When electricity fails, water pumps stop working. When communication networks are disrupted, emergency response slows down. Critical infrastructure is interconnected—and so are the risks municipalities face.
Across South Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus, municipalities are increasingly confronted with complex and interconnected risks. Climate change, ageing infrastructure, cyber threats and geopolitical instability are placing growing pressure on the systems that provide essential public services.
To support municipalities in addressing these challenges, Connective Cities launched the regional learning process Planning for Municipal Resilience: Safeguarding Critical Infrastructure through Risk-Informed Development.
At the kick-off of the regional Connective Cities Learning Process in Tirana, 30 experts from 13 municipalities and nine countries worked together to identify local vulnerabilities and develop practical solutions. The result: eleven municipal action plans – ranging from backup power and digital infrastructure monitoring to flood prevention, crisis communication and new approaches to municipal coordination.
What challenges do municipalities share, what solutions are they developing – and what can other local governments learn from them? Read more in this full documentation.
Heat affects us all. It is one of the world’s fastest-growing and deadliest climate risks.
However, we are not powerless against it. Municipalities around the world are developing and sharing comprehensive strategies. These range from heat action plans and green and blue infrastructure planning to smart rainwater management, the use of AI, and the creation of digital twins for risk-informed crisis management.
Naturally, municipalities have also been tackling this crucial topic within the Connective Cities framework. We’ve put together a selection of examples from the Connective Cities context along with additional resources for you.
Heat in the City – The Connective Cities Deep Dive Learning Process From 2023-2025, six municipalities joined forces to analyse the impact of heatwaves and heat islands, and developed solutions tailored to local conditions.
Detailed interim report: https://www.connective-cities.net/en/media-center/heat-in-the-city-2/
Cities Leading by Example
This guidebook on risk-informed planning and heat mitigation, developed by the Connective Cities’ Deep Dive, serves as a practical guide for municipal actors, urban planners, policymakers and community leaders who wish to adopt a risk-informed approach and integrate heat adaptation into their planning processes. https://www.connective-cities.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/cities-leading_guidebook.pdf
Ibero-American Urban Climate Atlas
This project covers 11 cities in Spain and South America. The research aims to analyse the local context of each city with regard to the impact of heat islands. The objective is to assess changes in temperature patterns and their territorial effects within cities.
Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities (UCCI) and ICLEI South America https://e-library.iclei.org/uploads/IBER_ATLAS_EN_2.pdf
Financing heat resilience How governments can finance heat resilience through risk-informed investments, innovative financing mechanisms, and resilient infrastructure.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), Centre for Disaster Protection, National Disaster Management Authority (India) https://www.undrr.org/publication/documents-and-publications/financing-heat-resilience
Heat Action Plans in Local Government Practice (in German)
Implementation of the recommendations for drawing up heat action plans in local government practice (Plan°C)
German Institute for Urban Studies (Difu) https://repository.difu.de/items/c805c6fb-c3c1-4288-b1c9-eff356fb04bd
Connective Cities participated in the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) World Congress 2026, held from 22–25 June in Tangier, Morocco. Under the overarching theme “A New Generation of Universal Local Public Services,” the Congress brought together more than 3,000 local and regional leaders, municipal practitioners, city networks and development partners from around the world.
As part of the Local4Action Track, Connective Cities, together with the Association of German Cities, organised the 90-minute Lab “From Challenge to Practice: How Municipalities Turn Local Plans into Public Services.”
From Planning to Implementation
The Lab addressed a challenge shared by municipalities worldwide: while local strategies and development plans are often well designed, translating them into effective, inclusive and sustainable public services remains a complex task. Rather than focusing solely on success stories, the session encouraged municipalities to share real implementation experiences, discuss practical challenges and learn from one another.
Gabi Schock from the City of Krefeld (Germany) opened the session with insights into strategic municipal waste management, demonstrating how citizen participation can become a key success factor in planning and implementing public services. Using Krefeld’s waste management strategy as an example, she illustrated how local government, political representatives, businesses and citizens were involved at an early stage of the planning process. The presentation showed that participation not only increases public acceptance of new measures but also helps integrate local knowledge into decision-making, identify potential conflicts early on and develop sustainable long-term solutions. Krefeld’s experience highlighted that successful municipal service delivery is built on transparent governance, continuous dialogue and trust-based cooperation with citizens.
