Category: Urban renewal

Call for Participation – Global Green Sports: Implementing Sustainability Strategies for Major Sports Events

Posted on by burkhard

Version française ci-dessous

Major sports events inspire billions of people worldwide – while also standing at the centre of the global sustainability debate. How can cities design major sports events in ways that create ecological, social, and economic added value? Which solutions are already proving successful in practice – and what can cities learn from one another?

In Berlin, these questions are being explored intensively. Together with Connective Cities, the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and the Berlin Senate Department for the Interior and Sport are inviting five additional German and six international municipalities to participate in a dialogue event on sustainability strategies for major sports events.

Who is the call for participation addressed to?

We look forward to welcoming two experts from your municipality, particularly from the fields of event management, sports, sustainability & climate action or Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

The event language is English. Travel costs will be covered by Connective Cities.

How can you participate?

If you would like to participate in the dialogue event, please send us the following information via email:

  • the name of your municipality / organisation (including universities or NGOs) and your role/function,
  • a short description of a project from your municipality that you would like to present to the other participants as a good practice. You are also welcome to describe a local challenge you are currently facing and would like to discuss with the other municipal experts.

 

Please get in touch about your participation until 5 July 2026.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us:
Nikola Krause, project coordinator Connective Cities
nikola.krause@engagement-global.de; +49 (0)228 20717 2922 and connective-cities@engagement-global.de

Further information can be found in the Call for Participation (download on the right).

Appel à candidatures – Global Green Sports : mise en œuvre de stratégies de durabilité pour les grands événements sportifs

Invitation adressée aux experts municipaux à participer à la rencontre de dialogue à Berlin, du 20 au 22 octobre 2026

Les grands événements sportifs enthousiasment des milliards de personnes – tout en étant au coeur du débat mondial sur la durabilité. Comment les communes peuvent-elles organiser les grands événements sportifs
de manière à créer une valeur ajoutée écologique, sociale et économique ? Quelles solutions fonctionnent déjà dans la pratique – et que peut-on apprendre les uns des autres ?

À Berlin, les responsables s’occupent déjà activement de ces questions. Aujourd’hui, l’arrondissement de Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf et l’administration sénatoriale chargée des affaires intérieures et des sports, en collaboration avec Connective Cities, invitent 5 autres communes allemandes et 6 communes internationales à échanger, lors d’une rencontre de dialogue, sur les stratégies de durabilité pour les grands événements sportifs.

À qui s’adresse cet appel à participation ?

Nous nous réjouissons de la participation de deux experts de votre commune, notamment issus des domaines de la gestion d’événements, du sport, de l’éducation au développement durable ou des services de l’ordre public.

La langue de l’événement est l’anglais. Les frais de déplacement seront pris en charge par Connective Cities.

Comment participer ?

Si vous souhaitez participer à cet événement de dialogue, veuillez nous envoyer les informations suivantes par e-mail :

le nom de votre municipalité / organisation (y compris les universités ou les ONG) et votre rôle/fonction, une brève description d’un projet de votre municipalité que vous souhaiteriez présenter aux autres participants en tant que bonne pratique. Vous pouvez également décrire un défi local auquel vous êtes actuellement confronté et dont vous aimeriez discuter avec les autres experts municipaux.

Merci de nous faire part de votre participation avant le 5 juillet 2026.

Vous trouverez toutes les informations complémentaires dans
l’appel à participation [pdf]

Si vous avez des questions, n’hésitez pas à nous contacter:

Nikola Krause, coordinatrice du projet Connective Cities
nikola.krause@engagement-global.de ; +49 (0)228 20717 2922 et connective-cities@engagement-global.de

Connective Cities at the World Urban Forum 13 in Baku

Posted on by burkhard

At the 13th World Urban Forum in Baku, the German Association of Cities and Connective Cities hosted an interactive Academy Session on “AI-supported Visualisation for Affordable Housing and Informal Settlement Upgrading”. The session explored how AI-supported visual tools can help municipalities discuss challenges related to affordable housing, neighbourhood development and informal settlement upgrading in a more concrete and accessible way.

