Category: Categories

Streets for all – Glasgow’s new avenues

Posted on by erik

The pandemic has fundamentally changed all our daily lives. Instead of meeting indoors, we meet outside and instead of taking the bus or train, we use the bicycle or sometimes the car. Cities need to respond to this change in population behavior. Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, whose central streets have long been reserved for car traffic, has met this challenge by taking extensive measures to create more space for cyclists and pedestrians and new central green spaces.

During the pandemic, space for cyclists and pedestrians in Glasgow was provisionally separated from the streets with plastic elements, giving them more space. By doing so, the city successfully responded to the new needs of its residents.

But in the long term the streetscapes suffer from the unsightly plastic elements. However, for the quality of life in a city and the well-being of its residents not only the functionality but also the beauty of the city is important. That’s why the long-term avenue strategy in Glasgow’s city center calls for the creation of 21 streets with continuous bicycle and pedestrian paths in combination with extensive greening by 2027. The new avenues will link central locations and better connect adjacent neighborhoods. The greening will beautify the streets, which were often completely concreted before, and more space for pedestrians and cyclists will significantly reduce motorized traffic.

Thus, not only does the functionality of the street adapt to the new needs of the population, but the new avenues are also visually much more attractive. This increases the attractiveness of the location for retailers and the quality of stay in the public space. Combined with new technologies, such as individually controllable LED lighting, the center of Glasgow is thus made fit for the future.

More Information

Glasgows Avenue Strategy & the Role of Beauty in Public Spaces (PDF)

Event Recording (Presentation on Glasgow starts min. 78): COVID-19 – A chance for urban green recovery? (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)

Contact:

Jamie Shields, Development and Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council, UK  jamie.shields@glasgow.gov.uk

Paola Pasino, Development and Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council, UK paola.pasino@glasgow.gov.uk

Municipal Response to COVID-19: Driving Smart City Development

Posted on by erik

On 29th of April a virtual workshop on Smart City Development took place as part of the ongoing applied research project “Research of good practices and moderation of virtual events on the subject of health, business and governance at municipal level in times of COVID-19”. 

Workshop centered on overviewing the EU Green Deal Agenda, smart cities models and concepts, as well as advantages of accelerating digitalization processes and financial attraction possibilities in the period of a pandemic.

Approximately 15 participants from Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Philippines, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia took part in the workshop.

The event focused on

  • Presenting the concept of European Green Deal
  • Introducing Smart cities development models and concepts
  • Providing digitalization solutions for municipalities in the pandemic period
  • Highlighting possible sources of financing
  • Providing conclusions and possible next step suggestions

After the event all attendees were given certificates of completion of the workshop.

Program

This virtual event was opened by welcoming remarks made by Dr. Piotr Żuber, Project Team Leader, PMCG. Dr. Żuber provided background information of the workshop and briefly overviewed the agenda. Following the introduction, Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant, advanced into the core sessions.

Two main topics of the sessions were:

  • Smart city development: innovations and key drivers
  • Acceleration of digitalization processes in the pandemic period

After each session, active discussions were held on relevant topics, where participants were given floor to present their practices and share challenges in the Smart City Development processes from their municipalities.

Presentations

European Green Deal and Smart City Development
Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant

Improvement of local actors, project management in Lithuania
Mr. Arunas Grazulis, Expert of Public Policy and European Union programmes

Smart cities development models and concepts
Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant

Digitalization- the future is today
Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant

“ALL-IN-ONE” solution suite for smart municipalities
Mr. Edgaras Engelmanas, Head of Export, IRTC

International practices of the deposit refund system
Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant

Financial attraction possibilities
Ms. Daiva Matonienė, International Consultant

Results

During this online workshop representatives from multitudes of municipalities exchanged their experiences and insights in the field of smart city development.

Participants were introduced to topics such as: development of green recovery plan, innovative tools for digitalization and public-private partnership. At the same time attendees were given some recommendations on atracting potential donors and funds as well as tips on steps forward. Contact information of field experts, as well as companies experienced in the field of smart development were given to municipal representatives to support further collaboration opportunities.

Municipal Response to COVID-19: Crisis Management

Posted on by erik

On 28th of April a virtual workshop on Crisis Management amid Covid-19 was held as part of the Connective Cities Series on Municipal Response to COVID-19. The event focused on the importance of multi-sectoral cooperation and fast communication strategies in unpredictable circumstances.

Approximately 15 participants from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine took part in the workshop.

