Category: Climate neutral urban development

Exploring the Potential of Green Transition for Local Economic Development

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African and German Cities Power a Shared Vision for a Just, Climate-Smart Hydrogen Future

Cities across Africa and Europe are accelerating their role as frontline actors in the global green transition, driving innovation, investment, and climate resilience from the ground up. Following the successful launch of the Hydrogen Cities Working Group earlier this year in Naivasha, Kenya, Connective Cities will convene the second peer-learning workshop on 24–27 November 2025 in Mombasa, Kenya.

This flagship event will bring together city leaders, practitioners, industry innovators, researchers, and development partners to scale up municipal hydrogen strategies and unlock new pathways for green industrialization, inclusive growth, and just transition at the local level.

From Naivasha to Mombasa: Turning Ideas into Impact

The inaugural workshop in Naivasha brought together over 30 municipal representatives and technical experts to explore how cities can anchor the emerging green hydrogen economy in local value creation and job generation. It underscored hydrogen’s role not only as a clean-energy vector but as a catalyst for climate-neutral industrial ecosystems, skills development, and innovation-driven urban transformation.

Case studies showcased how municipalities are positioning themselves along the hydrogen value chain — from production and storage to end-use applications in mobility, manufacturing, and port logistics. Examples ranged from Namibia’s evolving hydrogen hubs to Germany’s Heilbronn and Karlsruhe regions, where local governments are building innovation clusters, R&D partnerships, and market linkages for hydrogen deployment.

An expert stands next to a screen showing a PowerPoint presentation.
Specialist presentation during the meeting in Naivasha | Photo: Connective Cities

Participants also highlighted the importance of integrated urban governance — combining spatial planning, transparent land management, and strong stakeholder engagement — to ensure hydrogen projects deliver tangible community benefits.

 Key takeaways from Naivasha included:

  • Municipal leadership as a driving force for innovation, investment, and policy alignment.
  • Local value creation through SME participation, skills training, and green entrepreneurship.
  • Institutional capacity and human capital as preconditions for hydrogen readiness.
  • Peer-to-peer collaboration as a catalyst for scaling solutions and knowledge transfer.

Since Naivasha, cities have been actively refining their project concepts, forging cross-regional partnerships, and identifying bankable entry points to accelerate their green transition agendas.

Green Hydrogen: Powering Sustainable, Inclusive Urban Futures

Africa’s vast solar and wind potential places its cities at the heart of the global clean-energy transformation. Green hydrogen — and its derivatives such as green ammonia and e-methanol — offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity for low-carbon industrialisation, climate resilience, and circular economy development.

For municipalities, this transition means:

  • Developing innovation clusters and hydrogen corridors that attract private investment.
  • Expanding renewable energy infrastructure and smart urban grids.
  • Enhancing water security and resource-efficient technologies such as desalination and wastewater reuse.
  • Creating green jobs across engineering, construction, logistics, and research sectors.
  • Catalysing start-ups, incubators, and technology partnerships.
  • Building skills pipelines aligned with future hydrogen markets.

Yet, challenges persist — from infrastructure gaps and regulatory complexity to financing bottlenecks and local ownership. The Hydrogen Cities Working Group provides a collaborative platform where cities can co-create solutions, de-risk investment, and ensure the green transition remains inclusive, equitable, and locally anchored.

What to Expect in Mombasa: Scaling Up and Going Deeper

The upcoming workshop in Mombasa will mark a critical shift from strategic visioning to operationalisation and project implementation. Over three days, participants will:

  • Present project updates and refine concepts through structured peer-review and coaching.
  • Engage in interactive sessions on land use, water-energy nexus, and industrial cluster design.
  • Explore innovative financing instruments, including blended finance and PPP models.
  • Participate in hands-on peer-coaching clinics to advance project maturity.
  • Exchange with international experts on policy frameworks, investment pipelines, and market integration.
  • Join a site visit to the Mombasa Port and Special Economic Zone to identify real-world opportunities for green hydrogen applications.

The event will feature keynotes from government and private-sector leaders, expert panels, and networking sessions to strengthen partnerships between African and German municipalities.

Confirmed participants include cities such as Mombasa, Naivasha, Lüderitz, Arandis, Nouakchott, Waterberg District, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn, and Freudenstadt — forming a growing alliance of municipalities championing decentralized, climate-smart hydrogen ecosystems.