The session built on the work of the Connective Cities Working Group on Sustainable and Affordable Housing. It was deliberately designed not as a technology demonstration, but as a practice-oriented municipal learning format based on real municipal cases. The aim was to explore how visualisation can make complex planning questions more understandable and open new spaces for dialogue between municipalities, technical departments, decision-makers and local stakeholders.

The process started from real images provided from municipal contexts. With the support of CoPlan AI, these images were translated into possible development scenarios. The AI-generated visuals were not intended as final plans. Instead, they served as discussion inputs. They allowed participants to discuss housing quality, density, public space, greenery, climate adaptation, mobility, social infrastructure and possible implementation steps in a more tangible way.

A central added value of the format was the joint work around the images. The visualisations made abstract planning questions visible and enabled a creative, yet critical discussion: What future images are being created? Which assumptions lie behind them? Which opportunities and risks become visible? Which social, spatial, environmental, institutional and financial conditions would need to be assessed before an image can become a realistic planning step?

The session was moderated by Prof. Hilmar von Lojewski, German Association of Cities. Jelena Karamatijevic, Connective Cities / GIZ, provided the conceptual framing and introduced the Connective Cities perspective on municipal practice and peer learning. CoPlan AI, represented by Damiano Cerrone and Sampo Ruoppila, supported the participatory AI-based visualisation process.

Municipal case contributions and reflections came from Nairobi, Huye, Mariental, Hebron, Berlin and the Urban Development Fund in Egypt. Contributors included Godfrey Ngugi, Richard Ndicunguye, Sunday Haimbodi, Husam Shweiki, Lars Loebner and Dr. Marwa Ahmed. They reflected on the visual scenarios from the perspective of local planning realities, implementation constraints and possible next steps.

From Berlin, Lars Loebner from the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing contributed an important perspective on the role of images in public debates on housing and neighbourhood development. Visual representations can strongly influence how new housing is perceived. Used responsibly, they can help communicate not only abstract plans, but also positive and realistic images of liveable, socially mixed and green neighbourhoods.

A methodological input was provided by Ruvi Y. Suárez Subirana, GIZ / ProUrbano, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Under the title “From AI Visualisation to Scenario Assessment”, she showed how AI-supported visualisation can be linked to scenario thinking and impact reflection. Her contribution complemented the discussion by underlining that AI images are not plans. Their value emerges when they are used to reflect jointly on impacts, trade-offs and possible implementation pathways.

The discussion showed that AI-supported visualisation can be a useful tool for making planning options more accessible and supporting joint learning. At the same time, participants underlined that visualisations must be used responsibly. They can create expectations and therefore cannot replace planning, participation, feasibility assessments, cost estimation or political decision-making.

From a Connective Cities perspective, the Academy Session provides an important starting point for a deeper exchange on affordable housing, informal settlement upgrading and implementation-oriented municipal project ideas. The added value lies not in the technology itself, but in its potential to strengthen municipal learning processes and help translate visualisation and mapping into realistic, inclusive and financeable urban development pathways.

Visual documentation: Current state / after AI-assisted visualisation

The following visualisations were developed as discussion inputs during the WUF13 Academy Session. They use real municipal images as starting points and AI-generated scenarios to support dialogue on affordable housing, informal settlement upgrading, public space, climate resilience and implementation pathways. The images are not final plans.
Source: Connective Cities, generiert mit CoPlan AI.

Ruanda, Huye — suburban affordable housing area

From serviced land to a liveable affordable housing neighbourhood with public space, shade and community facilities.

Initial scenario (left) and AI-generated discussion scenario (right)

Kenia, Nairobi County — Mji wa Huruma

From an informal settlement to upgrading, safer public space and climate-sensitive housing.

Initial scenario (left) and AI-generated discussion scenario (right)

Namibia, Mariental — incremental housing approach

From incremental housing conditions to a safer street environment with basic services, shade and walkability.

Initial scenario (left) and AI-generated discussion scenario (right)

Palestine, Hebron — affordable housing in context

From an existing street section to a scenario with mixed-use edges, greenery and pedestrian-oriented housing.

Initial scenario (left) and AI-generated discussion scenario (right)

Germany, Berlin — new neighbourhood development

From open land along a road to a dense, green and mixed-use housing scenario

Initial scenario (left) and AI-generated discussion scenario (right)

Egypt, Sharqia — urban infill and affordable housing

From underused urban land to a compact housing scenario with shaded courtyards and public space.

