From the 3rd to the 6th of September 2018, 23 representatives from seven Jordanian municipalities as well as representatives of the ministry for environment and the ministry for municipal affairs travelled to Germany to deepen their knowledge on the topic of “district development and participatory planning of green and open spaces”, experience good examples firsthand, and develop project ideas and potential project partnerships with German communities.

Within the initiative “Municipal know-how for host communities in the Middle East”, Connective Cities organised a two-day study tour for Jordanian practitioners along with two workshop days, during which they had the opportunity to exchange experiences and advice with German municipalities. This event followed two successful previous workshops in Jordan, in which participants had already had the chance to exchange experiences and develop concrete project ideas.

The programme for the Jordanian practitioners consisted of visits to many thriving projects in North-Rhine Westphalia and Rhineland Palatinate, such as the “edible city” Andernach, the urban gardening project “NeuLand” in Cologne, and the “Rather Korso” in Dusseldorf, which German experts presented to them along with their experiences. This part of the trip served to introduce the Jordanian practitioners to various original and extraordinary projects in order to inspire their own development of project ideas – therefore time was always devoted to dialogue between the Jordanian and German practitioners.

During the workshop that followed the study tour, the Jordanian municipalities capitalized the German experiences that were visited. Together with their German colleagues, the possibilities for future cooperation were explored on the basis of the developed project ideas in district development and participatory planning of open spaces.

During the workshop that followed the study tour, the Jordanian municipalities capitalized the German experiences that were visited. Together with their German colleagues, the possibilities for future cooperation were explored on the basis of the developed project ideas in district development and participatory planning of open spaces.

The objective of the event was to build partnerships between Jordanian and German municipalities to foster such concepts, with a particular focus on channeling German expertise so that it specifically fits the opportunities and obstacles of each Jordanian municipality and can be implemented as effectively as possible.

Participants were the cities of Al Juneid, Al Sarhan, Andernach, Bergisch-Gladbach, Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen, Gütersloh, Irbid, Jerash, Karak, Krefeld, Nurembeg, Sahab, Sweimeh, Umm al Jimal, Zarqua and the district of Marzahn-Hellersdorf, as well as the GIZ Jordan, Kölner Neuland e.V., the Ministry for Municipal Affairs and Ministry for the Environment in Jordan, the Technical University Munich, and Urbane Nachbarschaft Samtweberei gGmbH.

All participants of the study tour and project workshop left with promising potential cooperations and concepts, which will be further supported by the “Municipal know-how for host communities in the Middle East initiative”.

View the programme here.

Introduction
Alexander Wagner, Connective Cities

Connective Cities & Municipal Know-How for host communities in the Middle East
Wencke Müller and Alex Wagner, Service agency Communities in One World

Project Presentations:

Recreational resort - Al-Junaid Municipality

City of Al-Junaid

Development and rehabilitation of a waste transfer station - Jerash Municipality

City of Jerash

Integrated District Plannung - Greater Irbid Municipality

City of Irbid and Jordan University of Science and Technology

Integrated greening concept for public open spaces - Karak Municipality

City of Karak

Integrated water and sanitation Management plan - Sahab Municipality

City of Sahab

Green space development and site buffer planning (The Community Antiquities Interface) - Umm el-Jimal Municipality

City of Umm el-Jimal

Safe, inclusive and accessible spaces for Janna'a neighbourhood - Zarqa Municipality

City of Zarqa

Header: © Mario Schmid, GIZ