Kristina Krömer

Amid growing polarization and distrust in Germany and Europe, Kristina is reimagining transportation – a forum that reaches citizens from all walks of life – as a modern day, mobile agora by facilitating dialogues that foster empathy and connection. Through metro_polis, Kristina is bringing democratic participation into the daily lives of citizens – including those who are particularly hard to reach – and offering a path to revitalizing civic participation and the foundations of democratic society.

Kristina’s new idea starts with a strikingly simple observation: public transportation, often seen merely as a means of getting from point A to B, is in fact one of the last truly shared spaces in urban life. On trams and buses, people of diverse ages, backgrounds, and viewpoints are brought together by necessity, sharing time in close proximity without the option to leave the conversation. Kristina recognizes the untapped potential in these everyday settings as natural forums for democratic exchange that can inform government decision-making, improve understanding, and reduce polarization in society.

This is where her work begins: Through her organization, metro_polis, Kristina designs and facilitates guided dialogue sessions directly within public transport vehicles, enabling passengers to openly share personal experiences and views—moving beyond abstract debates and fixed positions. By shifting the locus of civic engagement from formal, exclusive venues to the spaces where daily life unfolds, she creates broader, more authentic opportunities for civic participation.

At the core of Kristina’s approach is a methodological shift away from abstract debate and entrenched positions toward the sharing of personal experiences. Rather than asking participants to defend opinions or argue policies, metro_polis facilitators invite them to recount stories from their own lives, focusing on how social and political issues affect them directly. Participants discover unexpected points of connection, and contentious topics—such as migration, social justice, or climate change—become grounds for mutual learning rather than confrontation. This experiential approach not only rebuilds trust among citizens but also helps them develop the skills needed for constructive dialogue in a diverse society.

Crucially, metro_polis strengthens democratic trust not only at the citizen level, but on a policy level as well. Kristina and her team have developed a digital platform that captures the insights generated during these public transport discussions. As stories and perspectives are shared, the app creates a dynamic mind map, aggregating recurring themes and surfacing new ideas. This data is then relayed to city officials and policymakers, establishing a direct, real-time feedback loop between citizens and those in power. This technological layer transforms everyday exchanges into actionable data, giving decision-makers access to the lived realities of their constituents and enabling governance that is more responsive, inclusive, and grounded in collective intelligence.

The model’s success has already attracted the attention of cities across Europe, from Berlin to Zurich, who are seeking to implement this participatory approach in their own regions. With a vision for continent-wide adoption, Kristina’s idea offers a credible and concrete path toward revitalizing democratic culture, embedding participation into the fabric of everyday life, and building a more empathetic, responsive, and resilient society.

Across Germany, and particularly in Eastern Germany, society is grappling with an intensifying sense of polarization and division. Recent studies show that four out of five citizens perceive a growing rift in the social fabric, with debates over migration, social justice, and climate change becoming flashpoints for conflict rather than consensus. This sense of division is not abstract—it is felt in daily life, shaping how people interact, whom they trust, and whether they believe their voices matter. In Eastern Germany, home to 12.5 million people, the legacy of a communist past combines with contemporary anxieties to amplify skepticism about democracy, leaving many to question the very possibility of meaningful engagement.

The roots of this polarization are deeply entwined with persistent social and economic inequalities. Despite more than three decades since reunification, the gulf between Eastern and Western Germany remains stark. Eastern regions continue to struggle with higher unemployment, lower wages, and weaker infrastructure. Rural communities, in particular, feel left behind by the forces of globalization and digitalization. This sense of exclusion is not just economic but deeply emotional, fueling resentment and a pervasive feeling of neglect. The rise of the extremist right-wing party AfD, which grew strong in Eastern Germany before emerging as the second most successful party in the 2025 national elections with over 20% of votes, draws much of its strength from these grievances, capitalizing on the perception that mainstream society has abandoned whole regions and populations.

