Close cooperation between municipalities and civil society leads to improvements in the quality of the procedures used for planning urban projects and the subsequent outcomes, too. Demonstration areas and model projects create opportunities for further exploring new forms of cooperation in the field of urban development and for making headway in terms of co-designing inclusive and liveable cities.

An international event by Connective Cities and the City of Mannheim has enabled professionals with expertise in bottom-up planning approaches to meet with municipal representatives to discuss matters of cooperative urban development. This exchange was embedded in an urban development symposium dedicated to analysing the demands of a contemporary urban planning culture – an event hosted by the City of Mannheim on the site currently occupied by Germany’s National Garden Show (Bundesgartenschau).

The participants brought with them a wealth of expertise and manifold examples of practical experience from 15 cities worldwide. Municipalities from Central and Latin America, North and West Africa as well as all of Europe sent their representatives along. Presentations by Berlin and Amsterdam raised awareness of the importance of a bottom-up approach. Other issues addressed included the requisite modalities for safeguarding projects for pioneer users in the long term and ways of ensuring socially equitable usage given the backdrop of speculation and gentrification. Examples from projects in Aachen, Freetown and Juárez also conveyed the importance of being sensitive to local conditions and of acknowledging the local population’s concerns.

 
The ensuing consultations amongst these practitioners focused on the concrete challenges in individual projects, culminating in the design of potential solutions and courses of action. Here too, the thematic arc stretched a long way: How, for example, can people’s trust be nurtured and their willingness to participate be encouraged? How can the relevant decision-making levels be convinced of the benefits of new instruments, such as digital tools? Or, then again, the fundamental question of how to go about anchoring responsibility for urban planning more strongly at the municipal level and thus making it more needs-oriented?

In spite of their widely differing contexts, the participants found their projects and approaches had many parallels that transcended municipal and national frontiers. The common ground for mutual learning and reciprocal support was their shared vision of a co-designed and collaboratively governed municipality.

For more details, read our documentation:

Cooperative Urban Development – Open Society and Normativity in Urban Development
[pdf, 3 pages, 665 kb]

Impressions

All photos: Connective Cities