Category: Cities and climate change

Lörrach plans Germany’s first timber-built commercial area

Posted on by erik

In 2020 the town of Lörrach purchased the 8.5-hectare Lauffenmühle site which had formerly been home to a textile factory. The purchase was made possible by urban development grants worth €9.1 million from Germany’s federal government and the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Following discussions with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the idea arose of creating a timber-built climate-neutral commercial area on the site.

The historic factory buildings on the site and their stone facades are not protected monuments, but the project still plans to repair and retain their basic structure in order to utilise them for new commercial purposes. By doing this, the project hopes that people will be able to identify with the project, particularly in the surrounding areas.

The project can serve as a model for other municipalities in Germany and around the world, providing that entire commercial areas can be built of timber.

For more impressions, take a look at our Good Practice website!

Resilience in Times of War – Municipal Exchange between Ukraine and Germany

Posted on by erik

Discover innovative strategies for rebuilding infrastructure and fostering resilience in Ukrainian municipalities amidst the aftermath of Russian aggression. Join us in exploring the outcomes of the Connective Cities’ Project Planning Workshop, ‘Resilience in Times of War – Municipal Exchange between Ukraine and Germany.’ Held from November 28 to 29, 2023, in Munich, Germany, this workshop brought together over 35 participants, including representatives from 12 Ukrainian municipalities. Through dialogue and experience sharing, attendees delved into key focus areas such as sustainable energy development, local and regional economic growth, and strategic/urban planning. Learn from the insights of esteemed guest speakers and delegates from Kosovo municipalities, as they offer perspectives on German and international municipal experiences, paving the way for collaborative efforts in rebuilding and fortifying Ukrainian communities. 

All presentations can be found here: https://community.connective-cities.net/en/group/215/topics

Deep Dive: Heat in the city

Posted on by erik

As a second milestone of the Deep Dive process, a workshop was held in Nairobi from 4 to 7 March 2024. The workshop marked the transition from the phase of sensemaking of the local contexts towards prioritization of challenges and solution options. Participants representing the cities of Nairobi, Aswan, Mombasa, Lviv, Lüdenscheid and Heidelberg discussed the observations and findings from the initial participatory field research including insights into how stakeholders and relevant actors perceive challenges related to the phenomenon of urban heat. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to learn about projects and initiatives implemented in Nairobi that are relevant to building resilience to urban heat.

Lörrach plans Germany’s first timber-built commercial area

Posted on by erik

There is more than enough wood available in the town of Lörrach and its proximity to the Black Forest. The idea was born to build a climate-neutral industrial estate in timber construction on the Lauffenmühle site. To date, there have only been individual commercial buildings constructed from wood in Germany, but no industrial estate with a comparable concept. Parts of the historic factory buildings on the site with their natural stone façades are to be integrated into the new utilisation structure.

Climate-positive construction with circular materials

Posted on by erik

Demand for living space is growing around the world, particularly within cities, which makes the construction industry a major sector in every economy. However, producing and processing raw materials for construction are significant contributors to environmental damage and carbon emissions. The construction sector also uses a lot of energy (sometimes known as “grey energy”) not only when producing construction materials and during the building phase itself, but also while the building is operated for heating, cooling and electricity use. Organic materials such as wood and bamboo could play a vital role in decarbonising the construction industry.

More than 30 representatives of municipalities, academia, business and civil society gathered at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research from 13 to 15 November 2023 for an event hosted by Connective Cities and the city of Potsdam to share ideas and experiences about the transformation to climate-friendly construction. They presented their experiences from Bhutan, Germany, Indonesia, Nepal, South Africa and Tanzania, and developed ideas for specific local projects. While in Potsdam they visited examples of good practice, such as a wood-built nursery school and the construction site of a pavilion which is being built with organic and recycled materials.

This documentation provides insights into the conference content and results.

Further impressions can also be found on the conference website “Climate-friendly construction with organic and recycled materials“

Banepa preserves traditional construction methods using bio-based materials

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This good practice describes how the town of Banepa is restoring its historic centre and a retirement home using traditional building methods. Bio-based building materials such as wood, bamboo, brick and clay are much more sustainable and earthquake-resistant than cement or concrete.

