Category: Urban management and administration

From the open municipality to the smart city

Posted on by erik

Join us for an insight session exploring how municipalities can utilise open governance models and harness the power of digitalisation for better urban planning and service delivery.

This insight session showcases municipal experiences on how open government principles can be localized to enhance transparency and citizen engagement and ultimately promote good governance. The role of digital transformation in increasing transparency and public participation will also be discussed. Furthermore, the insight session delves into application of digital tools, in particular Geographic Information Systems (GIS), for supporting data-driven decision-making for infrastructure development and liveability improvements. Participants will explore good practice examples of cities successfully integrating smart governance and spatial planning for sustainable urban growth and engage with experts and peers on strategies to make municipalities more inclusive, efficient, and resilient.

Date: 17 June 2025

Time: 9:30 – 10:30 CEST

Language: Arabic (English interpretation)

Enrollment: https://community.connective-cities.net/en/node/1569

Questions? muna.shalan@giz.de

Results of the Connective Cities Deep Dive process ‘Heat in the city’

Posted on by erik

How does your city deal with increasing heat? What can you do to protect the urban population from the impacts of heat burden in cities?

We would like to invite you to learn from the intensive exchange of expertise between the cities of Aswan in Egypt, Heidelberg and Lüdenscheid in Germany, Mombasa and Nairobi in Kenya and Lviv in Ukraine. The experts jointly identified and analysed challenges and developed locally-adapted solutions in the form of pilots that were implemented in their respective cities. We would like to present and discuss the results of the two-year deep dive process ‘Heat in the city’ on 12 June 2025, from 9:00 – 12:00 am:

You will have the opportunity to ‘dive’ into the projects and understand which key elements are important for successful implementation and upscaling in the future. In Lüdenscheid, efforts began with forming a multi-departmental core team to guide the development of a comprehensive heat action plan tailored to the city’s needs. Meanwhile, in Aswan, an integrated heat action framework was developed to address the unique challenges of the region’s hot climate. In Mombasa, initiatives focused on raising awareness and mapping urban heat island hotspots to inform better both stakeholders and citizens. Similarly, in Nairobi, schools became the focus of heat mitigation efforts, using temperature data to guide the strategic planting of shade-providing fruit trees, complemented by awareness programs aimed at students and educators. Meanwhile in Lviv, the participatory initiative of pocket parks was successfully launched in three different sites. Heidelberg is planning both to create a climatological database for all public spaces and outdoor areas and to develop up to three best practice examples for urban heat mitigation in public spaces.

The event is aimed at municipal experts from Germany and around the world as well as at potential donors and financial institutions who may be interested in supporting the projects. We look forward to welcoming you!

The working language of the event is English. In order to attend the meeting, subscribe here.

For more information, please contact Sibylle Loyeau sibylle.loyeau@engagement-global.de

Expert exchange on the Voluntary Subnational Review

Posted on by erik

During the Connective Cities Dialogue Event on “Sustainability reporting and Voluntary Local Review” that took place last December in Berlin, some participants decided to start a network for the acceleration and implementation of VLR/VSR. The group is composed by the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), the Council of Governors of Kenya, the City of Stuttgart, the City of Bonn, the Association of German Cities and Connective Cities.

In order to enrich and enlarge the network, the group organizes a peer-to-peer meeting on the topic Voluntary Subnational Review on May 7 at 3 p.m. (CET). The Voluntary Subnational Review is a reporting tool that allows a countrywide localization of the SDGs from the perspective of municipal administrations. By drawing up the Voluntary Local Review, municipalities provide the basic data for a detailed analysis of the local sustainable development. By aggregating these data, a country obtains a comprehensive and detailed overview of the implementation of the SDGs. Meanwhile, municipal administrations are more represented at a national level and can present a united front with regard to national development policies.

Through the support of Local Government Associations, the creation of the Voluntary Subnational Review can be quick and effective. During the peer-to-peer meeting, representatives from South Africa and Germany will present their recent efforts in the creation of their Voluntary Subnational Reviews. After the presentation, we will open the stage for a broader discussion about the Voluntary Local and Subnational Review.

To attend this meeting, please contact Francesco Schapira francesco.schapira@engagement-global.de

Ten at a stroke

Posted on by erik

At the suggestion of the UN and as part of a comprehensive multi-stakeholder approach, the government of South Africa, together with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and 14 municipalities, initiated a remarkable process to localise the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, resulting in ten Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) with many other very positive downstream impacts in just eight months.

Together for a cleaner city: improvements in waste management

Posted on by erik

Dabola is a dynamic city in Guinea, with a population of 47,200. Located approximately 430 km from the capital Conakry, it is a vibrant hub for traditional agricultural activities, trade, and craftsmanship. However, the city faces significant challenges due to rapid population growth and inadequate waste management, which negatively impact public health and the environment. Insufficient infrastructure and the accumulation of waste in public spaces threaten the well-being of residents and the local ecosystem.

In response to these challenges, a partnership between Dabola and Dortmund was established in 2019, focusing on solid waste collection and treatment as well as environmental education.

Since August 2022, a local expert has been assisting the municipality of Dabola in developing a sustainable waste management system and strengthening the capacities of local actors.

The implementation of a waste management plan, developed in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, marked a significant turning point in Dabola. This initiative not only strengthened cooperation between the municipal administration and external actors but also established fruitful partnerships with private companies specializing in the field. As a result of these collaborative efforts, Dabola has seen a notable decrease in street waste.

Version française: Ensemble pour une ville plus propre: améliorations dans la gestion des déchets

The Voluntary Local Review (VLR) of Amman: Accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

Posted on by erik

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.

Action planning for sustainability reporting

Posted on by erik

The member states of the United Nations (UN) committed to work closely with local and regional governments to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

From 2 to 4 December 2024, Connective Cities organized in collaboration with the Association of German Cities a Dialogue Event in Berlin, in which 37 practitioners from 25 institutions and 15 countries met in order to exchange their experiences in the field of the Voluntary Local and Sub-National Review.
The focus of the dialogue event was on exchanging experiences and providing mutual peer-to-peer advice. The regional diversity, with perspectives and practical examples from South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Germany, Southeast Europe and Asia, invigorated the discussion and contributed to the success of the event.

Short summary and a photo gallery on our microsite ‘Action planning for sustainability reporting‘

2nd Hands on Public Buildings

Posted on by erik

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.

Short summary and a photo gallery on our microsite ‘More sustainable than demolition‘

Hebron City Hall – reinvented time and again

Posted on by erik

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.

Developing a municipal Geoinformation System

Posted on by erik

Beit Jala, situated on the western outskirts of Bethlehem in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, is a municipality of about 17,500 inhabitants. The town faces several challenges, including a lack of reliable spatial data and contemporary maps that eschews urban planning and development. For this reason, the municipality decided to develop a municipal Geographic Information System (EGIS), which helps to digitalize, update and use spatial data. This system serves as a tool for urban planning and development and a trigger for digital transformation. To implement this project, Beit Jala collaborates with the German city of Jena, with the aim to develop and strengthen and foster mutual technical cooperation between the two municipalities as well as working together to improve the GIS capabilities, as Jena can contribute knowledge and experience in municipal GIS development. From 2020 to 2024, a local expert supported the development of the municipal Enterprise GIS as well as the partnership between Beit Jala and Jena.

The development of an enterprise municipal Geoinformation system in Beit Jala has yielded specific and crucial lessons for future initiatives. One key insight is the imperative of an iterative approach, wherein projects are systematically broken down into manageable phases and where different synergies were created at both the local and international level.