Study on urban cleanliness for a better quality of life

Stuttgart is a big city. It is clear that there are differences in the ratings for the individual areas of the city. Typical excursion destinations and their own residential area, for example, are rated better than the city center.

Where respondents actually identify sources of disturbance, they rarely rate them as a "major problem". The main train station and barbecue areas are at the bottom of the list when it comes to cleanliness. People would also like to see more public toilets and more attention paid to takeaway restaurants.

Our services meet with great support: how you rate our recycling centers equals or even exceeds all municipal benchmarks. There is additional praise for our employees and disposal options. And our suggestions on how we can work together to achieve greater cleanliness are well received by a clear majority.

Yes, a short report shows how the residents of individual districts voted, where the Grabkapelle is at the top of the rankings and which improvement measures people prefer. Figures, charts and comparisons included.

Click here for the short report:

Yes, the Mainz-based opinion research institute LQM, which carried out the study, specializes in issues relating to cleanliness, waste disposal and recycling management for local authorities and districts. The market research institute's database makes it possible to compare the results of the AWS survey with those of other municipalities.

The results show that Stuttgart achieves or even exceeds almost all benchmark values. In a comparison of large cities, Stuttgart is ahead: 79 percent rate the general cleanliness positively here - the average is only 72 percent.

The city's own residential area scores five percentage points better on average (85 to 80) and the city center four percentage points better (76 to 72).

Yes, for example, we are thinking about setting up a waste disposal monitoring service that will mainly deal with illegal dumping.

We are also planning to install even larger waste garbage cans at busy hotspots. In other words, where a lot of waste is expected.

When is clean clean and therefore safe enough? How do the people of Stuttgart feel about their city? How satisfied are they? Are they even aware of all the AWS services? What do guests think? The broad-based survey provides information on this and identifies where there may be a need for more action. For the AWS and other areas of the city of Stuttgart. For politicians. For the city society and its guests. As a municipal service provider and experts in urban cleanliness, we adapt our services for the people of Stuttgart to their needs and expectations: To do this, it is important that we know and understand the expectations of the people of Stuttgart and all interested parties.

AWS commissioned the LQM opinion research institute in Mainz to conduct the multi-stage representative study. Among other things, the institute specializes in questions from municipalities and districts regarding cleanliness, waste disposal and recycling management.

The practical part of the study ran until July 14, 2023 and was based on three pillars. The representative part comprised 1,000 telephone interviews. In each case, 100 pedestrian surveys were conducted at five locations - 496 people took part. In addition, all interested parties had the opportunity to give their opinion online. The online tool was available in German and - a special feature in the sector - in English. We are delighted that 1,410 people took advantage of this opportunity!

Information in English at  https://en.stuttgart.de/aws-survey (opens in a new tab)

We conducted the pedestrian surveys for you at five locations:

• in the area between Wilhelmsplatz, Leonhardskirche and Rosenstraße
• in the area of Epplestraße, Albplatz, Degerloch bus station
• in the area of Filderbahnstraße, Filderbahnplatz
• in the area of the bus station, Emilienstraße/Stadtpark, Vaihinger Markt
• in the area around the Wilhelmsplatz stop (Bad Cannstatt) with connecting routes to the train station, Marktstraße and Carré Bad Cannstatt

All Stuttgart residents and all interested parties aged 18 and over were invited to take part in the satisfaction survey online here on this page.

A representative sample of 1,000 Stuttgart residents were selected and interviewed by telephone. 100 passers-by were interviewed at each of five locations.

In the future, AWS would like to repeat the satisfaction survey on cleanliness in Stuttgart regularly every three years.