Overlaying these disparities is a profound disillusionment with politics and public institutions. Recent surveys reveal that 85% of Germans are dissatisfied with their government, and 80% are pessimistic about the country’s economic direction . Traditional parties, once pillars of stability, have struggled to maintain credibility, while extremist and fringe movements gain traction by exploiting public frustration. The result is a fragmented political landscape in which trust is in short supply and the mechanisms of democracy seem increasingly distant from everyday concerns.

For those on the margins—migrants, people with disabilities, the elderly, and low-income families—the barriers to participation are especially formidable. Civic processes are often shrouded in bureaucratic complexity and formal language that alienates those with limited proficiency or familiarity with official systems. Digital participation, touted as a solution, frequently excludes those without reliable internet access or digital literacy. Even when participatory opportunities exist, they are often designed in a top-down manner, lacking cultural sensitivity and genuine co-creation. Practical obstacles—such as time constraints, lack of childcare, and inaccessible venues—further limit the ability of those in precarious situations to make their voices heard.

These structural barriers have led to a stark participation gap. People with lower levels of education and income are significantly less likely to vote or engage in civic processes, even though they are often most affected by the outcomes of political decisions. The numbers are striking: there is a 26 percentage point gap in voting rates between the highest and lowest income groups, and lower-income Germans report dramatically less trust in political institutions. This exclusion is not merely a matter of statistics; it feeds a vicious cycle in which alienation breeds extremism. In regions marked by economic hardship, support for parties like the AfD has surged, posing a direct threat to democratic values and social stability.

Compounding these trends is the decline of everyday public discourse. As traditional spaces for conversation such as community centers and local gathering spaces have diminished, political discussion has migrated to online platforms, where digital polarization is the norm: algorithms amplify extreme views and reinforce ideological bubbles. The result is a fragmented public sphere in which individuals inhabit separate informational worlds, rarely encountering perspectives that challenge their own. In-person encounters, when they occur, are often marked by avoidance or open conflict, with few forums for honest, empathetic engagement.

Attempts to foster dialogue through conventional means have largely failed to bridge these divides. Large-scale assemblies and town hall meetings frequently devolve into chaos or reinforce existing divisions, rather than fostering understanding. Many people feel powerless and unheard, convinced that their fate is beyond their control and that participation is futile. The absence of accessible, everyday spaces for meaningful conversation leaves individuals isolated, deepening the sense of alienation and eroding the foundations of democratic culture. Without new approaches to rebuild trust and open genuine channels for engagement, the prospects for social cohesion and effective collective action remain bleak.

Kristina’s strategy through metro_polis is built on two mutually reinforcing pillars: strengthening trust among citizens through inclusive dialogue in shared public spaces, and rebuilding trust in democratic participation through collective intelligence and policy feedback loops.

The first part of Kristina’s strategy, building trust among citizens, is highly effective and innovative thanks to a unique combination of setting, facilitation method, and engagement technique. At the heart of metro_polis is the insight that public transportation is one of the last remaining spaces where people from all walks of life—across age, income, ideology, and background—naturally converge. Kristina leverages this setting to host short, facilitated dialogues directly on trams and trains. These 10-minute conversations, held several times a day over multiple days each week, invite randomly selected passengers to share personal experiences on everyday issues, such as housing, migration, or energy costs. Around 25% of those approached agree to participate, creating a rich cross-section of voices.

The facilitation method is central to the strategy. Guiding conversations on topics which reflect issues that affect everyday lives (such as a city government’s proposal to reduce the cost of home heating or a city’s plan to house migrants in refurbished public buildings), facilitators use a distinctive method that prioritizes empathy and active listening. Rather than prompting debate, participants are guided to share lived experiences, fostering empathy and mutual understanding. This approach lowers the barrier to entry, especially for those who might otherwise feel threatened or intimidated. Facilitators are carefully trained in emotional resonance, conflict de-escalation, and inclusive listening, ensuring a safe and respectful environment even when addressing polarizing topics. The result is a space in which every participant feels heard and valued, and even those with deeply divergent views can find common ground through shared experience.

