City of Jena informs about pedestrian frequency measurement

Around 30 interested parties gathered at the Jena Digital Innovation Hub (JEDI) on Wednesday, 11 February 2026, to find out more about the planned anonymized recording of pedestrian numbers in the city centre and to ask questions.

The city of Jena held a public information event at the Jena Digital Innovation Hub (JEDI) on February 11, 2026 to provide information about the planned pedestrian frequency measurement in the city center. Around 30 citizens took the opportunity to find out about the background, objectives and process of the project and to talk to the project team.

Mayor Benjamin Koppe opened the event and explained the project in terms of urban development policy. He emphasized that reliable visitor numbers are an important tool for making well-founded decisions on inner city development. Traditional vitality indicators such as retail sales or purchasing power retention are only of limited value today. Digital recording could help to evaluate usage patterns in the city center and the impact of individual measures - such as events or construction measures - anonymously and comprehensibly.

The experts from the project team and Fraunhofer IOSB-INA then presented the project in detail. Topics included the technical implementation of anonymized data collection and the planned use of the data obtained for planning and developing the city centre.

The project is being developed in collaboration with the city's urban development department, the Jena Economic Development Agency and the "Urban Development, Environment and Transport" field of action of the Smart City project. Other cooperation partners are the municipal enterprises JenaKultur and Kommunalservice Jena as well as the Initiative Innenstadt Jena e. V. The presentation of a practical example from the city of Mühlhausen ("Mühlhausen Cube") provided further insight.

In the subsequent discussion round, the main focus was on questions regarding the type of data collection - for example, whether other objects are recorded in addition to passers-by. Another focal point was data protection, including in connection with possible methods such as WLAN tracking. The project team made it clear that the protection of personal data has top priority and that only anonymized methods that comply with data protection regulations are used.

In addition, questions regarding the continuation of the measure, possible operator models after the end of the project and a possible rollout in other parts of the city were discussed.

The City of Jena would like to thank all participants and experts for their active participation and constructive discussions. The event showed how important transparency, information and the early involvement of citizens are for the success of such measures.