Looking Ahead: Cities as Catalysts of a Just Green Economy

As the global energy landscape transforms, cities that act decisively today will become the engines of tomorrow’s green prosperity. The Mombasa workshop represents another milestone in empowering municipalities to lead the hydrogen-powered urban transformation — advancing climate action, economic resilience, and social inclusion in equal measure.

Through the Hydrogen Cities Working Group, Connective Cities continues to bridge continents, connect expertise, and translate ambition into action — ensuring that the hydrogen revolution drives sustainable, locally embedded, and future-ready urban economies.

From Naivasha to Mombasa, cities are demonstrating that the green transition starts locally — and scales globally.

Building New Bridges: Integration of Syrian cities in Connective Cities regional network

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This workshop contributed to strengthening the exchange of municipal experiences and paved the way for Syrian cities to be integrated in the network and become active members. Representatives from Damascus and Reef Damascus Governorates shared the current state of comprehensive planning, highlighting the challenges of pursuing a long-term vision for sustainable development while aiming to turn the complexities of post-war reconstruction into an opportunity to build back better.

The participants sit at two round tables and listen to the lecture on Damascus.
Participants during the lecture on planning in Damascus | Photo: Muna Shalan, Connective Cities
A colleague from Amman during the PowerPoint presentation on the digitisation process in his city.
Presentation of the digitisation process in Amman | Photo: Muna Shalan, Connective Cities

They also discussed their aspirations for digital transformation in their city administration. Their counterparts from Greater Amman municipality delved into practical experiences in these thematic fields, sharing a wealth of knowledge and lessons learned grounded in the local context of implementation.

Collage of three photos showing students discussing in small groups.
Peer consultation and presentation of good practices | Photo: Muna Shalan, Connective Cities

Through interactive peer learning activities, the participants showcased good practice examples and fleshed out success factors and impediments faced by municipal workers in the process of city planning, municipal service delivery, and digital transformation. The discussions created an open and honest exchange, allowing both sides to learn from each other’s successes and obstacles.

Two photographs showing the participants standing in a semicircle on the grounds of the Al-Zuhour Green Triangle while the project is being explained to them
Field visit to Al-Zuhour Green Triangle – a model for green infrastructure | Photo: Muna Shalan, Connective Cities

A site visit to a good practice example was also organized as part of the workshop namely to  Al-Zuhour Green Triangle – a model for green infrastructure. On an area of 2300 sq. m, this pilot project that was implemented by Greater Amman municipality and UN-Habitat Jordan demonstrates two concepts of green stormwater management; stormwater bioretention and stormwater detention.

The workshop resulted in a roadmap for future cooperation and institutionalization of knowledge exchange, which outlined priority action areas. Key focus areas include legislation and governance, with an emphasis on fast-tracking a fair reconstruction law in Syria, adopting standardized tendering and contracting procedures, and activating public-private partnership (PPP) frameworks where appropriate. In terms of decentralization, participants agreed on the need to delegate selected powers—particularly in transport and traffic management—to municipalities, supported by technical committees to ensure that master plans align with sectoral strategies. Strengthening resources and capacities was also identified as critical, including securing adequate human and financial resources, and investing in in-house expertise and ongoing training.

The participants, some standing and some seated in the conference room, with a screen displaying the Connective Cities logo in the background.
Group photo of participants | Photo: Muna Shalan, Connective Cities

Placing the community at the center of urban planning emerged as another key principle, with commitments to maintain public participation through Citizen Hubs and feedback mechanisms that reflect both the social and economic dimensions of urban life. Finally, under the banner of “Build Back Better,” participants called for addressing data gaps, improving cross-sectoral coordination, and using reconstruction as a platform for long-term, sustainable development.

Further information about the presentations can be found on Connective Cities platform.

International municipal cooperation to mitigate heat in cities

Posted on by erik

On 12 June 2025, the working group of the Deep Dive “Heat in the City” gathered online to wrap up their two years long collaboration on the topic of heat islands in the cities. Each city presented their pilot projects in depth to an audience of experts from Germany and the Global South.

The format

The Deep Dive format enables medium-term, intensive collaboration among a small group of municipalities over two years to develop concrete urban solutions through expert exchange and co-creation. Learn more about the format here.

Deep Dive “Heat in the city”

In this first edition of Connective Cities Deep Dive, the cities of Aswan (Egypt), Heidelberg (Germany), Lüdenscheid (Germany), Lviv (Ukraine), Nairobi (Kenya) and Mombasa (Kenya) worked together online and in person, in order to understand their respective challenges, exchange ideas, and scientific procedures. The group was supported by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in the assessment of urban heat islands (UHI) in the city and development of locally-adapted solutions. Through the involvement of their local administrations, they implemented their pilot projects that incorporated procedural and organizational measures to mitigate heat in their cities. Learn more about each step of the Deep Dive here.

