Author: burkhard

Insight Session: Bringing Nature Back into Bhutan’s Urban Future

Posted on by burkhard

As Bhutan’s towns and municipalities continue to grow, they face the challenge of accommodating urban development while preserving the country’s strong environmental legacy. Urban heat, flooding, habitat loss and changing relationships between people and nature are making new approaches to urban development increasingly important.

In this virtual Connective Cities Insight Session, the Bhutan Ecological Society (BES) will share how Nature-based Solutions and eco-regenerative development can help create greener, healthier and more climate-resilient urban areas.

Drawing on practical and emerging initiatives from across Bhutan, the session will explore how biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration, green-blue infrastructure, recreation and community development can be integrated into urban development.

A particular focus will be the planned Eco-Regenerative Park at Rinchending, Phuentsholing, where biodiversity conservation, green space, nature interpretation, sustainable recreation, wellness, regenerative tourism and benefits for local communities are being brought together. Further examples from Samdrup Jongkhar and the Gelephu Mindfulness City landscape will illustrate how ecological restoration and nature-based experiences can contribute to more resilient and liveable urban areas.

The session will feature

  • Nawang Norbu, Executive Director, Bhutan Ecological Society
    Setting the Scene: Nature, Climate Resilience and Bhutan’s Urban Future
  • Namgay Dendup, Nature-based Solutions Specialist, Bhutan Ecological Society
    Bringing Nature Back into Bhutan’s Urban Future: Nature-Based Solutions in Practice

 

The presentations will be followed by an open discussion and exchange with participants, offering municipalities and practitioners from different regions an opportunity to reflect on Bhutan’s experiences and share how Nature-based Solutions are being translated into practical and locally appropriate urban interventions in their own contexts.

Date: Thursday, 22 October 2026
Time: 10:00–11:00 CEST
Format: Online
Language: English

More information and registration: https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/1616

Call for Participation – Global Green Sports: Implementing Sustainability Strategies for Major Sports Events

Posted on by burkhard

Version française ci-dessous

Major sports events inspire billions of people worldwide – while also standing at the centre of the global sustainability debate. How can cities design major sports events in ways that create ecological, social, and economic added value? Which solutions are already proving successful in practice – and what can cities learn from one another?

In Berlin, these questions are being explored intensively. Together with Connective Cities, the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and the Berlin Senate Department for the Interior and Sport are inviting five additional German and six international municipalities to participate in a dialogue event on sustainability strategies for major sports events.

Who is the call for participation addressed to?

We look forward to welcoming two experts from your municipality, particularly from the fields of event management, sports, sustainability & climate action or Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

The event language is English. Travel costs will be covered by Connective Cities.

How can you participate?

If you would like to participate in the dialogue event, please send us the following information via email:

  • the name of your municipality / organisation (including universities or NGOs) and your role/function,
  • a short description of a project from your municipality that you would like to present to the other participants as a good practice. You are also welcome to describe a local challenge you are currently facing and would like to discuss with the other municipal experts.

 

Applications still possible. If you are interested, please contact us as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:
Nikola Krause, project coordinator Connective Cities
nikola.krause@engagement-global.de; +49 (0)228 20717 2922 and connective-cities@engagement-global.de

Further information can be found in the Call for Participation (download on the right).

Appel à candidatures – Global Green Sports : mise en œuvre de stratégies de durabilité pour les grands événements sportifs

Invitation adressée aux experts municipaux à participer à la rencontre de dialogue à Berlin, du 20 au 22 octobre 2026

Les grands événements sportifs enthousiasment des milliards de personnes – tout en étant au coeur du débat mondial sur la durabilité. Comment les communes peuvent-elles organiser les grands événements sportifs
de manière à créer une valeur ajoutée écologique, sociale et économique ? Quelles solutions fonctionnent déjà dans la pratique – et que peut-on apprendre les uns des autres ?

À Berlin, les responsables s’occupent déjà activement de ces questions. Aujourd’hui, l’arrondissement de Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf et l’administration sénatoriale chargée des affaires intérieures et des sports, en collaboration avec Connective Cities, invitent 5 autres communes allemandes et 6 communes internationales à échanger, lors d’une rencontre de dialogue, sur les stratégies de durabilité pour les grands événements sportifs.

À qui s’adresse cet appel à participation ?

