Gießen is a city located in the geographical center of Germany, with a population of approximately 80,000. It is only a 40-minute drive away from Frankfurt am Main, Germany’s financial hub, and many people commute to Frankfurt for work and leisure activities daily. Out of the 80,000 residents, about 35,000 are university students. The urban core has approximately 65,000 inhabitants. The city is further divided into 11 neighborhoods or districts. Gießen features a central area with an extensive shopping district. You can traverse the city by bicycle in around 20 minutes, though traveling by car may take slightly longer due to traffic and parking challenges. The city offers adequate public transportation. It would be considered a small urban city.
Surrounding the city Gießen is Gießen County, which comprises 18 smaller towns and villages. Collectively, these have around 200,000 inhabitants, residing in settlements ranging from 4,000 to 15,000 people. Fields and forests separate these settlements, yet one can reach Gießen from most of these places in under 25 minutes by car. The majority of residents in these towns and villages commute to larger cities for employment. The county of Gießen would be considered a rural area.
Partners
Aktion Demenz e.V. – dementia-friendly communities
Aktion Demenz e.V. is a German-wide initiative. It aims to improve the lives of people with (and without) dementia, primarily through public dialogue, and to raise awareness for this variation or manifestation of life. Trying to counteract the medicalisation of dementia by ‘resocialising’ it, Aktion Demenz aims to reduce stigmatisation and bring about social change. It includes people from all areas of society, who are committed to working towards more tolerance for and better inclusion of people with dementia and their families and friends via local projects.
Initiative Demenzfreundliche Kommune (IDfK) – Stadt und Landkreis Gießen e.V.
The Gießen-based initiative IDfK wants to empower people living with dementia in their social environment and according to their own life story as well as their own abilities. The IDfK initiates and organizes topic-related events in the city and the district of Giessen such as a choir, information events and visits to different locations like museums, local markets or theater rehearsals. It seeks an exchange with politicians, institutions and services in order to raise awareness of the situation of people with dementia and their relatives.
If you would like to work with the Gießen project, please contact Oliver Schultz
Funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft:
Articles
Here are the latest blog posts from the team.
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Diaries of People with Dementia: remembering, noting, imagining.
Read more : Diaries of People with Dementia: remembering, noting, imagining.