The six pilot projects

Each city piloted heat mitigation solutions tailored to their local contexts, focusing on data-driven, community-based, and cross-sectoral approaches. Nairobi planted shade fruit trees in schools and trained staff and students in thermal monitoring, while planning an open-access heat map for community awareness raising about the UHI. Lviv created pocket-parks and monitored their cooling effects, despite facing implementation challenges like martial law and funding gaps. In Lüdenscheid, a heat action plan was developed through interdepartmental collaboration, including initiatives like refill stations, awareness brochures, and a city cooling map. Aswan developed a comprehensive heat action framework using both local knowledge and international practices, selecting a pilot area for pedestrian-friendly, shaded public space transformation. Mombasa focused on stakeholder awareness and urban heat mapping, while Heidelberg introduced a high-precision urban climate analysis and a climate scanner to make urban planning more climate-friendly, better account for local microclimates, and thereby sustainably enhance quality of life and climate resilience. Learn more about the projects here.

Conclusions

All members of the working group agreed that the Deep Dive “Heat in the City” contributed with a broader impact in the six cities, not only by the development of climate mitigation strategies, but also in the perspective of tighter collaboration among local institutions and a strong feeling of global affiliation.

The municipal experts exchange has led to a stronger sense of community, co-creation, leadership skills, and ownership. As they explored how green activities could be linked to green jobs, international exchanges helped emphasize the urgency of finding solutions. These exchanges made decision-makers and the public more aware and underscored the need for immediate action.

The Deep Dive required a readjustment of their thinking and viewpoints, prompting them to reassess their own methods. They often had to justify working internationally while operations were still local, which helped them adopt a broader perspective on issues such as UHI. The exchange platform gave them also visibility and recognition, which in turn helped influence decision-makers. Despite challenging circumstances such as the war in Ukraine, people became more sensitised—highlighting that the right moment for action is now.

Finally, the working group noticed a growing sense of long-term awareness. There was a shift from seeking immediate results to focusing on long-term planning for resilience and achieving environmental goals. By learning from international successes and failures, they could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our local processes.

Even if the Deep Dive has ended, the implemented projects are still ongoing and the six cities are better prepared to face heat waves now.

For more information, please contact:

Sibylle Loyeau, Sibylle.loxeau@engagement-global.de

Dr. Ing. Muna Shalan, muna.shalan@giz.de

Avoiding vacancy by opening buildings to interim use

Posted on by erik

During the process of redefining a building’s purpose and outlining the procedure and financing of the venture, constructions might fall vacant. A vacant building is wasted potential in many ways, for both the community and the cities’ urban development.

Moreover, an unused building often leads to an increase in visual and atmospheric pollution due to the accumulation of waste, water infiltration and possible growth of mold or toxic materials. Besides these ecological consequences, vandalism may increase as well as insecurity in the surroundings. Hence, the revitalisation of vacant buildings can come costly to municipalities and possible investors.

How can vacancy be avoided? Opening public buildings to interim use was one of the topics that participants of the learning process “2nd Hands on Public Buildings” wanted to focus on during the one-year-long learning process on reusing public buildings from the 1960s and 1970s. Therefore, experts from Germany, Kenya, Palestine and Montenegro came together virtually on March 12, 2025.

During the meeting, the German guests Oliver Hasemann, ZwischenZeitZentrale Bremen, and Moritz Tonn, Transiträume e.V., elaborated on the facilitation of interim use in Bremen and Berlin. With years of experience and quite some examples of moderating agreements between the buildings’ owners and users, the inputs allowed for a general understanding of the opportunities and challenges related to intermediate tenants. Given the vibrant cultural scene in Berlin, Transiträume e.V. has successfully allowed artist to transform vacant halls to impressive exhibition spaces, attracting large numbers of visitors. Among other, ZZZBremen showcased its “Wurst Case” (translates into “Sausage Case”), in which a sausage factory was reused involving the public in an extended participation process. The factory was then rented in a small scale to local entrepreneurs, artists, and for social initiatives and artisans testing of various kinds of use (offices, workshops, studios).

Giving the buildings a temporary use helps their protection, reduce the operational and maintenance costs for public vacancy and can support the cultural and creative industry. Through the participation of neighbourhoods, the interim use of vacant buildings also helps revitalizing disadvantaged areas. The main challenges consisted in setting a frame for interested users, which means to create the basic infrastructure and the legal framework for working in the abandoned buildings as well as finding sponsorships and raising awareness for the new project.