Nous nous réjouissons de la participation de deux experts de votre commune, notamment issus des domaines de la gestion d’événements, du sport, de l’éducation au développement durable ou des services de l’ordre public.

La langue de l’événement est l’anglais. Les frais de déplacement seront pris en charge par Connective Cities.

Comment participer ?

Si vous souhaitez participer à cet événement de dialogue, veuillez nous envoyer les informations suivantes par e-mail :

le nom de votre municipalité / organisation (y compris les universités ou les ONG) et votre rôle/fonction, une brève description d’un projet de votre municipalité que vous souhaiteriez présenter aux autres participants en tant que bonne pratique. Vous pouvez également décrire un défi local auquel vous êtes actuellement confronté et dont vous aimeriez discuter avec les autres experts municipaux.

Il est toujours possible de postuler. Si cette offre vous intéresse, veuillez nous contacter dans les plus brefs délais.

Vous trouverez toutes les informations complémentaires dans
l’appel à participation [pdf]

Si vous avez des questions, n’hésitez pas à nous contacter:

Nikola Krause, coordinatrice du projet Connective Cities
nikola.krause@engagement-global.de ; +49 (0)228 20717 2922 et connective-cities@engagement-global.de

When Facts Come Under Pressure: Strengthening Municipalities Against Disinformation

Posted on by burkhard

Українська версія [pdf]

How can municipalities effectively counter disinformation, build trust and communicate reliably, even in times of crisis?

Disinformation and polarising narratives are posing increasing challenges for municipalities. False information can undermine trust in local institutions, intensify social tensions and spread rapidly, particularly in times of crisis. It is therefore all the more important for municipalities to be prepared and able to communicate quickly, credibly and effectively.

These questions are at the heart of the Connective Cities expert forum “When Facts Come Under Pressure: Strengthening Municipalities Against Disinformation”, taking place on 8 October 2026 from 14:00 to 16:30 in Berlin.

The expert forum is part of the 8th German-Ukrainian Municipal Partnership Conference, taking place from 7 to 9 October 2026. The conference brings together German and Ukrainian municipal representatives and other actors engaged in the partnership network to exchange experiences and successful approaches, discuss current challenges in their cooperation, and further strengthen municipal resilience and German-Ukrainian partnerships.

Learning from municipal practice

The expert forum focuses on the concrete challenges faced by cities and municipalities: How can a local administration recognise when disinformation is spreading? When and how should it respond? What roles do mayors, communication teams, local media and civil society play? And how can municipalities build trust so that citizens turn to reliable municipal information, particularly in times of crisis?

The forum brings together German and Ukrainian perspectives and experiences. Ukrainian municipalities face particularly intense information pressure under the conditions of Russia’s war of aggression. Their experience in crisis communication, responding to rumours and false information, and establishing reliable information channels provide important insights for mutual learning and exchange.

Alongside expert inputs and examples from municipal practice, the forum will place a strong emphasis on joint learning. In an interactive crisis scenario, German and Ukrainian participants will work together to explore how a municipality can respond when false information spreads rapidly and creates immediate pressure to act and communicate.

Participants will gain practical insights and concrete approaches to prevention, monitoring and crisis communication and exchange strategies for making municipalities and their partnerships more resilient to disinformation and societal polarisation.

Further information on the contributors and the detailed programme of the expert forum will be published shortly.

At a glance

  • Date: 8 October 2026
  • Time: 14:00–16:30
  • Location: Berlin
  • Languages: German and Ukrainian with interpretation
  • Target group: Mayors, municipal staff and local elected representatives, as well as other actors involved in German-Ukrainian municipal partnerships

 

The expert forum is part of the 8th German-Ukrainian Municipal Partnership Conference.

Further information about the conference: https://skew.engagement-global.de/german-ukrainian-municipal-partnership-conference-2026.html

Green Corridors Learning Process: From Exchange to Implementation

Posted on by burkhard

Version française [pdf]

The Green Corridors Learning Process is entering its next phase, strengthening practice-oriented knowledge exchange among municipalities and urban practitioners across the MENA region.

Today, green corridors are increasingly relevant as an integrated response to multiple urban challenges. They can help mitigate urban heat, improve the urban climate and biodiversity, support stormwater management, and reduce exposure to traffic and noise. At the same time, they can create attractive walking and cycling connections between neighbourhoods, public spaces and everyday destinations, strengthening sustainable mobility, accessibility and quality of life. In this way, green corridors link climate resilience and environmental sustainability with healthier, better connected and more liveable municipalities.