Recognizing that traditional civic engagement methods often fail to reach those most marginalized or skeptical of public dialogue, the team employs an iterative process of experimentation and feedback. Language, topics, and invitation techniques are regularly refined to better resonate with underrepresented groups, such as disillusioned citizens who rarely participate in civic life. Similarly, topics are often framed to include contrasting perspectives, drawing in individuals from across the political spectrum. This flexibility extends to the facilitation process itself, with ongoing feedback loops enabling the team to quickly identify what works and adapt accordingly. The success of these efforts is evident in the project's ability to engage a broad and diverse range of participants, including those who have historically been left out of democratic discourse.

The second pillar of the Kristina’s strategy goes beyond fostering interpersonal trust: metro_polis transforms these everyday conversations into a powerful tool for democratic participation, influencing policy and decision-making and improving communication between citizens and government. In collaboration with academic partners, Kristina has developed a sophisticated digital infrastructure to document anonymized insights from each dialogue: Facilitators use digital tablets to record statements, categorizing them as “Experiences” or “Suggestions” and linking them to demographic and emotional data. This creates a dynamic, evolving map of public sentiment—an archive of collective intelligence grounded in lived realities. These insights are systematically shared with local and regional policymakers, creating real-time feedback loops between citizens and decision-makers. Kristina and her team actively collaborate with governments to ensure the data is relevant and actionable. Already, metro_polis has influenced policy in areas such as urban development, asylum, and climate adaptation, with municipalities commissioning the organization to guide participatory processes on complex issues. By offering a grassroots perspective that can inform policy decisions, Kristina is filling a gap in the civic participatory portfolio, providing a low-barrier, low-budget and unbureaucratic method that delivers quick and high-quality results.

The model’s impact is evident: to date, 14,000 participants have taken part in metro_polis-dialogues — many for the first time in civic life. Both quantitative and qualitative impact measurement has shown that metro_polis has been successful in reaching and engaging the so-called “invisible third” of the population, or those who have otherwise not participated in civic life. Additionally, the results show a significant increase in participants feeling heard, inspired, and motivated to continue engaging in public discourse. One concrete example of impact on the policy level comes from the City of Dresden’s energy department, which cited metro_polis as instrumental in reaching underrepresented groups—especially tenants, who had not been participating in formal participatory meetings on the topic—and delivering insights which directly shaped key planning decisions, including the prioritization of energy consulting and the development of long-term neighborhood engagement strategies. Looking to the future, metro_polis is expanding geographically, leveraging the ubiquity of public transportation systems to reach multiple new cities and regions. A train-the-trainer program is in development to scale the model across cities, supported by partnerships with transit authorities and municipalities. Future plans include AI-assisted moderation and analysis to deepen insights and expand their reach.

Together, these two strategic pillars—dialogue in shared spaces and structured policy feedback—form a replicable, scalable model for rebuilding democratic culture from the ground up.

Kristina’s journey is marked by a relentless search for empowerment and meaning. Studying political science, sociology and peace and conflict studies in Marburg, Kristina began committing herself to social change. She immersed herself in grassroots democratic housing projects, where she honed her skills in group facilitation, consensus-building, and collective decision-making. These experiences laid the foundation for her entrepreneurial approach: developing and testing methods to address societal conflict through inclusive dialogue.

Kristina’s insight that societal polarization mirrors unresolved personal and collective trauma led her to explore new formats for civic engagement. Her breakthrough came during a period of heightened tension in Dresden, where she observed how everyday conflicts—especially on crowded trams—reflected deeper societal fractures. It was here that she conceived the idea of shifting civic education from formal institutions into the shared, dynamic space of public transportation.

Over the years, Kristina has continuously refined her facilitation methods, building a model that is both scalable and deeply human-centered. Her work has earned national recognition: she received the German Commitment Award in 2023, was honored by Deutsche Bahn in the Lausitz region, and was named one of “100 People Who Give Hope to Germany” by Der Spiegel in 2025. Her story and impact have been widely covered in national media.