Based on these inputs, the group of experts discussed their project examples and ideas regarding a possible temporary use. Twenty floors of the former Hilton Hotel in Nairobi are currently vacant and the participants were interested in how interim use might lead to the attraction of possible investors. Although in one case an investor who had visited an exhibition in Berlin had finally bought the complex, the guests stated that this was not the main objective of interim utilisation. Financing was also a concern of a participants from Montenegro and Regensburg.

The consense was that those who profit most from the interim use should also be hold financially responsible. In most cases, tenants only pay a symbolic rent, but their conservation of the building presents an economic advantage for the owner. Cases are very individual. In Regensburg, the activation of central heating in the concerned building would have caused high costs. While the guest suggested house in house solutions, Regensburg had yet found creative forms of interim use and offered the fireguard and police to use the building for training purposes. Asked from Hebron, questions concerned the public participation process and best practices. The ongoing Connective Cities learning process will offer another follow-up activity on the involvement of the public, soon.

„Think about your interim project from the end. How is it guaranteed that the project ends in everybody’s consent?” Oliver Hasemann, ZweischenZeitZentrale Bremen

Connective Cities with side event @COP27

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Join us on November 12th, 6:30 – 8:00 pm UTC+2, virtually or at the German Pavilion at COP27 – and discuss challenges and solutions to energy supply and energy efficiency in cities.

Cities worldwide face dependence on energy imports and energy supply as well as high prices and price fluctuation due to wars, conflicts, and insecure situations worldwide. The expansion of renewable energies and energy efficiency in urban development are therefore currently gaining further momentum.

How can cities work towards energy autarky? What role can cities play in eliminating energy imports? To what extent can cities and municipalities produce their own energy?

The side-event is organized by Connective Cities and the German Association of Cities (Deutscher Städtetag) and addresses challenges and good practices examples in the fields of:

  • Energy supply and energy consumption of different sectors in cities
  • Good Practices in reducing energy consumption (e.g., nearly zero energy buildings; renewable energy; clean energy)

Keynote: Mrs. Lea Ranalder, UN-Habitat

Panel discussion:      

  • Mr. Andreas Wolter, Mayor, City of Cologne, Germany
  • Mrs. Melanie Grabowy, Mayor, City of Bonn, Germany
  • Mr. Houcine Jrad, Mayor, Municipality Houmt Souk, Tunisia
  • Dr. Georges Youssef, Municipality Menjez, Lebanon
  • Mme Gladys Wanga, Governor County Government of Homa Bay, Kenia

Moderation: Sabine Drees, German Association of Cities

Virtual participation is possible via:  Side Event | Responding Russia´s war: Towards Energy Autarky on a local level (german-climate-pavilion.de)

Bending the Linear Economy On Urban Metabolism

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“In the Rome Declaration of 2021, the G20 Leaders stressed the link between sustainable urbanization and the development of circular economy to preserve resources and deliver on climate and biodiversity global goals. […] To meet ambitious but necessary net zero targets, waste, water and energy provision have to change dramatically and at a large scale. This includes new technologies, transformations in governance and regulatory systems, the implementation of just-transition financial mechanisms and strengthened international cooperation, combined with enhanced technical cooperation and joint capacity building among emerging and developing markets.”

INTERSECTING is distributed by the Global Solutions Initiative. It is geared towards think tanks, civil organizations, international institutions, in particular the G20/T20.

Municipal Policy Award of the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation 2023

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Municipalities make an important contribution to climate protection – in Germany and worldwide. They not only work directly on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, but have often additionally committed themselves to further climate protection. Municipalities also face similar challenges worldwide and can therefore benefit from close cooperation and lively exchange. This is especially true for cross-border cooperation projects, which require particularly high motivation, courage and, last but not least, organisational and assertiveness skills during the ongoing pandemic.

In 2023, the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation’s Municipal Policy Award will honour cross-border municipal cooperation projects on participatory municipal climate protection and adaptation measures with prize money of 2,000 euros. Outstanding cooperations of municipalities or municipal alliances with the participation of a German municipality or municipal alliance are sought.

All important information about the award and your application can be found in the competition announcement: pdf-Download  [in German]

Deadline extension: The deadline for applications is Monday, 31 October 2022.