On 28–29 September, the Learning Process will place a particular focus on Egyptian municipalities, which will meet in person in Cairo, while peers and experts from across the region contribute online. Together with Port Said, Aswan, Alexandria, and UDF Egypt, the exchange will build on local and regional expertise and provide space to jointly address concrete municipal challenges related to green corridors, climate resilience, public space and integrated urban development.

A key element will be peer consultation on concrete municipal cases. Participating municipalities will benefit from experiences and expertise from across the region, jointly explore possible solutions and identify approaches that can be adapted to their local context. AI-supported visualisation will complement the peer exchange, helping municipalities translate ideas into tangible spatial scenarios and visualise possible pathways for future development.

The Cairo gathering forms part of the wider regional Learning Process. Further regional gatherings will follow shortly, providing opportunities for other participating municipalities to bring their cases into focus and benefit from cross-border peer learning and expert support.

More information on the 28–29 September gathering and the upcoming regional activities will be published soon.

Nature at the Heart of Municipal Resilience: Paving the Way Forward

Posted on by burkhard

The Connective Cities learning process “Nature at the Heart of Municipal Resilience” continues to bring municipalities from across Sub-Saharan Africa together to exchange experiences and develop locally adapted solutions. Following previous exchanges, participating municipalities are now refining their reform measures through online sessions and expert support, preparing them for the next stage of the learning process.

Examples from some of the participating municipalities, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are taking increasingly concrete forms.

In Bosaso, Somalia, the municipality is developing guidelines for street tree planting to support the long-term sustainability of urban greenery. Sinda Town, Zambia, has identified community-owned land for an urban park that will provide recreational space and encourage community engagement.

In Méagui, Côte d’Ivoire, the municipality is developing small urban parks in the city centre while exploring suitable tree species for the local environment. Babadjou, Cameroon, is working on awareness and communication measures around the protection of indigenous trees and replanting in deforested areas.

Nanga-Eboko, Cameroon, is combining community engagement to address deforestation with opportunities for nature-based local economic development, including honey production and diversified fruit-tree cultivation.

In Cape Coast, Ghana, the municipality is exploring public-private partnerships for mangrove restoration to address coastal flooding while also considering opportunities related to carbon finance. In Nakuru, Kenya, a pilot tree-planting initiative along the River Njoro aims to reduce soil erosion associated with flooding.

Together, these examples show how participating municipalities are moving from the exchange of experiences towards locally adapted and implementable measures. The ongoing online exchanges provide an opportunity to further develop these approaches, address open questions and benefit from peer and expert feedback.

The next milestone will bring participants together in Kigali, where municipalities will share their progress and further develop their measures towards implementation.

Through the learning process, Connective Cities supports municipalities in translating Nature-based Solutions into practical responses to local challenges – shaped by local conditions, strengthened through international exchange and oriented towards implementation.

The Bokamoso Entrepreneurial Centre in Windhoek

Posted on by burkhard

Windhoek, capital and economic centre of Namibia as well as home to around 500,000 inhabitants, draws young people from all corners of the country seeking higher education and training, employment in government and corporate sector jobs, and entrepreneurial opportunities. Around 40 percent of the population of the capital region Khomas is aged between 15 and 34.

The regional and local authorities thus have made start-ups and entrepreneurship a strategic priority, significantly improving the political and regulatory framework for business creation. The Bokamoso Entrepreneurial Centre supports small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly start-ups run by young people. Over the past 16 years, the centre has reached out to and supported an estimated 1,200 young people aged between 18 and 35 in their entrepreneurial activities.

Initially, it operated primarily as a business incubator, providing basic infrastructure for SMEs. When, over time, it became clear that physical space alone was insufficient to enable businesses to operate beyond their day-to-day activities, the Centre introduced training, business development support and other capacity-building activities to foster sustainable business growth. Currently, the Centre is exploring its future strategic focus, undergoing an organisational development process supported through its sister city Bremen.

Call for Applications: Goerdeler Award 2027

Posted on by burkhard

Connective Cities is pleased to once again support the call for applications for the Municipal Award 2027 of the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation Fund (CAG), following its integration into the Leipzig Foundation. The award recognises outstanding achievements in local governance and administration.

