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INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT |
NEWSLETTER – ISSUE NO. 86, AUGUST 2025 |
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Dear Readers, “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them,” wrote American author, professor, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou to her daughter. When people come together with this mindset—pooling their energy and expertise to face crises collectively—remarkable resilience can emerge, both within groups and across entire communities. This spirit was clearly visible at Connective Cities’ expert forum during the Seventh German-Ukrainian Partnership Conference in Münster, as well as in our ongoing learning process on inclusivity and participatory risk assessments in West African cities. Close engagement with citizens and participatory governance are key elements here, and digital tools can help make them more effective, as highlighted by examples from Abu Dhabi and Ras el-Matn in our event “From Open Municipality to Smart City.” We also report on how local administrations and city associations joined forces at the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York to advocate for stronger recognition of their expertise in shaping national sustainability strategies. And of course, we warmly invite you to our two upcoming online events: one will focus on strategies for the “reuse of public buildings from the 1960s and 1970s”, while the other will reflect on experiences with local sustainability reporting and the Voluntary Local Review. We hope you enjoy this issue and find it inspiring. Your Connective Cities Team | | |
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From the Open Municipality to the Smart City |
Localising good governance and leveraging GIS for livability and infrastructure planning |
Through transparency, citizen participation and data-driven decision-making, cities can improve quality of life and infrastructure planning. While technology enables efficiency, the foundation remains good governance: cooperation, accountability and citizen-centred policies. Two good practices – a geodata solution in Abu Dhabi and participatory administration in Ras el-Matn – were used as examples to discuss the ways to achieve this in depth. |
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Resilient Cities in Times of Multiple Crises
Strategies for Resilient Municipalities |
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Connective Cities side event at the seventh German-Ukrainian
partnership conference in Münster |
The Ukrainian panellists gave impressive examples to the audience of the effects of Russia’s war of aggression, demonstrating what it means for a city’s population to face acute crises, and showing how important citizens’ and entrepreneurs’ willpower is in this regard. The importance of close collaboration between a variety of national and international stakeholders in building resilient cities was also highlighted. |
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| | From Risk to Resilience: Building Inclusive Urban Futures in West Africa |
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How do Western African cities address inclusivity and participatory risk assessments in the context of growing challenges of disaster risk preparedness and rapid urbanisation? |
The central question of how to address urban risk brought together experts and local leaders from municipalities in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The workshop series supports 12 cities in developing bankable project ideas to address risks in their areas, while also strengthening participants’ capacity to improve urban resilience. |
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| | Local and Regional Governments at the High-Level Political Forum 2025 |
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Working group meeting draws conclusions from the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development Committee in New York City 2025 |
Local administrations are still not sufficiently involved in preparing national sustainability reports as partners, which is likely to be one reason for the ongoing challenges in implementing the SDGs. This was one of several key conclusions from the working group meeting attended by 19 municipal practitioners from around the world. |
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| | 2nd Hands on Public Buildings. Reuse of modernist buildings |
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Invitation to the summary & outlook event on
22 September 2025, 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (CEST), online |
The construction sector is responsible for around 60% of CO₂ emissions and over 30% of waste generation. Reusing and converting buildings is an essential strategy for making the construction sector more sustainable and saving local authorities money. We would therefore like to cordially invite you to our 2.5-hour online event. |
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| | Sustainability Reporting and Voluntary Local Review |
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Invitation to the summary and outlook event on
25 September 2025, 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. (CEST), online |
The Voluntary Local Review (VLR) is a globally recognised, flexible reporting tool that helps cities track and present their contributions to the 2030 Agenda. During the online events, representatives from local government associations and municipalities will come together to present and discuss success stories from Lusaka, Niš and other places. |
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Connective Cities is a joint project of: |
Association of German Cities
Gereonstraße 18 – 32, 50670 Köln | Deutschland
Kontakt: Sabine Drees
Email: sabine.drees@staedtetag.de Engagement Global gGmbH
Service Agency Communities in One World
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 40, 53113 Bonn | Deutschland
Kontakt: Sibylle Loyeau
Email: sibylle.loyeau@engagement-global.de Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 32 + 36, 53113 Bonn | Deutschland
Kontakt: Ricarda Meissner
Email: ricarda.meissner@giz.de |
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