From16 to 18 June 2025, Connective Cities is inviting municipal experts, specialists from administration, science and business to Podgorica, Montenegro. Together, we will take a practical look at specific project ideas from the Southeast Europe/Caucasus region, discuss success factors for their implementation and promote the international exchange of experience.
Experts with expertise in the following areas in particular are invited to attend:
Renewable energies and municipal energy planning
Energy-efficient refurbishment and building management
Financing municipal infrastructure
Development and implementation of sustainable urban projects
The aim of the event is to strengthen the dialogue between municipalities, financial institutions and experts, to make good practice visible and to further develop concrete, implementable project ideas.
You can find more information in the Call for Participation. If you are interested in participating, please send a brief expression of interest by e-mail to the relevant contact person by 26 May 2025:
Naivasha, Kenya | 14–17 April 2025 – Green hydrogen is gaining global attention as a key energy carrier for the future. While much of the discussion centres on export potential, green hydrogen production also holds significant potential for local development—boosting municipal infrastructure and stimulating local economies, especially in Africa, where the continent’s high potential for solar and wind energy brings African cities in a unique position to become innovation hubs and key drivers in the global energy transition.
To foster exchange of experiences and best practices between African and German cities, Connective Cities organised the workshop “Exploring the Potential of Green Transition for Local Economic Development”, bringing together over 30 municipal professionals from both regions.
The role of cities in promoting green hydrogen
The workshop, which focused on the role of cities in advancing green hydrogen as a lever for sustainable economic growth, facilitated a peer-to-peer learning space for municipal actors to exchange experiences, address challenges, and explore pathways for green hydrogen adoption at the local level.
Municipal strategies and shared challenges
Photo: Connective Cities
A central focus of the exchange was how technological innovation can align with local development needs. Discussions ranged from decentralised hydrogen production systems and seawater electrolysis to the use of organic waste as a renewable source. Especially for coastal or water-scarce cities in Africa, such technologies were seen as promising solutions to local resource constraints.
However, participants agreed that technology alone is not enough. Effective local hydrogen strategies require strategic urban planning, transparent land management, and strong community engagement. Several municipalities shared examples of inclusive planning processes, involving traditional authorities and local universities in shaping future-oriented land use plans and infrastructure projects.
Peer Learning Session | Photo: Connective Cities
Participants from countries including Namibia, South Africa, Mauritania, Kenya, and Germany presented concrete initiatives demonstrating how hydrogen projects can generate local value. The example of Arandis (Namibia) illustrated how targeted investment and strategic partnerships are enabling the town to position itself as a production hub for green hydrogen. In contrast, the Heilbronn region (Germany) focuses on the application and industrial use of hydrogen, building a regional value chain by attracting user industries and technology providers.
Furthermore, Karlsruhe (Germany) showcased a successful ecosystem for start-ups working in hydrogen technologies, supported by research institutions and public-private partnerships. Across all cases, one message became clear: municipal masterplans and coordinated strategic planning are essential for cities to fully benefit from the emerging hydrogen economy.
The discussions underscored the growing role of cities not only as implementers of national energy goals, but as active shapers of the green transition. The workshop aimed to empower municipalities to position themselves as testing grounds, innovation platforms, and investment destinations within a future green hydrogen economy.
Outlook and next steps
The workshop concluded with a strong call for municipal leadership in developing local hydrogen strategies that reflect both environmental ambitions and socio-economic priorities. Participants identified three key areas for action:
Local value creation: Prioritising domestic use of hydrogen for local industries – such as fertiliser or building materials – rather than relying solely on export models.
Education and skills development: Aligning vocational training and higher education programmes with future labour market needs in the hydrogen sector.
Partnerships and knowledge exchange: Strengthening peer-to-peer learning and cooperation among municipalities through platforms such as Connective Cities.
Participants also highlighted that green hydrogen offers more than energy solutions – it can help create future-oriented jobs, stimulate innovation, and improve urban living conditions. By linking clean energy production with economic development, municipalities can promote both resilience and inclusivity.
The workshop in Naivasha confirmed that green hydrogen can become a key pillar of sustainable urban development – provided that cities take a proactive role. Where political commitment, technical capacity and community participation come together, green hydrogen has the potential to drive long-term prosperity and shared growth.
Photo: Export-Akademie Baden-Württemberg
“Whether peer learning sessions, inspiring impulses or practical insights into hydrogen strategies, sustainable mobility and local project development – the variety of formats impressively demonstrated how much potential there is in partnership-based cooperation.“
– Felix Sossalla, Wirtschaftsförderung Raum Heilbronn GmbH (LinkedIn, translated)
“We’re looking forward to partnering with more cities, industries, and changemakers who share our vision for a greener, more inclusive future. Let’s create the green cities of tomorrow — together.”
With four million inhabitants, the Jordanian capital is home to around 40 per cent of the country’s total population. In 2021, Amman’s city administration, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), decided to create a VLR – the first in the Arab region. In the summer of 2022, the VLR was finalised and presented together with the Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the UN High-Level Political Forum in New York.