The event focused on

  • Presenting crisis communication strategies/approaches
  • Introducing community-based disaster risk reduction methodology
  • Providing recommendations about possible next steps

After the event all attendees were given certificates of completion of the workshop.

Program

This virtual event was opened by welcoming remarks made by Dr. Piotr Żuber. Dr. Żuber provided background information of the workshop and briefly overviewed the agenda. Following the introduction, Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant, advanced into leading the core sessions.

The workshop revolved around the following three main topics:

  • Crisis Communication
  • Building back better in the pandemic period / recovery
  • Community based disaster risk management

Each segment was followed by a session of questions and answers, allowing participants to grasp the content more thoroughly. Attendees were also given floor to present practices and challenges of crisis management from their respective municipalities.

Presentations

  1. General Presentation of Crisis Management – Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant
  2. Evaluation of good municipal practices in the pandemic period – Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant
  3. Methodology of community-based disaster risk management planning – Mr. Edmunds Akitis, International Consultant

Results

During this online workshop representatives from multitudes of municipalities exchanged their experiences and insights of crisis and its communication in their communities. Moreover, they were introduced to some successful practices as well as generally acclaimed structures of communication approaches. Identification of fake news and establishment of early warning systems were some of the highlighted topics discussed during the event.

Multidimensional: The COVID-19 urban restoration programme “Lviv tomorrow”

Posted on by erik

Ukraine, like most countries around the world, is strongly affected by Corona since March 2020. Individual cities experience little government support and are largely left to their own devices to combat and deal with COVID-19. Despite this challenge and only limited financial resources within the city budget, the city of Lviv managed to take quick and effective action.

The city, which is in northwestern Ukraine and has a population of about 750,000, established the “Lviv tomorrow” program to mitigate the negative consequences of COVID-19 and create the preconditions for improving the social, economic and cultural situation in the city. The program consists of 80 different projects, of which more than 50 already have been implemented.

An important pillar of the program is safety and health. The city of Lviv doubled the number of hospital beds available and set up its own COVID-19 testing laboratory. This allowed the number of COVID-19 tests to increase from 200-400 to over 3000 per day, speeding up the tracking of infected individuals and thus simplifying pandemic response.

The city also established new digital solutions that make it easier for the population to stay at and work from home. For example, a portal was created where the population can pay digitally for city services.

Especially the cultural sector was hit hard by the restrictions necessary to combat the pandemic. The city of Lviv is countering this by promoting open-air events and smaller cultural events, for example on balconies. This way, not only jobs in the cultural industry can be preserved, but also part of the life quality in the city can remain. In the uncertain times of the pandemic, cultural events are also a important psychological support for the population.

Another component of the “Lviv tomorrow” program is economic development. One project, for example, supports local food producers. In cooperation with supermarkets, food produced in Lviv is promoted and labeled with “made in Lviv” stickers.

With its extensive “Lviv tomorrow” program, the city of Lviv is taking action on many different levels to combat the pandemic and its effects. Not only the immediate aspects of the pandemic, such as the number of hospital beds, but also other areas of coexistence, such as cultural life, are included. Thus, not only acutely fighting the spread of Corona, but also creating a long-term perspective for the post COVID-19 city.

Contact:

Mr. Oleksandr Kobzarev
Director of the City Institute. Center of strategic planning in Lviv, Ukraine
o.kobzarev@city-institute.org

More Information:

LVIV TOMORROW. RESTORATION PROGRAM [pdf 11 pp.]

Interaktive Präsentation über Lviv (Only for those registered on the Connective Cities Platform)

Local Economic Development (LED) and Job Creation in Middle East and North Africa

Posted on by erik

Six municipalities from the MENA region have participated in the Local Projects Workshop, which was a 2-days virtual workshop held on the 19th-20th January 2021. The workshop consisted of a series of virtual discussions among the participating municipal representatives and technical and financial experts. The workshop was followed by two virtual sessions on proposal writing for funding and financing of municipal projects held on the 21st and 25th of January 2021 respectively.

The Local Projects Workshop was designed such that the activities are following a normal growth curve of what has been established during the LED Virtual Dialogue taking place in 2020. The harmony established among participants and the understanding of the rationale of the Connective Cities methodology was expanded on to foster peer-to-peer learning with more attention given this time to individual municipalities needs and visions. The Local Projects Workshop approach leveraged the progress made to date by the 6 participating municipalities while addressing further actions including:

  • The interlinkages between LED projects and other areas like education, health, gender, environment, etc.
  • Adapting the LED projects to national and global objectives and priorities
  • Adapting the LED projects to available resources and existing expertise
  • Establishing Strategic and impactful partnerships for the projects
  • Risk forecasting and mitigation measures planning
  • Best approaches to fund projects with different financing mechanisms and tools.
     

