"There's no problem finding affordable accommodation, there are no traffic jams, there's no rush hour, and I've never had trouble finding a parking space," beams Anika Franze from behind her desk in the center of the small city of Guben.

The 38-year-old was born in East Berlin in the former German Democratic Republic and lived most of her life before and after the fall of the Wall in the same district of the capital. But she says the hustle and bustle, a sense of helplessness about growing inequality, not to mention the dire housing situation, long made her want to leave.

Driving through Brandenburg with only local radio for company, she heard about a "trial living" ("Probewohnen") scheme offering people the chance to stay for up to four weeks free of charge in Guben on Germany's far eastern border with Poland. The idea was to encourage more people to come and settle in the city to help fight depopulation.

Franze has lived here for eight months and now manages the project that first brought her to the city. Here she can afford to rent a 100-square-meter, split-level apartment with a walk-in wardrobe for less than she would pay for a room in one of Berlin's less desirable flat shares.

"It's always quiet here, there's no noise pollution, there's less litter on the streets, and you always run into people you know, which I find quite nice," she explains on a whistlestop tour of the city that includes a quick trip across the river to eat fancy cake in a Polish café.

Thirty people took part in the scheme in Guben last year and six of those moved here for the long-term. Franze says more followed as a result of the press coverage. Similar projects have also been launched in nearby towns in the Lusatia region, including Frankfurt (Oder), and most recently in Eisenhüttenstadt, originally called Stalinstadt, the first planned socialist model........

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