The VLR has proven to be a complete success – both as an analytical tool and as a process:
An ‘ecosystem’ for collecting validated data has been developed.
Sustainability goals (SDGs) were integrated into various areas of policy, strategy development and administrative action.
New formats for citizen participation were trialled.
New projects and partnerships were initiated and ongoing ones strategically interlinked;
The digitalisation of the administration is very advanced.
The simultaneous creation of VNR and VLR ensured policy coherence and mutual support between the two levels.
Are you an expert in the interim use of buildings? If so, we would be delighted to welcome you to a Connective Cities expert meeting, where participants in the Connective Cities learning process ‘2nd Hands on Public Buildings’ will learn about the work of ZwischenZeitZentrale Bremen and Transiträume Berlin e.V. and discuss examples of their projects with experts in this field. The exchange of expertise will take place online on March 12, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. via WebEx (alternative date as the meeting in February was cancelled).
For ecological and, increasingly, economic reasons, the reuse or conversion of buildings from the 1960s and 1970s is of interest to municipalities and their building stock. The Connective Cities dialogue event in cooperation with the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing from 24 to 27 September 2024 was dedicated to this paradigm shift. Around 30 municipal experts from Germany, Kenya, Montenegro, the Palestinian Territories, Zambia and Ukraine exchanged views on solutions and challenges for the sustainable reuse of public buildings and jointly developed project ideas. The ongoing one-year learning process of Connective Cities on the reuse and repurposing of modernist buildings offers further insights into the topics discussed in Berlin and the opportunity to develop concrete solutions through exchange and study tours. On March 12, 2025, we will focus on the topic of ‘interim use’, which arose during the event, particularly for participants from Nairobi. All objects and project examples provided by the participants can be found in this publication.
The Deep Dive celebrated another milestone in the two year long process, with the latest workshop being held in Aswan – Egypt from 21st to 23rd January 2025. The workshop marked the transition from the phase of piloting of solutions towards optimization and upscaling. Participants representing the cities of Nairobi, Aswan, Mombasa, Lüdenscheid, Heidelberg and Lviv (virtually) discussed the results of implementing their pilots. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to learn about projects and initiatives implemented in Aswan governorate that are relevant to sustainable urban development and urban climate action.
Program
The workshop activities were carried out over three days, and included peer advisory activities, presentations and a technical input from Prof. Jürgen Kropp from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in addition to an excursion in Aswan. A series of peer-to-peer exchanges between the participants who are working in different local conditions was facilitated. During the first day, the participants discussed their key learnings from the implementation of their pilots and elaborated on the measures taken to ensure co-creation with relevant stakeholders and the sustainability of the pilots’ results. Furthermore, a keynote from the deputy governor of Aswan, Mr. Amr Lashin, shed light on efforts to transition towards human-centric urban development in the governorate. The introduction also included a presentation from UDF’s general manager for international cooperation and community participation, Dr. Marwa Soliman, which delved into the role of the Urban Development Fund (UDF) and its numerous projects on integrated urban development and urban climate action.
This was followed on the second day by a series of exercises that guided the participants into identifying areas for optimization in their pilots and methods for upscaling including 1) standardization of design and replication, 2)planning incremental upscaling, 3) financial and human resources allocation, 4) redefining the anticipated risks given the wider scale of implementation, and 5) monitoring of progress including the definition of key performance indicators.
The final day incorporated a session on reflections from the participants on their experiences throughout the implemented stages of the Deep Dive in addition to a hybrid session with Prof. Kropp, who addressed their questions on various technical topics including 1) using artificial intelligence in climate research and devising of solutions, 2) channeling climate finance to implement measures for mitigation of urban heat, 3) existing affordable solutions that are of high impact, 4) cities and local governments position in international climate talks such as the COP29, and 5) building climate-resilient health systems. These topics will be the focus of a series of virtual sessions that will be held in the upcoming months with Prof. Kropp and PIK.
Documentation of the Connective Cities dialogue event from 24 to 26 September 2024 in Berlin.
Public buildings from the 1960s and 70s are a common feature of many cityscapes around the world. Today, they rarely meet the 21st century’s technical, energy and aesthetic requirements, and are frequently demolished and replaced with new buildings. However, they have great potential for reducing emissions in the construction sector, thereby contributing to climate change mitigation.
At the dialogue event, almost 25 municipal experts from Germany, Kenya, Montenegro, the Palestinian territories, Zambia and Ukraine exchanged views on solutions and challenges for the sustainable reuse of public buildings from the 1960s and 1970s and worked together to develop project ideas. New concepts often include multifunctional use for residential, social, educational, cultural, retail and office space.
Built in 1965, the current City Hall of Hebron in the Palestinian Territories has been remodelled and repurposed time and again to meet the increasing demands of a growing city and its administration. The focus was on resource efficiency, technical modernisation and the requirements of work organisation.
The building sector must become more sustainable: It is responsible for up to 40 per cent of all CO2 emissions worldwide. The construction industry also consumes many resources, as valuable building materials are rarely recycled. Moreover, it’s not just about the construction phase: the way a building is constructed plays a decisive role in how much energy is used for heating or cooling throughout the entire life cycle of the building.
