About StadtRevue

StadtRevue

StadtRevue is a monthly Cologne city magazine, founded in 1976 from the social movements of the era and published ever since as an independent, self-managed journal. With a sold circulation of around 18,000 copies, it covers Cologne's city and local politics, culture, and alternative scenes, alongside an events calendar, classifieds, and music and film reviews. In August 2025 the publishing house filed for preliminary insolvency under self-administration and converted into a cooperative, the Stadtrevue-Verlagsgenossenschaft eG, in January 2026, securing its independent future.

Overview

StadtRevue appears monthly in Cologne with the ISSN 1867-9110. Founded in 1976 by Rudolf Rau and Rolf Henke as a culture magazine emerging from the social movements of the time, it has remained connected to those movements' discourses: social and alternative topics, especially locally relevant ones, continue to define its editorial line. The magazine is editorially and journalistically independent, and its publisher was run as a self-managed collective in which the producers and the owners were identical, a structure the editors summarized as "our publishing house belongs to no publisher or corporation, but to us, the employees of the StadtRevue." Since January 2026 the publisher has been the Stadtrevue-Verlagsgenossenschaft eG, a cooperative owned by its members.

The content mix combines city and local political reporting with cultural coverage: an events calendar, a classifieds section, and reviews of current music and films. Beyond the monthly flagship, the publishing house produces the Tagnacht gastro guide, the Alma student magazine, the weiter! course guide for Cologne, the kurzundklein children and family magazine, and the Raum5 design guide, plus English-language publications including hidden cologne and culinary cologne. From 2000 to 2025 the StadtRevue organized the Cologne Museum Night in cooperation with the city and the Cologne museums; after the 2025 edition was cancelled, the event returns in 2026 under different organizers.

The magazine's address is Maastrichter Strasse 49, 50672 Cologne. The 2025 insolvency filing named the burdens of the Corona pandemic and the temporarily high inflation as causes, noting that neither strong reader support, more than 2,000 new subscriptions, numerous donations, nor public attention had been able to prevent the step. Operations continued throughout, and the conversion into a cooperative, supported by the newly founded StadtRecherche association for collective and participatory structures in Cologne local journalism, was presented as a new beginning.

History

StadtRevue was founded in 1976 as a Stattzeitung, an alternative city paper born of the social movements, by Rudolf Rau and Rolf Henke. It belonged to the generation of independent city magazines that emerged across West Germany in the 1970s, giving the alternative scene its own press outside the established daily newspapers: the squatters, the citizens' initiatives, the feminist and environmental movements, and the subcultural scenes that the mainstream press ignored or criminalized. The Cologne title distinguished itself through its self-managed collective structure: there was no publisher or corporation above the editorial staff; the people who made the magazine owned it, decided its topics freely, and reported independently on the basis of their own research. This structure survived for nearly five decades, making StadtRevue one of Germany's oldest and most renowned city magazines.

The magazine grew with Cologne's alternative culture, documenting the city's squats and citizens' initiatives, its music and art scenes, and its local political battles. The events calendar and classifieds made it the practical companion of Cologne's subcultures, while the political reporting held the city's administration to account from the left. Over the decades the title chronicled the transformation of its own milieu: the alternative scene's march through the institutions, the gentrification of the Veedel, the commercialization of subculture, and the new social movements from anti-nuclear protests to climate activism. The publishing program expanded into the specialist titles that now form the house's portfolio: the gastro guide, the student magazine, the design guide, and the family magazine.

The Corona pandemic and the inflation wave hit the self-managed house hard, as they did much of the independent press: advertising collapsed, costs rose, and the collective's reserves were exhausted. In August 2025 the publishers filed for preliminary insolvency in self-administration at the Cologne district court, announcing the step with the slogan "we buy ourselves": the plan was to convert the collective into a cooperative owned by its members and supporters, turning the crisis into a democratization of the ownership. The StadtRecherche association was founded to support the process and to promote collective, participatory structures in Cologne local journalism. In January 2026 the conversion was completed: StadtRevue became the Stadtrevue-Verlagsgenossenschaft eG, and anyone can participate in the cooperative. The Museum Night, which the house had organized since 2000, was not part of the new arrangement: after the 2025 cancellation, it returns in 2026 under different organizers.

Coverage and Content

The monthly magazine's editorial core is Cologne: city politics, local scandals and initiatives, urban development, and the social movements that remain the title's spiritual home. Cultural coverage spans music, film, art, and literature, with reviews of current releases. The events calendar is one of the magazine's most-used sections, guiding readers through the city's concerts, exhibitions, and nightlife, and the 2026 calendar edition continues the tradition. The classifieds section preserves the analog marketplace of the alternative scene. The tone is independent, critical, and humorous, in the tradition of the Stattzeitung: the magazine takes sides, names names, and treats Cologne's politics as a contact sport.

The specialist titles extend the brand into adjacent audiences: Tagnacht guides readers through Cologne's gastronomy, Alma addresses the city's students, weiter! serves as the course compass for Cologne's adult education, kurzundklein covers children and families, and Raum5 presents design. The English-language hidden cologne and culinary cologne address visitors and expatriates. Together the portfolio makes the publishing house a comprehensive guide to Cologne life, and the continued appearance of all titles through the insolvency was presented by the publishers as proof of the operation's resilience.

Organization and Ownership

Since January 2026 StadtRevue has been published by the Stadtrevue-Verlagsgenossenschaft eG, a cooperative based at Maastrichter Strasse 49, 50672 Cologne. The cooperative continues the self-managed tradition of the previous collective: the magazine belongs to its makers and members, not to a publisher or corporation, and anyone can join the cooperative and participate in securing the magazine's future. The conversion was supported by the StadtRecherche association. Detailed membership and financial figures are not publicly confirmed.

Digital Presence

Stadtrevue.de serves as the magazine's digital home, with current content, the events calendar, and subscription information. The 2021 crowdfunding campaign for StadtrevuePlus, the online city magazine for Cologne, extended the brand's journalism into the digital realm, launched with the appeal to keep reporting independently and critically on politics, culture, environment, and metropolitan life. Social media channels carry the magazine's political and cultural coverage, and the specialist titles maintain their own web presences. The digital operation continues the print tradition of independent, critical Cologne journalism.

Fifty Years of Independence

StadtRevue has survived five decades of Cologne's history by belonging to the people who make it. From the 1976 Stattzeitung to the 2026 cooperative, its structure has been its statement: independent journalism needs independent ownership. The insolvency and rebirth as a cooperative write the next chapter of that statement, and the magazine's fiftieth year finds it, against the odds of the media crisis, still the critical voice of its city.