The 2027 edition focuses on “Resilient Municipalities: Municipal Partnerships for Civil Protection, Critical Infrastructure and Crisis Preparedness.” It highlights innovative and transferable good practices developed through cooperation between municipalities—particularly in an international context.

A prerequisite for application is the involvement of a German municipality or a municipal alliance.

Across the world, municipalities are facing increasing challenges, from natural disasters and infrastructure disruptions to cyber risks and geopolitical tensions. Strengthening resilience at the local level requires not only technical solutions, but also strong collaboration between administrations, municipal services, civil society, and other local actors.

The award therefore seeks cross-border municipal partnerships that demonstrate practical and innovative approaches in areas such as:

  • civil protection and disaster preparedness
  • protection and development of critical infrastructure
  • digital security
  • crisis communication

 

Special attention is given to inclusive and participatory approaches that address the needs of different population groups, especially women, children, and other vulnerable groups.

The award includes a prize of EUR 2,000 and public recognition.

Application deadline: 18 September 2026

As part of its mission to foster international municipal exchange, Connective Cities encourages municipalities and municipal alliances within its network and beyond to apply and share their experiences.

Find out more about the call and application process here: CAG-Announcement [pdf, 3 pages, in German]

Applications and/or enquiries by email to:

Ricarda Meissner Ricarda.meissner@giz.de

Jelena Karamatijevic Jelena.karamatijevic@giz.de

Connective Cities at the 19th Federal Congress on German National Urban Development Policy

Posted on by burkhard

From 14 to 16 September 2026, the 19th Federal Congress on National Urban Development Policy will take place in Cologne. The theme is “Act together, act faster, think further: shaping cities for everyone”. This event will bring together stakeholders from local governments, politics, public administration, academia and civil society to discuss innovative approaches to sustainable, resilient and forward-looking urban development.

For the first time this year, Connective Cities will have a stand at the event run by the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW). The congress offers an excellent opportunity to raise the profile of the international city network and its services for facilitating professional exchanges between local authorities. We will be focusing on discussions with local authority experts from the fields of urban development, mobility, climate adaptation and sustainable transformation.

At the SKEW stand, we particularly want to show experts what Connective Cities has to offer and discuss potential opportunities for participation and cooperation. We will also present selected examples of good practice from the relevant specialist areas, as well as the Connective Cities Media Centre as a knowledge platform. We warmly invite network members attending the Federal Congress to take this opportunity to speak to the team at the stand. We look forward to exchanging ideas, making new contacts, and generating new impetus for municipal development cooperation.

Further information: 19th Federal Congress on National Urban Development Policy

Call for Participation: Strengthening Local Economies – Globally Competitive, Profitable and Fit for the Future

Posted on by burkhard

Rising energy costs, changing supply chains, climate impacts and new technologies are reshaping local economies worldwide. At the same time, new markets, innovative technologies and new forms of cooperation offer municipalities significant opportunities to strengthen their economic base, attract investment and create new prospects for businesses and employment.

Connective Cities invites municipalities and other local economic development actors to join the new international Deep Dive “Strengthening Local Economies – Globally Competitive, Profitable and Fit for the Future.”

Over approximately 1.5 years, participating municipalities will exchange experiences internationally, analyse their local economic structures, challenges and opportunities, and develop concrete strategies, partnerships and local projects for more resilient, innovative and future-oriented local economies.

Depending on the priorities of participating municipalities, the Deep Dive may address topics such as:

  • local competitiveness and structural change
  • business- and investment-friendly municipalities
  • innovation ecosystems and future technologies, including AI and sustainable energy
  • cooperation between municipalities, businesses, universities and other local actors
  • financing growth and turning ideas into implementable projects

 

The programme combines in-person workshops, digital exchanges, expert input and peer learning, with opportunities for short expert missions and peer visits.

Key information

  • Virtual kick-off: End of November 2026
  • First in-person workshop: Early February 2027 (3 days)
  • Duration: Approx. 1.5 years
  • Target group: Municipal and regional administrations, economic development agencies, municipal enterprises and other relevant institutions
  • Regions: Germany, Southeast Europe and the South Caucasus, Sub-Saharan Africa, and MENA
  • Working language: English
  • Submit your Expression of Interest by 31 October 2026

 

Interested in participating?

Find further information on the objectives, thematic focus, participation conditions and application process in the full Call for Participation [PDF].

Apply here: https://community.connective-cities.net/en/form/connective-cities-deep-dive-stre