The second case was presented by H.E. Governor Issa Timamy of Lamu County (Kenya), who introduced the Kiunga Solar-Powered Desalination Initiative. The project addresses the challenge of providing reliable access to clean drinking water in a remote border region. By using solar-powered desalination technology, Lamu County has not only improved water supply but also reduced dependence on fossil fuels and strengthened resilience to climate change. Governor Timamy emphasised that the initiative’s success was made possible through close cooperation between the County Government, local communities and development partners. The project demonstrates how integrated municipal planning can simultaneously contribute to improved public services, better health outcomes, social cohesion and local economic development. In recognition of these achievements, Lamu County received the UCLG Peace Prize, accompanied by prize money of €20,000.
The two presentations highlighted a common message: effective public service delivery is achieved where technical solutions are combined with good governance, active citizen participation and strong local partnerships.
Peer-to-Peer Consultation: Developing Solutions Together
The second half of the Lab shifted from presentations to collaborative problem-solving.
An Introduction to the Peer-to-Peer Consultation Methodology | Photo: Connective Cities
A representative of the Municipality of Pékine (Senegal) presented a real implementation challenge: complex procurement procedures, lengthy administrative processes and staff turnover were delaying infrastructure projects and slowing down municipal service delivery.
Participants jointly analysed the challenge during a facilitated Peer-to-Peer Consultation and developed a range of practical recommendations. Proposed solutions included:
strengthening knowledge management to preserve institutional memory;
developing clearer procurement roadmaps and process guidelines;
improving coordination across municipal departments;
establishing clear responsibilities and accountability mechanisms;
promoting knowledge exchange with neighbouring municipalities;
investing in continuous capacity development for municipal staff;
creating databases of qualified service providers;
introducing minimum quality standards for contractors and service providers; and
assessing the political and institutional context at an early stage to identify opportunities for implementation.
The discussion demonstrated that municipalities across different regions often face remarkably similar implementation challenges. This is precisely where the Connective Cities approach creates value: structured municipal exchange enables practitioners to jointly develop practical solutions that can be adapted to their respective local contexts.
The Lab also illustrated how international municipal exchange can move beyond traditional good practice presentations. By openly discussing implementation challenges and working together to identify solutions, peer learning becomes a practical instrument for strengthening local public service delivery.
The Connective Cities team and participants in the Lab | Photo: Connective Cities
We are pleased to invite you to our upcoming virtual Insight Session on ‘nature-based solutions for urban resilience’, which will take place on July 15, 2026 from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM CET.
Cities in sub-Saharan Africa, Germany, and other regions are increasingly relying on nature-based solutions to address flooding, climate risks, biodiversity loss, and the associated urban development challenges. However, integrating these approaches into municipal planning, management, and implementation remains a complex task.
This Insight Session brings together research, policy and community network perspectives to present practical approaches for planning, integrating and implementing nature-based solutions.
We invite the following discussion partners:
Andreas Wolter, President of Climate Alliance Presentation: From Local Action to Collective Impact: How Municipal Networks Advance Climate Resilience
Andreas Wolter will present the Climate Alliance network and highlight its role in supporting municipalities to strengthen local climate action. His presentation will provide important insights into how city networks learn from each other, promote knowledge exchange, advocacy, and collaboration, while simultaneously helping municipalities translate climate commitments into practical measures – such as nature-based solutions to strengthen municipal resilience.
McKenna Davis Senior Fellow and Coordinator for Nature-Based Solutions at Ecologic Institute, Berlin Presentation:Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions: Insights and Practical Examples from the Urban Governance Atlas
McKenna Davis will share insights and practical examples from the Urban Governance Atlas and the Climate Adaptation Naturally project, highlighting how nature-based solutions can be integrated into municipal policy and planning.
