During the World Urban Forum (WUF9) in Kuala Lumpur, Connective Cities organized the Training Event “Urban Practitioners’ Networks for Better Urban Services – The Cases of Urban Mobility and Urban Renewal” on Friday 9. February 2018.

Experience shows that at global level cities are facing similar challenges for example regarding the mitigation of and adaption to climate change and have an urgent need for learning about urban solutions. However, many cities already have proven experience with technical aspects as well as with the process of how to implement sound urban solutions so that cities´ practitioners are convinced that they can learn from each other.

How can cities benefit more from existing urban solutions and from networking? How to apply networking effectively for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the achievement of the SDG? How to co-create new knowledge by a community of urban practitioners?

The training event represented an applied capacity development approach by means of networking among urban practitioners. Exchanging experiences in the fields of urban mobility and urban renewal, which serve as practical examples, participants of this workshop learned about the sharing of good practices for urban solutions and applied the peer-to-peer consultation method in two thematic fields of interaction. At the same time, they reflected on learning methodology and the use of networking to advance on the New Urban Agenda and the achievement of the SDG.

 

Good practices in the fields of Urban Mobility and Urban Renewal that were presented by urban practitioners from Chiang Mai (Thailand), Jakarta (Indonesia), Leipzig (Germany), Hagen (Germany) and Nuremberg (Germany) formed the basis of discussions and learning in small groups.

During the peer-to-peer consultation, concrete professional challenges on municipal level in the fields of urban mobility and urban renewal like provision of urban transport facilities and stakeholder engagement in Abuja/Nigeria and Accra/Ghana, the improvement of accessibility of a specific urban district in Jakarta/Indonesia, how to break down “silos” between different sectors and stakeholders in the urban arena, and how to localize the New Urban Agenda and to spread the programmatic approach to the public were worked out among the participants and provided options for practical solutions.

Reflecting the session and approach of Connective Cities the participants pointed out the importance of practice-oriented exchange and highlighted the effectivity of the methods used to build the capacities of urban practitioners´ and develop new project ideas. Facing the challenge to implement the New Urban Agenda on global scale, the community of practice of Connective Cities can be considered as a valuable contribution to enhance capacities of urban practitioners’ and bring forward innovative project ideas in cities in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Eastern Europe as well as Germany.

 

Programme

Programme

Welcome Remarks & Introduction

Eva Prediger, Connective Cities, GIZ, Bonn, Germany
Connective Cities Presentation

Good Practice Presentations

1: Urban Mobility

Trinnawat Suwanprik, City of Chiang Mai, Thailand
Sustainable Urban Transport Initiative in Chiang Mai

Jan Rickmeyer, GIZ, Sustainable Mobility Program, Germany
Car-reduced city centre in Leipzig, Germany

Dr. Ralf-Rainer Braun, City of Hagen, Germany
Clean Air Management as an important part of an integrated and sustainable Traffic and Urban Development Plan

2: Urban Renewal

Wicaksono Sarosa, Ruang-Waktu Knowledge-Hub for Sustainable [Urban] Development, Indonesia
Lessons from Jakarta Old Town Revitalization

Frank Belzer, City of Nuremberg, Germany
Integrated Urban Renewal - "Nuremberg old town"