Urbanisation has become one of the most important dynamics of our time: Already today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities. In addition, over 90 percent of global population growth by 2050 will take place in cities, meaning: The future is urban!

In this light, the United Nations have launched the "Urban October" - an event month in which UN-Habitat partner organizations are encouraged to organize activities, events and discussions on the topic of urban sustainability. Urbanisation is also a central topic for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ): Whether resource consumption or climate change, social cohesion or economic advancement - almost all future issues are decided in cities, which is why the urban projects in GIZ have launched their own Urban October programme for the third year in a row.

You can expect a colourful programme on urban topics, whereby the changed conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have been seen as motivation to develop innovative event concepts: On October 2nd, 2020 at 10:30 a.m. the Urban October 2020 by GIZ will be officially opened by the head of department Joachim Göske accompanied with the vernissage of a virtual photo exhibition, which includes contributions from GIZ, KfW and BMZ. Furthermore, this year's programme includes not only many exciting (virtual) discussions and seminars, which, among other things, share experiences from different project countries, but also physical city tours in Bonn, Frankfurt and Cologne to get to know and discuss urban development in practice at the municipal level. You can find all events in the GIZ Urban October 2020 programme, as well as detailed information and conditions of participation in the Urban October Event Booklet.

We are looking forward to your participation and many interesting contributions!