Innovationandimpact

Those who admire the simple beauty of iphof’s old town today tend to overlook the principle behind the structured facades and orderly fronts. Since 1982, the city’s design statutes have regulated the criteria according to which redevelopment and construction is permitted there. It specifies the size of windows and skylights as well as the texture and color of plaster. But as strict as it may be in some areas, it is not a rigid instrument. Because building also follows trends – technical, social or political. The bylaws have therefore been amended, developed and adapted again and again, most recently on monday evening in the city’s building committee.

If the design statutes were a book, they would be a local bestseller. Almost everyone who lives in one of the 320 properties in iphof’s old town has already read it – or at least been quoted from it. Asked mayor josef mend, after some thought he would call it his favorite primer. The city’s cultural heritage is as much in it as mend’s political legacy, which he will leave to his successor in may 2020 after 30 years of service. Mend says: "the point of the design statute is not to prohibit something, but to make a valuable contribution to urban development." The challenging thing is that this does not work with a uniform grid. "Each house must be evaluated individually", says the mayor.

The shakespeare plays, which took to the stage for the first time in 2011, proved to be a surprise success: the ludwigsstadt, which has a population of 3,500, was able to bury over 2,000 spectators at the new upper franconian theater festival. Among them guests from all over bavaria, thuringia and beyond.

Especially the lively and unusual concept of the shakespeare-plays was well received. Because in ludwigsstadt, the great classics of world literature are performed in dialect, which works in an amazing way and allows a completely new, fresh and entertaining look at shakespeare's works.

When driving along the frankenschnellweg, three traffic routes meet in the regnitz valley near erlangen: the railroad, the modern highway and the former ludwig-danube-main canal, visible only through the canal monument at the fub of erlangen's burgberg hill. Although moved, it still tells of a project of european importance, the connection of the north sea and the black sea.

Germany's first railroad, the eagle, departed on 7. December 1835 from nurnberg to furth. The route network was successively expanded and, at the request of king ludwig, it is rumored that a tunnel was even built through the erlanger burgberg.

13 pen pals maintain the toedts alone with prison inmates in the USA. On this country henry toedt also focused an advance for 2020. He wants to strengthen his commitment to a humane penal system. Especially in the united states. He plans to contact 20 german-language newspapers to raise awareness about the issue.

Abuse and mistreatment

From letters, the couple knows that the situation in the privately run prisons is dramatic. Inmates and female inmates report mistreatment and abuse. "Every prison has its own rules of the game", reports henry toedt. These range from sometimes unfounded discipline in solitary confinement to male supervisors in women’s showers.