Last night (around 10 PM), German public TV (Channel Two, ZDF) ran a documentary piece....entitled: 'Raus Aus der Stadt Landlust' (meaning Out of the City for the Country).
Basically, this trend started up. Covid-19 helped....increasing real estate prices over the past decade helped....and urbanization (negative) helped.
Germans are now making the decision to leave bigger cities.....like Koln or Hamburg or Berlin, and go out around forty to seventy kilometers....to small towns. It's not massive numbers, but it's a noticeable trend.
In the middle of this trend...there's this one odd development (called Coconat) which is catching attention. Location? About forty miles SW of Berlin....in a fairly rural community. It's a farming community which had a rather large estate (house of a Duke or Lord from a hundred-twenty years ago). A real estate development took the project and developed this into a computer-geek 'villa'.
Quiet, fresh air, small village atmosphere, no hustle/bustle, high-speed network capability. Glamping allowed (none of that rustic stuff, but more modern-like camping style). Forest and orchard area nearby. Pizza shop on the grounds.
It's designed in some way where you come in, and lease out a studio area for a period of time (maybe a couple of months....maybe a couple of years....to help you for project).
I sat and looked at the concept. It's made for geeks or IT-development. It's not a place where you'd stay for twenty years. Personally, I doubt if the majority of the folks come in for more than twelve to twenty-four months.
The odds of more Coconats developing in Germany? It wouldn't surprise me if in a year.....they max out at this Berlin area location, and you start to see two or three others develop....all in highly rural areas.
In a way, it's anti-Silicon Valley. It's saying you do your best work away from management people...in quiet surroundings....without a lot of stress.
Between this segment and the others of the 45-minute documentary.....its suggesting that the brand of 'urbanization' has hit some peak, and Germans want quiet communities without the cost....or the stress.
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