In December 2021, the municipalities of Eltville and Tunuyán met online for a professional dialogue, which was also attended by representatives of scientific institutions from both countries. A total of 30 people took part in the event. The two sides decided to work together in the future within a climate partnership, in order to minimise the negative impacts of climate change on wine production and the tourism industry.
Category: Integrated urban development
Climate-adapted urban development in Kumasi and Dortmund
Dortmund and the Ghanaian municipality of Kumasi used a dialogue event organised by Connective Cities in September 2019 to reactivate their climate partnership, which began in 2011. They focus on the climate-adapted development of their cities and on the greening of school grounds in Kumasi.
Connective Cities with side event @COP27
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)
Voices from Connective Cities – Muncipality of Ras el-Matn
The Mayor of Ras el-Matn municipality talks about how the municipality serves as the lungs of the capital Beirut in Lebanon, mainly due to its distigiushed eco-tourism projects. He also describes the municipality’s partnership with the private sector partner ‘Green Mount Recycling -GMR’ for sustainable waste management. The general director of GMR commended Ras el-Matn municiplaity and elaborates on their partnership project to promote sorting from source, particularly on how gender considerations were integrated into the planning and implementation of the project’s activities. Moreover, the Mayor also describes how the municipality developed a geospatial database with Connective Cities to promote waste sorting. Both speakers confirmed how this project will ultimately have environmental benefits and contribute to climate change mitigation. They also confirmed the benefits of joining Connective Cities network and peer learning particularly on the topic of waste management, as they learned about procedures that other companies are following in different countries such as the Philippines and Brazil using PPP.
Watch video at YouTube:
Bending the Linear Economy On Urban Metabolism
“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.
Urban development for all in Vienna
In the field of gender planning, Vienna is accorded a top position at the European level regarding both the conceptual depth and thematic width of its activities. This is also evidenced by the great international interest in the experience “made in Vienna”.
Living alongside water instead of fearing it
Bangkok’s first significant piece of green infrastructure, Chulalongkorn Centenary Park (CCP), aims to lessen the risk of flooding in the city and other ecological issues. The Park can store up to one million gallons of water during periods of heavy rainfall. The Park is an example of alternative landscape strategies for reducing urban flooding and, a reminder of the city’s ability to live alongside water rather than fear it in the face of climate change.
Municipal Policy Award of the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation 2023
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
Leave no one behind
As part of its support during COVID-19 pandemic, the Municipality of Mionica established a volunteering center to support elderly people in the municipality during the pandemic.
Voices from Connective Cities – Abasan Al-Kabira municipality
The representatives of Abasan Al-Kabira municipality in Palestine talk about how they are acting as Connective Cities’ Ambassador in Palestine, by organising several workshops for municipalities in Gaza to promote the regional network’s activities in different thematic areas such as crisis management, response to the Covid-19 pandemic, circular economy, local economic development and renewable energy. They also confirmed that working with Connective Cities on several projects and benefitting from knowledge exchange with their peers have enabled the municipality to progress in achieving its SDG-related targets and has resulted in developing capacities of the municipal employees.
Watch video at YouTube: