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Shaping Munich’s vibrant city center

22. January 2026

Since 2022, the City Management team at munich business has been dedicated to keeping Munich’s city center dynamic, appealing, and economically thriving.

Blick vom Stachus in die Fussgängerzone

Supporting businesses in the city center

Munich’s City Management was established in 2022. Since then, the team at munich business has addressed a wide range of topics to support businesses in the city center and help mediate between conflicting interests or current challenges.

Funded through the Bavarian State’s Special Fund "Revitalizing Inner Cities" and co-financed by the City of Munich, the City Management was launched as part of the Department of Labor and Economic Development and works to prepare the city center for future challenges while maintaining its attractiveness.

Even today, despite limited budgets and some funded projects having been completed, munich business continues to maintain the City Management as an a key interface between administration and businesses, monitoring stakeholders’ interests and supporting a wide range of initiatives.

Key objectives include maintaining a diverse retail offering, ensuring good accessibility for businesses and customers, and preserving high-quality public spaces year-round. Challenges such as construction sites, traffic disruptions, safety, and cleanliness are addressed in close consultation with the relevant departments.

 

Key projects in 2025

In 2025, Munich’s city center faced major long-term construction projects, and safety and cleanliness were criticized in some areas.

However, actions around the Old Botanical Garden (Alter Botanischer Garten) demonstrate the positive impact of targeted measures: City Management, as a permanent member of the Train Station District Taskforce (Taskforce Bahnhofsviertel), advocated for local businesses and facilitated projects including a pop-up beer garden in Nußbaumpark, a small football pitch, and a cultural beer garden in the Old Botanical Garden. These initiatives noticeably enhanced the quality of public spaces.

Other activities included extending the Christmas lighting to Schützenstraße and supporting the design of the construction fence, as well as implementing a temporary lighting project on Goethestraße.

Photo: LHM

Opening of the new sports facilities at the Old Botanical Garden

Economic impact of the city center

Although Munich’s city center covers only 0.5% of the city’s total area, it hosts 11% of all jobs, 12% of office space, and 18% of retail space (as of 2024).

It therefore offers businesses of all sizes and sectors significant opportunities and perspectives, far beyond the city center’s small footprint, and functions as an economic engine for the city and surrounding region.

In 2024, City Management published a city center study (Innenstadtgutachten) for Munich, developed by the Institut für Handelsforschung, IFH Köln and the agency Stadt + Handel.

The study highlights the importance of businesses in supporting a “balanced city” amid structural changes driven by digitalization and evolving consumer behavior. Its recommendations emphasize promoting innovation in the city center to generate new economic value.

 

Link to city center study (German)

Urban concepts for mobility and city planning

Munich has developed new concepts for mobility and the overall development of the city center. City Management continuously represents the interests of businesses in these discussions.

Key concepts guiding city decisions include:

 

City Management Contact

Catina Eichler