10 Years Connective Cities
From a pilot project to an international community of urban practitioners
“And there is a magic in every beginning…” these Hermann Hesse’s words can be used to describe the atmosphere when almost 70 experts from local politics, local administration and academia came together for their first exchange of ideas exactly ten years ago in Leipzig’s former stylishly renovated town bath. (Some impressions: https://youtu.be/CA7naV3BFco )
The motto of the kick-off event was “Sustainable urban development between resource efficiency and sufficiency”. The key concepts of “efficiency” and “sufficiency” were presented as two complementary strategies for sustainable urban development. The discussion ranged from technological innovations for resource-efficient development paths, to social innovations that focused on the transformation of social and individual lifestyles. The approaches and topics discussed then, have lost none of their importance for sustainable urban development. Such topics under the umbrella of Connective Cities today include “flood management”, “energy-efficient urban redevelopment and energy-efficient construction”, “revitalisation of contaminated inner-city areas”, “citizen participation”, “participatory, integrated urban renewal”, “neighbourhood development” or “urban gardening and urban agriculture”.
The very first kick-off event was attended by a large number of international participants, including experts from South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Indonesia, China, Colombia, Hungary, and Serbia.
