: the district town of Bergheim has set itself the goal of decisively advancing its intelligent development. Like many other towns in the Rhenish lignite mining area in North Rhine-Westphalia, the district town with a population of around 65,000 is facing considerable challenges as a result of structural change. Bergheim now wants to address these challenges by developing a citizen-oriented strategy for the transition to a “smart city” – and to this end, it held a kick-off workshop in mid-October together with our experienced team of experts from Haselhorst Associates.