Dr. Kirk B. Neu,Researcher in the fields of landscape architecture, landscape planning and urban resilience Presentation:Evidence-based Lessons on Planning Nature-based Solutions for Flood Resilience in Sub-Saharan African Cities
Drawing on research from Ghana and the wider Sub-Saharan African region, Kirk Enu will present practical lessons on how municipalities can use research evidence to plan and implement nature-based solutions for inclusive flood resilience.
The event offers participants the following:
practical examples of nature-based solutions for strengthening the resilience of urban flood zones;
Insights into the framework conditions for governance, policy and planning required for implementation;
Insights from the compatibility of research results with municipal decision-making processes;
Perspectives on the role of municipal networks in promoting climate protection measures; and
an opportunity to exchange experiences with practitioners and experts from different cities and regions.
The event will be held in English, with French translation provided.
We cordially invite municipal practitioners, urban planners, climate and resilience experts, researchers, development partners and other interested members of the Connective Cities network to participate.
We look forward to welcoming you to the event.
If you have any questions or require support, please contact: moses.munuve@giz.de
On July 8th, 2026, Connective Cities hold an online Insight Session to explore ways, by which urban forests can be cultivated under difficult climate conditions. Attempts to do so are notoriously difficult in dry regions with high temperatures and low precipitation, where the usage of scarce water resources has to be distributed between (urban) populations, local businesses, agriculture and industry. Planting and watering urban trees is regularly considered secondary under such circumstances, leading to unsuccessful attempts of urban afforestation due to a lack of financial support and maintenance work. The Insight Session was joined by 34 participants from 13 countries, representing a broad range of municipalities from Africa and the Middle East.
Over the past decades, the Miyawaki-method of planting tiny forests has become an outstanding success story around the globe. In this technique developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, a small dense forest is made from native trees and plants. The specifically dense way of planting a miscellany of indigenous plants accelerate the growth of flora and fauna, so that after around five years, micro forests may already be entirely self-sustaining. The forests improve air quality, reduce heat and bring back lost biodiversity, thereby stabilizing ecosystems and countering the environmental degradation as a result of the climate crisis. A videographic overview of the Miyawaki-Method can be found here.
Stefan Scharfe, speaking on behalf of Miya-Forest, a forest-planting/educating/researching NGO based in Eberswalde, Germany explained the success of the Miyawaki method through the instance, that planting trees is usually broadly accepted among a range of actors such as urban populations, housing providers and local administrations. However, the participatory approach of planting urban micro forests must be facilitated through a small group of core actors who take ownership of the project. Especially a thorough soil study can significantly increase the chances of the micro forests to become self-sustainable after an initial, intense phase of watering and caring.
Coming from the highly urbanized and biodiversically degraded context of Amman, Jordan’s Capital, Deema Assaf from the ecological research studio TAYYŪN joined the Insight Session as a second speaker, providing the participants with valuable hands-on insights from the MENA region. Mrs. Assaf elaborated on the tedious work with paleobotanists to collect evidence of indigenous species from the region, proven evolutionary resilient towards the local climate conditions. The seeds of these plants known to the soil form the base for a multi-layered ecosystem featuring canopy, sub-canopy, shrubs and ground cover tiers. Over the course of its growth, the micro forest attracts insects, mushrooms and birds. Also edible plants may be included, turning micro forests into sites of (urban) gardening.
In result, the Insight Session provided the participants with new inspiration for their own project development within the scope of the currently running Connective Cities learning processes on ‘Nature at the Heart of Municipal Resilience’ and ‘Green Corridors in the City and its Surroundings’. The potential of the Miyawaki Method to produce fast and self-reinforcing benefits through various ecosystem services and according to the local circumstances makes urban micro forests a tangible and fitting intervention in the current situation of intensifying climate crisis. However, forestry-related preparation – i.e. soil data and seedlings –, as well as institutional backing, secured funding and maintenance of the planting project are key elements for micro forests to thrive.