The prize is awarded in memory of the communal political work of Carl Goerdeler as Mayor of the City of Leipzig and his resistance activities against Nazi rule. The award is intended to serve the peaceful cooperation of municipalities and municipal alliances that unites people and to promote mutual learning for the benefit of the residents.

Contact:

Ricarda Meissner
ricarda.meissner@giz.de 
Phone: +49 (0)228 4460 1138

Klaudia Sonntag
klaudia.Sonntag@giz.de 
Phone: +49 (0) 228 4460 1587

Envisaging the Future of Cities

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Urbanization is intertwined with several existential global challenges: Cities do not exist in isolation from global challenges. The emergence of urbanization as a global megatrend is intertwined with the existential challenges that the world has faced in the last 50 years, including climate change, rising inequality and the rise in zoonotic viruses with the latest being the novel coronavirus pandemic, which triggered the worst public health crisis in a century and the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. These challenges will in different ways, leave their imprints on the future of cities.

In UN-Habitat’s new World Cities Report 2022 – Envisaging the Future of Cities, three scenarios, or three paths were identified, that the world’s cities could take at this critical juncture.

  • In the worst-case or “high damage” scenario, we assume that policy-making and governance will become even weaker and more ineffective. The destructive effects of the pandemic, climate change, inequality, poverty, and long-running conflicts, if not adequately addressed, will have disastrous consequences for cities in both developed and developing countries, though the latter would suffer most because of existing vulnerabilities. If 80 per cent of the economic damage inflicted by COVID-19 persists for a decade, then the number of people living in poverty could increase by more than 200 million by 2050.
  • The middling, or “pessimistic scenario”, foresees a reversion to the status quo before the pandemic. This business-as-usual approach would be characterised by exploitation and exclusion of informal sector workers, systemic discrimination of the urban poor, unimaginative policies and poor implementation on the climate crisis, public transport, or urban regeneration programmes and renewal. Cities could be locked into cycles of poverty, poor productivity, unhealthy living conditions and become inequality traps for decades.
  • The report, however, also envisages an optimistic future. Governments and donors would invest in urban development sufficiently to create just, resilient, healthy, and prosperous cities everywhere. By 2050, there could be 260 million people lifted out of poverty compared to the pre-COVID baseline. National governments would embrace peace and diplomacy to resolve their differences rather than pursuing military action, avoiding drastic global economic consequences such as those inflicted on the supply of food and energy by the war in Ukraine. Governments would manage the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic competently, balancing health outcomes and economic recovery, and thus smoothing out global supply chains. They would also prepare adequately for the next pandemic.

Video: Pop-up bike lanes during the Pandemic

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Reducing the number of accidents, while at the same time increasing safety for everyone? Bogotá showed us, that this is possible and that the key to promote sustainable urban planning and environmentally friendly mobility are pop-up bike lanes. The concept of pop-up bike lanes, which emerged especially due to the COVID pandemic, is spreading not only in Bogotá, but also worldwide, for example in Berlin.

Both cities face the challenge that for a long time the principle of the car-friendly city was pursued in urban and transport planning. With an increase in cyclists during the pandemic and the limitation of public space, it was necessary to rethink and meet the needs of residents, for example to increase road safety for cyclists. This Good Practice outlines the undertaken measures in transport planning, the opinions of residents to the new concept and how in the end all road users can benefit from pop-up bike lanes in the long term, whether in Bogotá or Berlin.

The Protagonists are:

  • Sebastián Posada García (Bicycle and Pedestrian Sub-Dictorate, Bogotá)
  • Dr. Lea Wisken (Head of Cycling and Pedestrian Coordination Office, Berlin)

Watch video at YouTube (with mit English or Spanish sub-title):

https://youtu.be/TQGLzHmxxE4

Green Urban Development: learning from inspiring examples of implementation

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How do we promote climate neutral urban development?

The world must drastically reduce its CO2 emissions by 2050 to avert the worst impacts of climate change. Globally, we are seeing an influx into cities over the past 30 years and, cities are one of the main spaces where CO2 emissions are directly caused. Emissions in urban areas stem from construction projects, traffic flows, increasing energy consumption from a growing population, production of waste and other factors. “However, the urban space is also the solution space for the climate change,” said one of the participants in the working groups on Green Urban Development. This sentiment was also reflected in a study conducted by the German Advisory Council on Global Change, among other studies carried out globally.

Urban solutions include, for example, the use of new mobility formats such as traffic-calmed urban spaces, roll-out of innovative of e-mobility and bike lane solutions, the reduction of pollution from resource intensive economic sectors, more sustainable building and renovation practices based on circularity, development of urban spaces to promote local economic cycles and community activities and, decentralized energy supply and waste concepts.