Initial scenario (left) and AI-generated discussion scenario (right)

 

The “Walkable Triangle” in Kisumu, Kenya

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Kisumu, a port city on the shores of Lake Victoria and one of Kenya’s largest cities, is becoming increasingly important for the movement of goods and trade between Kenya and its neighbouring countries, Tanzania and Uganda. With an annual population growth rate of just under 4 per cent, the population has more than doubled in 15 years, rising from around 205,000 in 2001 to at least 422,000 in 2025. This has led to a series of major infrastructure projects, which, however, have primarily focused on motorised transport, even though 53 per cent of residents’ daily journeys are made on foot.

One project under the ‘Kisumu Sustainable Mobility Plan’ is the ‘Walkable Triangle’: the pedestrian-friendly redesign of the three main streets—Oginga Odinga, Ang’awa Ave and Jomo Kenyatta Ave—in a commercial district in the city centre. These streets form a triangle around a sports and park area and are used by over 2,200 pedestrians every day. The aim is to promote non-motorised transport along the 1.5-kilometre stretch, making it safer, more pleasant and accessible, whilst preserving and integrating the existing tree population.

In addition, the city is promoting e-mobility in public transport through a battery-swapping system for motorcycle taxis, known as ‘boda-bodas’, and three-wheeled taxis, known as ‘tuk-tuks’.

The documentation describes the approach as well as the outcomes achieved by this good practice.

Author: Burkhard Vielhaber

Copyright: Connective Cities

 

Climate Proofing the Built Environment: Technical Support for Climate Resilient Infrastructure

Posted on by burkhard

The second Africa Urban Forum (AUF), organized under the African Union framework with the support from UN-Habitat and UNECA, took place from 8 to10 April 2026 at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. AUF welcomed a diversity of participants, among them politicians, private sector, civil society, development partners and interested members of the public as well, to discuss the conferences’ topic: ‘Adequate Housing for All: Advancing Socio-economic and Environmental Transformation towards the Realization of Agenda 2063’.

At AUF, Connective cities alongside GIZ partner projects Covenant of Mayors Sub Sahara Africa (CoMSSA) and Resilience Initiatve Africa (RIA) organized and facilitated a side event on 9 April, titled Climate proofing the built environment: Integrated Technical Support for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure.

The events’ panel-discussion included international experts, development finance institutions, and local administrations. Thereby, participants could gain insights from local government representatives from Embu, Kenya, and eThekwini, South Africa on how to combine collaborative governance with technical expertise for climate resilient infrastructure. In this regard, the launch of the Embu Final Prefeasibility Technical Assistance Report on Solid Waste Management Infrastructure illustrated the need for comprehensive data gathering prior to project implementation.

Next to the case studies, panelists discussed institutional arrangements and policy approaches related to financing sustainable urban infrastructure. For example, a representative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development emphasized that cities must leverage on digitalization of revenue collection to meet ever-rising financial demands and also demonstrate to potential financiers built-in capacity to collect, allocate, and use financial means effectively.

Furthermore, a program manager from the European Investment Bank noted that for development projects to be implemented efficiently, the national and sub-national levels of government must enter into collaborative modes of governance, whereby they complement each other in sourcing funds from potential financiers. The program manager further advocated for a non-fragmented approach towards infrastructure development to avoid wastage and duplication of effort and resources.

In sum, the AUF side-event, by bringing together financial institutions and local government leaders, provided valuable insights into how to comprehensively think sustainable urban development as a basis to successfully build climate-resilient infrastructure in African cities and beyond.

Green Corridors in the city and its surroundings

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Kick-off Event: 7th – 9th April 2026 (TBC) in Egypt

Local authorities in Germany, North Africa, and the Middle East face similar challenges in the face of climate change. They are called upon to translate general strategies for climate change adaptation and climate protection into concrete local measures. One option is to develop green corridors – e.g., as green walkways in city centers or as green corridors in the surrounding areas and new neighborhoods. These enable improved fresh air supply, quality of life, and more efficient water management. Green corridors can also be used for local recreation and heat protection in municipalities.