Connective Cities provides the network for future engagement on the topic and looks forward to share expertise among urban practitioners
How can municipalities translate strategies and local development plans into effective public services? This question lies at the heart of the Connective Cities Lab “From Challenge to Practice: How Municipalities Turn Local Plans into Public Services”, organised in cooperation with the Association of German Cities.
Municipalities around the world face similar challenges when implementing local development plans. In this Lab, municipal representatives from different regions will share practical experiences: What obstacles had to be overcome? Which approaches proved successful? And what lessons can be adapted to other local contexts?
Following a series of short case presentations, participants will engage in a moderated peer-to-peer exchange to discuss challenges and jointly explore practical solutions for effective local public service delivery.
Objectives of the Lab
Exchange experiences on challenges related to local public service delivery
Share practical and transferable implementation approaches
Promote international networking and peer learning
We look forward to welcoming municipal practitioners, experts, and partner organisations from around the world.
Participation: The Lab will take place exclusively in person as part of the UCLG World Congress 2026. All participants and speakers must register through the official Congress registration system: https://registration.uclgcongresstangier2026.com/
International Community of Practice for Sustainable Municipal Development
NEWSLETTER – ISSUE NO. 95, June 2026
Dear Readers,
Water is not only a driver of development; it is increasingly becoming a strategic resource. Falling groundwater levels, more frequent and prolonged heatwaves and droughts, as well as heavy rainfall events, are creating major challenges for municipalities around the world. At the same time, relatively modest investments in nature-based and technological solutions can help balance local water systems, protect lives, and prevent far more costly damage to urban infrastructure.
With this in mind, 16 practitioners from six countries have embarked on a two-year Deep Dive on Water Resilience, working together to develop and implement innovative, locally adapted solutions to their specific challenges. Following a three-day in-person meeting in Wuppertal, we take stock of the progress achieved so far.
Can AI-generated visualizations help make housing projects more transparent and accessible for all stakeholders, or do they risk oversimplifying complex planning realities? This question sparked an insightful discussion during a professional conference organized by Connective Cities and the German Association of Cities at the World Urban Forum 13 in Baku, Azerbaijan. In this issue, we look back at the key insights and debates that emerged from the event.
The Kenyan city of Kisumu offers a practical example of how public spaces can be made more livable: pedestrian-friendly, nature-based, and climate-conscious through the promotion of e-mobility. The initiative serves as an inspiring pilot project and a model for future urban space improvements.
We would also like to draw your attention to several upcoming events.
At the UCLG World Congress 2026 on 25 June in Tangier, Morocco, we will explore how municipalities can successfully translate strategies and development plans into concrete public services. Through practical examples, participants will discuss challenges and solutions related to implementing local sustainability and development strategies.
Sustainability will also be the focus of our next dialogue event, taking place from 20–22 October 2026 in Berlin. The event will examine the implementation of sustainability strategies in the context of major sporting events. Municipal practitioners, particularly those working in event management, sports, and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), are warmly invited to participate.
We hope you enjoy this issue and find inspiration in the experiences and ideas shared within it. We look forward to welcoming you to our upcoming events.
Yours sincerely,
The Connective Cities Team
REVIEW
Connective Cities at the World Urban Forum 13 in Baku
AI-Powered Visualisation for Affordable Housing and the Upgrading of Informal Settlements
At the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF) in Baku, the German Association of Cities, in collaboration with Connective Cities, organised an interactive academy session on how AI-powered visual tools can help local urban planners discuss housing challenges, the upgrading of informal settlements and neighbourhood development in a more concrete and accessible way. On the one hand, the AI visualisations proved very useful for making decision-making transparent, particularly in dialogue with the public. At the same time, however, they also carry the risk of oversimplifying complex planning realities or suggesting solutions before key issues have been clarified. This tension gave rise to an insightful discussion, which could well continue beyond WUF13.
The Pedestrian-friendly Redevelopment of a Commercial District
Making Kisumu a better place to live: In the city centre, the three main roads – Oginga Odinga, Ang’awa Avenue and Jomo Kenyatta Avenue – form a triangle around a sports and park area. These roads are used by over 2,200 pedestrians every day. The redesign of the so-called ‘Walkable Triangle’ into a more pedestrian-friendly space has made it safer, more pleasant and more accessible, whilst preserving and integrating the existing tree population. Furthermore, the city is promoting e-mobility in public transport through the introduction of a battery-swapping system for motorbike taxis, known as ‘boda-bodas’, and three-wheeled taxis, known as ‘tuk-tuks’.
Water Resilience – Municipalities Prepare for Drought and Heavy Rainfall
Documentation of the Connective Cities Deep Dive event held from 5 to 7 May 2026 in Wuppertal
Examining their own challenges in water resilience, learning from experiences on other continents, and finding the courage to put innovative ideas into practice – these were the key elements of the first in-person meeting as part of the Connective Cities Deep Dive, held in Wuppertal from 5 to 7 May 2026.
In early 2026, a total of 16 experts from the German municipalities of Dresden, Wunstorf and Wuppertal, as well as from Akkaraipattu (Sri Lanka), Homa Bay (Kenya), Hyderabad (India), Natitingou (Benin) and Niš (Serbia), have started a two-year long working together to analyse innovative approaches and how they might be implemented. On this basis, they are developing and implementing locally adapted solutions to their respective challenges. The meeting in Wuppertal is a first interim step.
From Challenge to Practice – How Municipalities Turn Local Plans into Public Services
Local4Action Track – Lab as part of the UCLG World Congress 2026 in Tanger, Morocco
How do municipalities succeed in translating strategies and development plans into concrete public services? The Connective Cities Lab, organised in collaboration with the German Association of Cities, will address this question as part of the UCLG World Congress 2026. Municipalities worldwide face similar challenges when it comes to implementing local development plans. In the Lab, international municipalities will share concrete practical experiences: What obstacles had to be overcome? Which approaches have proven successful? And what can be applied to other contexts?
Call for Participation – Global Green Sports: Implementing Sustainability Strategies for Major Sports Events
Invitation for Municipal Experts to the Dialogue Event in Berlin, 20–22 October 2026
How can sustainability strategies for major sporting events be embedded in policy? How are these strategies implemented within city administrations and event management? How can the public be engaged and informed about sustainable development during major sporting events? Organised by Connective Cities in collaboration with the Education for Sustainable Development Unit and the Berlin Senate Department for the Interior and Sport (SIUS), the event invites cities from around the world to exchange experiences, showcase best practices and jointly develop innovative solutions for sustainable sporting events.
Engagement Global gGmbH
Service Agency Communities in One World
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 40, 53113 Bonn | Deutschland
Contact: Sibylle Loyeau
Email: sibylle.loyeau@engagement-global.de
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 32 + 36, 53113 Bonn | Deutschland
Contact: Ricarda Meissner
Email: ricarda.meissner@giz.de
How can AI-generated images help municipalities discuss affordable housing and informal settlement upgrading – without losing sight of implementation challenges?
At the World Urban Forum 13 (WUF13) in Baku, Connective Cities will contribute to the official WUF Academy programme with an interactive event on AI-based visualisation for affordable housing and informal settlement upgrading. The event will take place on 21 May 2026, from 09:30 to 11:30 Baku time (UTC+4).
Organised by the German Association of Cities in cooperation with Connective Cities and the participating municipalities, the event brings together urban practitioners from different regions to work with real urban cases and explore how digital visualisation can support dialogue, participation and peer learning.
About the event
The format builds on the recent Connective Cities working group exchange on affordable housing, including an AI-based visualisation exercise under the umbrella of the New European Bauhaus.
At its core is a practical city exchange: participating municipalities and institutions provide images of selected housing areas, informal settlements and urban transformation sites. WUF participants will work in groups with these prepared cases and use AI-generated visual scenarios as analytical and dialogue-oriented tools — not as final planning products or implementation promises.
The focus is not on the technology itself, but on the urban development questions that the images make visible. How are housing needs, affordability, density, land use, public space, infrastructure and social inclusion negotiated in different contexts? How can visual scenarios support communication between city administrations, communities, technical experts and decision-makers?