In order to fight climate change and protect the environment, the construction sector urgently needs to be decarbonized. There are many innovative ways to do this, for example with bio-based materials such as wood, clay and bricks or by recycling used materials.
Local authorities play a key role in making the construction sector more sustainable: as innovation drivers in their own buildings and in the design of building regulations.
As part of a yearlong learning process organized by Connective Cities, representatives from local authorities and research institutions as well as planners and architects shared their experiences and knowledge of climate-friendly constructions and inspired each other’s work.
Dialogue event: What must be done and what can we do?
The learning process began with a dialogue event in Potsdam from 13 to 15 November 2023, at which participants from Bhutan, Indonesia, Nepal, South Africa, Berlin, Heidelberg, Lörrach, Munich, Stuttgart and Potsdam reported on how they are shaping the green transformation in the building sector. In Heidelberg and Munich, the aim is to reuse as much existing building material as possible when constructing new urban neighborhoods on former military sites. Architect Nyoman Popo Priyatna Danes explained how traditional and modern technologies were combined in the construction of a hotel complex in Bali. It was important to sensitize the population to the fragility of the landscape and to ecological economic activity.
According to Dr. Susanne Winter from the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) Germany and Peter Heuer, Chairman of the Potsdam City Council, it is important to find a sustainable balance between the protection and use of forests when building with wood. Wood for the construction industry must come from sustainably managed forests. Prof Dr. Jürgen Kropp from Bauhaus Erde and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) pointed out that bio-based building materials could mitigate the dangerous heating of cities and that, contrary to some opinions, wood is a stable and durable building material.
The dialogue took place in cooperation with the City of Potsdam, Bauhaus Erde and PIK.
The Resilience Initiative Africa (RIA), in partnership with Connective Cities, invites cities and civil society organizations in the ECOWAS region to participate in a workshop series on Risk-Informed Urban Development. This initiative aims to strengthen urban resilience and disaster risk management by fostering knowledge sharing, cooperation, and innovative approaches.
Key Highlights:
Risk-Informed Urban Development: Build local capacities to manage urban risks.
Knowledge Exchange: Promote peer learning between west African and European cities.
Inclusive Planning: Collaborate with residents of informal settlements, women, and youth groups, among others.
Bankable Solutions: Develop integrated approaches that combine adaptation and mitigation measures for sustainable financing.
Workshop Timeline:
Workshop 1: Introduction to Risk-Informed Urban Development (February 2025, Togo)
Workshop 2: Participatory Risk Analysis and Financing Preparedness (April/May 2025)
Workshop 3: Action Plan Development for Inclusive Disaster Risk Management (September/October 2025)
Apply now:
Cities are invited to submit their applications by 12 January 2025.
Appel à Manifestation d’Intérêt : Ateliers sur le Développement Urbain Tenant Compte des Risques dans la Région CEDEAO
L’Initiative pour la Résilience en Afrique (RIA), en partenariat avec Connective Cities, invite les villes et organisations de la société civile de la région CEDEAO à participer à une série d’ateliers sur le développement urbain tenant compte des risques. Cette initiative vise à renforcer la résilience urbaine et la gestion des risques de catastrophe grâce à des échanges de connaissances, à la coopération et à des approches innovantes.
Points Forts :
Développement Urbain Tenant Compte des Risques : Renforcer les capacités locales pour gérer les risques urbains.
Échange de Connaissances : Favoriser l’apprentissage mutuel entre les villes africaines et européennes.
Planification Inclusive : Collaborer avec les habitants des quartiers informels, les groupes de femmes et de jeunes, entre autres.
Solutions Bancables : Développer des approches intégrées combinant adaptation et atténuation pour un financement durable.
Calendrier des Ateliers :
Atelier 1 : Introduction au Développement Urbain Tenant Compte des Risques (février 2025, Togo)
Atelier 2 : Analyses Participatives des Risques et Préparation au Financement (avril/mai 2025)
Atelier 3 : Élaboration de Plans d’Action pour une Gestion Inclusive des Risques de Catastrophe (Septembre/Octobre 2025)
Posez votre candidature dès maintenant:
Les villes sont invitées à soumettre leur candidature avant le 12 janvier 2025.
As part of the learning process “Towards a Climate Positive Built Environment Using Bio-based and Re-used Materials”, experts from the City of Munich, the Technical University of Munich and the City of Heidelberg travelled to Nepal in October 2024 to learn about Nepal’s long-standing practices in the field of sustainable construction and the reuse of building materials during a week-long delegation trip.
The German delegation met the R.P. Foundation and the international organisation ICIMOD in addition to Banepa’s municipal stakeholders and learned about the architectural landscape and circular building techniques in Nepal. The aim of the German delegation was to explore possibilities for applying such Nepalese approaches in Munich and Heidelberg. The delegation was also interested in discussing building in mountainous regions and resilient construction with regard to increasing extreme weather events.