Against this backdrop, Connective Cities offers experts from local governments in Gemany, North Africa and Middle East the opportunity to develop concrete solutions for their own contexts and exchange ideas with each other as part of a one-year learning process.

Main areas of Work

The structured learning process will focus on:

  1. Green corridors as fresh air corridors between cities and their surrounding areas
  2. Green paths in cities and old city centers
  3. Green new and existing neighborhoods

 

The methodology

The learning process follows a modular approach with the following objectives:

  1. Supporting participating municipalities in developing solutions through peer learning and tailored technical advice to promote green corridor solutions.
  2. Developing the participants’ skills so that they are better able to implement organizational changes and improve procedures and methods in their own municipalities.
  3. Supporting participating municipalities in their methodological approach and the development of financially viable solutions.

 

As part of the learning process, best practices for green corridors and climate-friendly urban planning will be presented. Participating municipalities will engage in peer learning with others to develop concrete solutions for their individual contexts. These solutions can bring about organizational changes to improve procedures, methods, and data availability, as well as the concrete implementation of pilot measures.

Using a co-creative approach, participants will be involved in a structured creative problem-solving process. This includes

  1. observing and understanding current municipal practices to identify challenges and gaps,
  2. brainstorming and developing concrete solutions, and
  3. testing the solutions with a group of stakeholders, including citizens and experts, to obtain feedback.

 

Duration

The learning process will span a period of one year, beginning with a kick-off workshop in Egypt in April 2026. A total of two German and approximately 10 municipalities from the MENA region will participate in the learning process.

Participation and contact

We are looking for experts from local governments in Gemany, North Africa and Middle East (district offices, city administrations, municipal companies, etc.) who can contribute a project or idea for a solution for green corridors to the learning process. Ideally, two experts from one municipality will apply and be able to anchor the change process in the administration in the long term. The participation costs (accommodation and board) are covered. The conference language is English and French.

If you are interested in the learning process, please apply by February 20, 2026, via this link: Learning process MENA Green Corridors 2026/2027 | Connective Cities Network stating your municipality, position, and the project/challenge in the area of green corridors.

If you have any questions, please contact jelena.karamatijevic@giz.de

Further information about: Connective Cities’ learning processes

From Vision to Reality

Posted on by burkhard

Working Group: Sustainable & Affordable Housing – Connective Cities

Affordable and sustainable housing remains one of the most pressing challenges for cities worldwide. In the next phase of the Connective Cities Sustainable & Affordable Housing Working Group, this online workshop introduces visualisation methods as a practical tool to support planning, communication, and peer learning among cities.

Building on previous working group exchanges, the session integrates principles of the New European Bauhaus and explores how AI-based visualisation can help cities translate strategic housing goals into tangible spatial concepts.

 

An old high-rise building in Bucharest. In front of it, a paved square filled with parked cars.
Photo: Connective Cities
The same building, but now there is a park with benches in front of it where people can sit and relax.
Square in Bucharest redesigned with the help of AI

The workshop combines hands-on visualisation with a mini peer-learning format, allowing participating cities to reflect on concrete cases related to building rehabilitation, public spaces, infill development, and neighbourhood upgrading.

Objectives

  • Introduce AI-supported visualisation approaches for affordable and sustainable housing
  • Apply NEB principles (sustainability, inclusion, aesthetics) to real city cases
  • Strengthen peer consultation and collective learning among Connective Cities alumni
  • Bridge the gap between visual concepts and implementation planning

 

Format

  • Short expert inputs
  • Live AI-based visualisation session using selected city cases
  • City-led peer consultation with feedback from peers, experts, and the Connective Cities team

 

The same image now with an additional cycle path through the park
Alternative visualisation models

The same image, now with an additional lane for buses

Practical information

  • Date: 22 January 2026
  • Time: 10:00–13:00 CET
  • Location: Online (Connective Cities Platform)
  • Language: English
  • Participation: Free of charge, register here


The workshop is open to the public. Active participation in the AI-based visualisation (including uploading own photos) is reserved for members of the Connective Cities Sustainable & Low-Cost Housing Alumni Group.

In case of questions, please contact:

Moses Munuve – moses.munuve@giz.de or Jelena Karamatijevic – jelena.karamatijevic@giz.de