Münster, 8 September 2025 – Two events, one clear picture. At the city's kick-off event at the Ratsgymnasium and at the Volt information stand on Ludgeristraße, everything revolved around affordable housing. Vocational training often remained invisible, even though Münster needs precisely these skilled workers. The prison complex (JVA) is one of a kind and should not stay hidden behind walls. It should be opened up and used as a lively place for living, learning, working and culture.
Münster, 8 September 2025 – Two events, one clear picture. At the city's kick-off event at the Ratsgymnasium and at the Volt information stand on Ludgeristraße, everything revolved around affordable housing. Vocational training often remained invisible, even though Münster needs precisely these skilled workers.
The prison complex (JVA) is one of a kind and should not stay hidden behind walls. It should be opened up and used as a lively place for living, learning, working and culture. Many people would like the city to exercise its pre-emption right and Wohn- und Stadtbau to create housing that is reliably affordable.
At the Volt stand, it became clear what is missing: short-term accommodation for block-release teaching, affordable rooms in shared flats, hands-on learning spaces, social meeting places, space for culture, accessible green space and solar panels. One person even came up with the idea of an escape room. Our answer was simple and memorable: build a way out of the walls. That is exactly how Volt sees the Freedom Campus. Vocational training steps out of the margins and gets a visible address in the heart of the neighbourhood – Münster's castle for apprentices next to the students' palace.
Sven Konopka sums it up like this: “Housing dominates the debate; vocational training disappears until you raise it. If Münster wants to keep its skilled workers, we need places where people live, learn and work – affordable, accessible, impossible to miss. The historic building keeps its dignity and takes on a role that serves this city today.”
Volt is pursuing a clear course. The city secures room for manoeuvre, examines a municipal purchase and commissions Wohn- und Stadtbau. Within the existing buildings, short-term accommodation, rooms in shared flats and genuine places for practical training will be created. This is how the former prison becomes the Freedom Campus. Walls turn into opportunity. The message remains: Münster is giving its apprentices a castle.