The event will also address the limits and risks of AI-supported visualisation. In the context of affordable housing and informal settlement upgrading, attractive images alone are not enough. They need to be linked to questions of financing, operation, maintenance, climate resilience, land ownership, social safeguards and clear implementation responsibilities.
The format was developed and coordinated by Jelena Karamatijevic, Connective Cities, as part of the Connective Cities peer-learning approach.
The event will be moderated by Prof. Hilmar von Lojewski, Association of German Cities. The practical AI exercise will be facilitated by Damiano Cerrone, co-founder of CoPlan AI.
In addition, the GIZ Sustainable Urban Development Programme in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, represented by Ruvi Suárez, will contribute a short methodological reflection on AI-supported scenario thinking and impact assessment.
City exercise examples
Selected examples from the city exercises show how real urban situations can be translated into AI-supported visual scenarios for discussion, reflection and peer learning.
The Academy event will include practical city examples from:
Nairobi City County / Kenya – Godfrey Ngugi, Director of Urban Renewal
Huye District / Rwanda – Richard Ndicunguye, Senior Advisor / Adaptation and Green Cities
Mariental Municipality / Namibia – Sunday Haimbodi, Building Inspector
Urban Development Fund, Egypt / Cairo – Dr. Marwa Ahmed, General Manager, International Cooperation and Community Participation Department
Hebron Municipality / Palestine – Husam Shweiki, Head of the Architecture Department
Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing / Germany – Lars Loebner
The second Africa Urban Forum (AUF), organized under the African Union framework with the support from UN-Habitat and UNECA, took place from 8 to10 April 2026 at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. AUF welcomed a diversity of participants, among them politicians, private sector, civil society, development partners and interested members of the public as well, to discuss the conferences’ topic: ‘Adequate Housing for All: Advancing Socio-economic and Environmental Transformation towards the Realization of Agenda 2063’.
At AUF, Connective cities alongside GIZ partner projects Covenant of Mayors Sub Sahara Africa (CoMSSA) and Resilience Initiatve Africa (RIA) organized and facilitated a side event on 9 April, titled Climate proofing the built environment: Integrated Technical Support for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure.
The events’ panel-discussion included international experts, development finance institutions, and local administrations. Thereby, participants could gain insights from local government representatives from Embu, Kenya, and eThekwini, South Africa on how to combine collaborative governance with technical expertise for climate resilient infrastructure. In this regard, the launch of the Embu Final Prefeasibility Technical Assistance Report on Solid Waste Management Infrastructure illustrated the need for comprehensive data gathering prior to project implementation.
Next to the case studies, panelists discussed institutional arrangements and policy approaches related to financing sustainable urban infrastructure. For example, a representative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development emphasized that cities must leverage on digitalization of revenue collection to meet ever-rising financial demands and also demonstrate to potential financiers built-in capacity to collect, allocate, and use financial means effectively.
Furthermore, a program manager from the European Investment Bank noted that for development projects to be implemented efficiently, the national and sub-national levels of government must enter into collaborative modes of governance, whereby they complement each other in sourcing funds from potential financiers. The program manager further advocated for a non-fragmented approach towards infrastructure development to avoid wastage and duplication of effort and resources.
In sum, the AUF side-event, by bringing together financial institutions and local government leaders, provided valuable insights into how to comprehensively think sustainable urban development as a basis to successfully build climate-resilient infrastructure in African cities and beyond.
Migration policy may be a national matter – however, its success or failure is also determined at the local level. Convinced by this, around 50 local government professionals came together for a virtual Insight Session organised by Connective Cities. The focus was on the question of what role municipalities can play in the immigration of skilled workers and in supporting migrant entrepreneurship.
In addition to a study by the German Institute for Employment Research IAB, practical examples from the German Pinneberg District, Mersin (Türkiye) and Oberhausen (Germany), Munich (Germany) and Gharb Irbid (Jordan) formed the basis of in-depth working group discussions. These clearly demonstrated that local governments can play a crucial role in realising the economic potential of migration at the local level.