Learning Process: Renewable Energy Options on the Municipal Level

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The Connective Cities Kick-off Dialogue Event, held from 10 to 12 October 2023, brought together municipalities from various countries to discuss and share insights on “Renewable Energy Options on the Municipal Level.” Key participating municipalities were represented from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, and Ukraine.

During the event, innovative strategies in renewable energy were showcased, with participating municipalities engaging in collaborative learning and group deliberations to delve into the nuances impacting their renewable energy endeavors. Utilizing a design thinking approach, the Dialogue Event sought to uncover and address gaps and obstacles within current municipal strategies by scrutinizing the unique circumstances of each participating city.

With a diverse attendance of over 35 individuals representing 19 municipalities across 8 countries in Southeast Europe and Germany, the event featured presentations of successful practices and projects from 9 municipalities, aimed at sparking interactive discussions among attendees. Many participants encountered similar challenges in advancing renewable energy initiatives, highlighting the necessity to bolster knowledge and expertise to progress in this area.

This event is the starting point for a learning process in which project ideas are developed over the course of approximately one year until they are ready for realisation.
This documentation shows the promising initial results.

All presentations and a photo gallery of the dialog event can be found on our Connective Cities Community: Group Topics | Connective Cities Network (connective-cities.net)

Banepa preserves traditional construction methods using bio-based materials

Posted on by erik

The historic town centre of Banepa in Nepal extends along a road for a distance of around 1.2 kilometres. Many of the houses have been in poor condition, making the town less attractive.

This good practice describes how the town of Banepa is restoring its historic centre and a retirement home using traditional construction methods. Bio-based building materials such as wood, bamboo, brick and clay are significantly more sustainable and earthquake-resistant than cement or concrete.

In order to allay the concerns of the local population, the municipality is first refurbishing one building to provide an example of the methods that will be applied to the others. It is working together with the Nepalese RP Foundation, which has over 25 years of experience in the renovation of historical buildings.

This good practice was presented at the Connective Cities dialogue event on climate-friendly construction with organic and recycled materials in Potsdam.

Developing a climate change strategy in-house

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External consultants often develop climate protection strategies for municipalities, which then end up in the shelf because their implementation does not match the capabilities of the municipality, the measures are too costly or there is little ownership in the departments of the municipality. Kouga municipality was able to successfully conduct the in-house development of a climate strategy. They followed a cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach, including various departments of the municipal administration. This was supported by a development advisor funded by the “Experts fund for Municipal Partnerships worldwide” between 2021 and 2023. It was a challenge to bring together and activate all these players and at the same time gain political support, but eventually this approach enabled an integrated and therefore feasible strategy.

The climate change strategy consists of three implementation lines. The first line focuses on mainstreaming climate change into the municipal management, the second line talks to responses to main climate change vulnerabilities and the third line lists short-term measures that were identified through the process. Several of these are already being implemented now such as tree planting and dune rehabilitation.

City-to-city collaboration is key to streamlining climate neutrality and decentralized energy production

Posted on by erik

Together with the Connective Cities, the Association of German Cities organized a side event in the German Pavilion at the COP28 World Climate Conference in Dubai on the question of “What solutions are there for sustainable and decentralized energy generation and supply at local level”. On 6 December at 2 p.m. local time, representatives from German and African cities (Cologne, Bonn, eThekwini and Abuja) discussed their local innovations for climate-friendly energy solutions.

In her keynote speech, Katja Dörner, Vice-President of the German Association of Cities, Mayor of Bonn, and ICLEI Co-Chair for Climate Action, emphasized the importance of a socially just and participatory approach to a climate and energy transition. She emphasized that the voice of cities in climate negotiations is essential to achieve global goals.

She showed how the city of Bonn can achieve climate neutrality by 2035 and called on the federal level to make swift changes to support the local level. The EU and the German federal level must create the framework for a climate-friendly energy transition. She again emphasized the importance of making climate protection and adaptation a mandatory task for local authorities.