Municipal Response to COVID-19 in the Area of Governance

Posted on by erik

Approximately 50 participants from Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Argentina, Bolivia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania and Germany (16 countries) participated in the virtual event of the knowledge-exchange series on Municipal Response to COVID-19 in the area of governance.

The event focused on exploring the role of e-governance in combating COVID-19. It reviewed how municipalities manage to ensure the supply of essential municipal services with the help of efficient e-governance systems. During the event various topics were discussed, such as:

  • Crisis management experiences and existing challenges
  • Exploration of how we can enhance or scale-up strategies to meet current crisis-induced demands.

The web-seminar explored the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on municipal plans/strategies and municipal services, the actions and communication strategies deployed in response, and the cooperation of municipalities with national governments as well as international organizations.  

Program

 In this virtual event, Dr. Giorgi Khishtovani presented the methodology and results of the research on COVID-19 governance responses within the Connective Cities network. Thereafter, two good practices were shared from Tartu (Estonia) and La Paz (Bolivia). The moderated panel discussion covered the topics of e-governance and the effectiveness of ICT solutions at municipal levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were then encouraged to continue with the exchange on the virtual platform Connective Cities where other resources were shared in addition to the session outputs.

Presentations of good practices

Municipal Business and Governance Response to COVID-19: Tartu Case
Raimond Tamm, Deputy Mayor of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.

Public Services and I-Government in COVID-19 Era
Roberto Zambrana Flores, La Paz, Bolivia.

Results

During this online exchange representatives from multitudes of municipalities exchanged their experiences and insights in the fields of municipal response in health, business, and governance. This virtual exchange brought together city leaders and field experts in health, business, and governance to discuss prevalent trends, opportunities, and challenges emerging, along with the development and reinvention of municipal responses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

City Practitioners Handbook: Circular Food Systems

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This handbook provides local governments with concrete tools their peers are using to facilitate the transition to circular food systems, from stakeholder engagement to designing effective policies. It draws on experiences from the ICLEI network and its Circular Development pathway, learnings from the ICLEI-RUAF CITYFOOD Network and best practices from the Milan Pact Awards. This publication features experiences from 50 local governments and was designed by ICLEI experts in collaboration with champion cities for the benefit of city practitioners.

Interview with Henning Schulz: Digitalisation

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Gütersloh, Deutschland a former paper-based municipality that developed its own digital agenda within three years and moved online and into home offices within very few days.  Henning Schulz, its former mayor, tells us how did they made it in an organized way.

More: https://youtu.be/XzxhxwU8ibA

Join us and watch a special series of videos and podcasts that will show how to overcome a crisis from many different points of view. More videos, podcasts and interviews on our COVID-19 page.

Her City

Posted on by erik

There is a lack of knowledge in participatory urban planning and design, particularly in involving vulnerable groups in urban development processes. Research has shown that participatory urban development with girls and young women, local actors, as well as multi-level decision-makers, creates opportunities for more inclusive, equal and sustainable urban development.

Thus, Her City provides an opportunity to build capacity on a larger scale. Her City provides municipal professionals, urban actors and local decision-makers with a solid toolbox for mainstreaming youth, gender and socioeconomic perspectives by strategically involving girls and young women in urban planning and design.

Her City’s ambition is to contribute to a range of the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG3 on health and well-being, SDG5 on gender equality, SDG10 on reducing inequality, SDG11 on sustainable cities and communities, SDG16 on peace, justice and strong institutions and SDG17 on partnerships. However, previous experiences have shown that this approach also contributes to implementing other SDGs on the local level.

Interview with Hugo Salomão França: Crisis Communication

Posted on by erik

Bem-vindo to Belo Horizonte, Brasil, a city that communicates to its own citizens and also helps partner cities and organizations worldwide.  Learn how Hugo Salomão França and his team helped to make sense of this unprecedent situation.

More: https://youtu.be/hzdH0EqS0bg

Join us and watch a special series of videos and podcasts that will show how to overcome a crisis from many different points of view. More videos, podcasts and interviews on our COVID-19 page.