Who is it for:

Cemetery managers and cemetery employees, employees of municipal and other cemetery organisations, employees of participating departments.
The seminar is recognised by the Chamber of Architects and Town Planners of Hesse with 7 further training points. After attending the event, AKH members can have these recognised by the AKH. 

This is what it's about:

Experts with practical experience use presentations to show seminar participants which cemetery areas need to be considered in cemetery development planning and what options are available for doing so

Demand-oriented cemetery development planning

The ongoing changes in the cemetery and burial sector are having an increasingly negative impact on the financing of municipal and church cemeteries. Changing living conditions (increasing mobility) as well as social and religious values are leading to a decreasing commitment to the family grave and thus to the local cemetery. There is a clear trend towards care-free and inexpensive burial sites, which are offered in cemeteries as well as in private burial locations away from cemeteries (e.g. burial forests, burial churches and houses, burial at sea, etc.). As a result of competition and the increasing demand for urn graves over the years, small-scale cemetery overhang areas have formed in many places, which are a burden on the cemetery budget.

Cemetery administrations are in competition for burial cases and the associated income. This applies to the ‘grave product’ as well as to the ‘laying-out and farewell product’, which is increasingly being offered by private funeral homes. In view of the probably irreversible changes in the cemetery and funeral sector, cemetery administrations are at a crossroads: should cemeteries merely be a facility to ensure the provision of services of general interest or should they remain places of burial and mourning close to the citizens as well as places of recreation and communal identity? How can the ecological potential of cemeteries be developed, communicated and valued for the benefit of the general public? And what needs arise as a result of immigration? Regardless of how the decision on the future direction of the cemeteries is made locally, the cemeteries must be reorganised and adapted to the changing requirements.

The overriding aim here is to improve the economic situation. The seminar will present key components of demand-orientated and long-term cemetery development planning (FEP). Two main ‘adjusting screws’ are differentiated: the revenue side (e.g. by securing the demand for burials and the associated fee income) and the expenditure side (e.g. by reducing the care and maintenance costs at the cemeteries).

You will receive 7 training points from the Chamber of Architects and Town Planners of Hesse for participating in the training course.

Programm 2026

Museum für Sepulkralkultur, Kassel

Teil I Friedhofsentwicklung und Flächenbedarf

I.1. Rahmenbedingungen und Grundlagen
I.2. Flächenbedarfsberechnung und Belegungsplanung
I.3. Methodik und Praxisbeispiele

Teil II Nachfrageorientierte Bestattungsangebote

II.1. Entwicklung der Bestattungsnachfrage
II.2. „Pflegefreie“ Bestattungsangebote
II.3. Neue Bedarfe durch Zuwanderung

Teil III Freiraummanagement und Bestattungsdienst

III.1. Förderung ökologischer Potenziale
III.2. Optimierung Freiflächenpflege und Bestattungsdienste
– organisatorische und praktische Handlungsstrategien
III.3. Regiebetrieb oder Vergabe (make or buy)
– Chancen und Risiken beider Modelle
III.4. Planung personeller und maschineller Ressourcen
– Methoden zur Bedarfsermittlung

Teil IV Aufbahrung und Verabschiedung

IV.1. Entwicklung der Gebäudenutzungen
– Wettbewerb um Bestattungsfälle
IV.2. Umgang mit Gebäuden und Infrastrukturen
– Erhalt oder Rückbau / Zentralisierungsmöglichkeiten

Teil V Vermarktung von Friedhofsleistungen

V.1. Wertschätzung öffentlicher Leistungen und Funktionen
V.2. Hinweise für die Gebührenkalkulation
V.3. Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Service

Seminar leader

Dr.-Ing. Martin Venne (landscape and open space planning, chairman of the board of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Friedhof und Denkmal e.V. and managing director of the planning and consulting office PLANRAT VENNE)
Gerold Eppler M.A. (stone sculptor and art educator, deputy managing director of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Friedhof und Denkmal e.V. and deputy director of the Museum für Sepulkralkultur)
Dr.-Ing. Dagmar Kuhle (landscape and open space planning, member of the advisory department of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Friedhof und Denmal e.V.)

Target group

Cemetery managers and cemetery employees, employees of municipal and other cemetery operators, employees of participating departments.
The seminar is recognized by the Chamber of Architects and Town Planners of Hesse with 7 continuing education points. After attending the event, AKH members can have these credits credited by the AKH.

Registration deadline

until 27 January 2026

Costs

229,- Euro 

Catering services

drinks during breaks and lunch 

Registration

Please write a mail to
Kerstin Hering, hering@sepulkralmuseum.de 

Working Group Cemetery and Monument e. V.

Central Institute and Museum for Sepulchral Culture
Kerstin Hering
Weinbergstraße 25 - 27, 34117 Kassel,
E-mail: hering@sepulkralmuseum.de
Phone: 0561-91893-0
www.sepulkralmuseum.de

Cancellation policy

If you are unable to attend after registering, please inform us at least seven days before the start of the conference. Otherwise we will have to charge you the full fee. You can nominate a substitute participant at any time free of charge.

Data protection 

Your registration data is required solely for the purpose of registration and is subject to data protection.