Aim of the working groups on Green Urban Development

The COVID-19 program “Green Urban Development” was implemented in cooperation with the consulting company Mesopartner and the Wuppertal Institute. The program included three working groups, each with 3 to 4 cities and their representatives, mostly partners from local city governments or local research institutions. The objective was to promote the implementation of concrete projects that promote climate neutral city efforts

The three working groups had the following focus areas:

  • Working Group 1: Mobility solutions in cities
  • Working group 2: The transformation of urban spaces and reuse of “urban space” through new community formats and mobility solutions
  • Working Group 3: A mixed group linking urban energy, mobility and spatial approaches

From the formation of the working groups, it became clear that solution approaches often overlap or, that different solutions can approaches create synergies. This also enabled an exchange of experiences between the working groups. The participating cities in the program were Bhuj/Ahmedabad, Belo Horizonte, Kochi, Lalitpur, Dortmund, Buenos Aires, Quito, Montevideo, Hamburg, Kigali, Kisumu and Bremen.

First, second and third process steps: From ideas to concrete project proposals

In a first step, project ideas were developed in the respective working group:

  • Creation of a bicycle traffic concept using the example of the bicycle paths in Lalitpur
  • Creation of a child-friendly environmental zone in the neighborhood and the design of speed-reduced recreation areas
  • Greening of roofs to create a sustainable and green urban environment and combining it with renewable energy solutions and urban gardening activities
  • Municipal bio-waste management at the neighborhood level in collaboration with local citizens
  • Promotion of traffic-calming zones in Kigali
  • Increasing green, retention and infiltration areas in cities.
  • Application of sensor technologies to analyze neighborhoods and places with high Co2 emissions.
  • Planning pop-up bike lanes and building safe bike lanes.
  • Last-mile connectivity solutions and electro-based logistics solutions in the center of cities.

In bilateral meetings the topics of interest were explored, and the cities exchange on their experiences.

In a second step of the project, larger network meetings were organized in each working group. Here, the cities in the respective working group exchanged their experiences and presented inspiring implementation approaches. A variety of solution approaches and experience reports were exchanged here, including the creation of a pollution mapping and the e-mobility concept of Kigali, first last mile connectivity approaches in Buenos Aires, the development of the e-mobility hub in Quito, pop-up lanes in Berlin, environmental zones and bike lanes approaches in Belo Horizonte, the development of first bike lanes and app sharing concepts in Lalitpur, etc.

Based on this concrete exchange across the working groups, further bilateral experience exchange meetings were initiated to further develop initial ideas of prototypes. The prototypes included:

  • Delivery/unloading areas and electronic transport via hubs in the old city of Buenos Aires
  • Child-friendly and traffic-calming spaces in Bhuj
  • Scaling up bicycle infrastructure projects and app-sharing solutions in Lalitpur.

Based on these prototypes, concrete project proposals were developed with the objective to start fund raising for the implementation of the initiatives. In the Urban Space working group, Bhuj will implement the project “Safe access to schools for children through child-friendly and traffic-calmed zones.” The mobility-urban space-energy working group developed a project for Belo Horizonte, the establishment of an urban ecology laboratory. The exchanges in the Mobility Working Group eventually led to the project “Applied Technology for Loading and Unloading Public Zones in Buenos Aires”.

Implementation of Green City Pioneer of Change Events

In addition to the internal network exchange in the working groups, other stakeholders from cities around the world were involved in the reflection process for new climate-neutral city solutions. For this purpose, two large “Green City Pioneer of Change” workshops were organized, where in each of them more than 50 international participants were presented. The events had the objective to share good practices as well as to reflect jointly on key success factors and challenges. 

Detailed information

A variety of input speeches, video presentations, presentations, workshop results and good practices can be found on the Connective Cities website from various documented events:

Connective Cities Lab- Expert Input
with Climate City Expert Prof. Oliver Lah (Wuppertal Institut), 11. November 2021: https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/968

Participation of the three working groups in Design Thinking Workshops (15-17.11 2021):

https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/959

https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/960

https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/961

Working group meeting with exchange of good practices in the working group „Mobility“

https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/1102

Working group meeting with exchange of good practices in the working group Urban Space, Mobility, Energy (03.12.21)

https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/1095

First large Green City Pioneers of Change Event (19.01.2022)

https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/1111

Second Green City Pioneers of Change Event (25.02.22)

https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/1130