Lina Furch, Head of the European and International Affairs Department, European Office Brussels at the Association of German Cities, opened the event as host and warmly welcomed the participants. 10 years of Connective Cities is also ten years of committed cooperation between many experts to find local solutions to a variety of current issues - from public services, adaptation to climate change, sustainable construction methods to flood protection, to name but a few. Connective Cities provided support in developing project ideas to the application stage. In times of geopolitical upheaval, international cooperation is becoming increasingly important. Connective Cities is also city diplomacy and she hopes that municipal practitioners can continue to meet to exchange expertise worldwide.

Barbara Baumbach, Advisor for Municipal Development Policy and City Partnerships for Global Sustainable Development at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), addressed several aspects in her speech:
The mid-term review of the 2030 Agenda had brought it to light: the SDGs are not on track. Several of the goals, such as the eradication of poverty and hunger, climate protection and biodiversity, are far from their target values. A third of the goals show no progress or even regression. In addition, serious conflicts and armed clashes in almost all regions of the world are jeopardising the development successes achieved to date. As hubs of sustainable transformation, cities, municipalities and rural districts therefore have a special role to play in the race to catch up with the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The Connective Cities platform enables municipalities to strengthen their resilience by learning from good practices, incorporating the global perspective and promoting local expertise. Agile, short-term exchange formats complement more intensive learning processes and make it possible to react quickly to current challenges, e.g. strengthening resilience in times of war in Ukraine. The professional exchange is based on openness, trust and a common goal: to sustainably improve the quality of life for people in cities and communities worldwide.

Looking to the future, she hopes that even more project applications can be submitted to funding organisations and that municipalities receive funding to implement their ideas. By better recording the new approaches, innovations and improvements in the municipalities, Connective Cites could have an even greater impact.

This question was answered in a panel discussion by Lars Loebner, Head of the Housing Projects Department at the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing, Emmanuel Letebele, Regional Manager at the Metropolitan Municipality eThekwini of the City of Durban, South Africa, Yurii Poliansky, Project Manager at the Lviv City Institute, Ukraine, and Verena Schwarte, Coordinator at the Office for International Affairs and Global Sustainability of the City of Bonn, Germany. The event was moderated by Susanne Luithlen.

Lars Loebner emphasised the mutual change of perspective that arises from international cooperation and networking within Germany. This applies both to a land use planning project in the greater Amman area, together with experts from Frankfurt am Main, Munich and Amman, as well as an exchange of experiences with experts from Windhoek, Namibia, on the topic of ‘Creating affordable housing’.

Emmanuel Letebele took us on a journey on the topic of ‘climate adaptation and flood protection’, which began back in 2013 together with the city of Bremen. Thanks to international support and an intensive exchange of experience as part of Connective Cities, the planning authority not only succeeded in taking the lead in climate adaptation measures in eThekwini, but also in developing and implementing a multi-sectoral master plan for climate adaptation by 2020 with the involvement of all other departments. When heavy rainfall caused severe flooding in the region in 2022, the established early warning system and the involvement of the local population meant that all residents in the affected areas were able to get to safety in good time. Thanks in part to Connective Cities, eThekwini is now a leader in the implementation of climate adaptation measures in South Africa.

For Yurii Poliansky, it is particularly important - especially because of the war situation in Ukraine - to have the opportunity to share experiences and receive support internationally. His city of Lviv is currently a hub for people seeking safety from the war and a place of refuge for many internally displaced persons. Suggestions and implementation concepts that he received through his participation in the deep dive process ‘Heat in the City’ as well as in the dialogue event on ‘Voluntary Local Reviews’ are helping to improve urban planning. Even if the possibilities for this are currently limited due to the war, he now knows how he can implement them once the war is over.

Verena Schwarte explained how Bonn had been given the opportunity to host the ‘Inclusive Cities’ dialogue event together with Connective Cities, which ultimately led to green spaces in Bonn being made more inclusive, also in exchange with Ramallah. Alongside Stuttgart and Mannheim, Bonn is one of the first German cities to draw up a Voluntary Local Review (VLR). A Connective Cites dialogue event enabled Bonn to significantly expand its stakeholder network, for example with UN-Habitat and the cities of La Paz, Manizales and Cape Coast, which brought new perspectives, impetus and good practices to the VLR process.

Niels Albers, Head of Division at SKEW, Barbara Baumbach, Lina Furch, Martin Tebogo Matlou, International Project Manager at the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), Ricarda Meissner and Andreas Wolter, Mayor of the City of Cologne, addressed this question.

The innovative approach of Connective Cites, emphasised Niels Albers, has also proved its worth because the three cooperation partners complement each other perfectly. The SKEW was able to contribute its experience in holding dialogue events in Germany, the GIZ was able to build regional networks and establish regional workshops and learning processes through its structure abroad, and many German cities and other city associations were able to be involved through the German Association of Cities.
A steadily growing number of municipalities are actively involved in localising the Agenda 2030. Municipal development policy has also been able to position itself internationally through an increasing number of VLRs presented during the UN High Level Political Fora. The special role of municipalities in the implementation of the Agenda 2030 was explicitly mentioned at the UN's Future Summit. The BMZ is also planning to include the municipal level in the national sustainability report. However, according to Niels Albers, this municipal commitment requires resources. It is therefore important to secure financial support for the municipalities.
Solutions for the challenges of our time are being developed in the Connective Cities network. These should be made even more visible, says Niels Albers

Martin Tebogo Matlou pointed out the role but also the challenges that many cities face. Many large cities in the Global South are struggling with rapid population growth and rapid urbanisation. This has an impact on almost all areas of sustainable urban development: On affordable housing, environmental protection, climate adaptation, social inclusion and poverty reduction, on public services in the areas of water and sanitation, electricity, waste disposal, through to local economic development and digitalisation measures. Connective Cities helps to overcome these challenges by bringing together experts, initiating partnerships and supporting the development and implementation of specific projects.

Andreas Wolter sees the potential of the Connective Cites city platform to strengthen municipalities in their sustainable development in five areas: 1.) Thanks to its proven formats of international expert exchange, it is more flexible than traditional city partnerships; 2.) the South-South-North format strengthens the key role of municipalities in the implementation of the Agenda 2030; 3. ) international expert exchange can also help to overcome post-colonial structures; 4.) supporting municipal good governance can help to protect against geostrategic dependencies on other international actors and 5.) democracy education, anti-discrimination, gender equality and inclusion are important areas in municipal expert exchange.

Ricarda Meissner outlined key areas of content that could be focussed on more strongly in the next phase of Connective Cites. An even stronger emphasis will be placed on the implementation possibilities of projects, and innovations that were indirectly initiated but go beyond the actual learning process will be given greater consideration. For cities facing very difficult situations, whether due to violent conflicts or natural disasters, spaces are to be created to jointly develop adequate solutions for these new challenges. New needs, developments and technologies will also be given greater consideration, such as emerging tech cities in Africa and the development of green hydrogen. Last but not least, the promotion of democracy, social cohesion and the promotion of good urban coexistence are important issues in these times.

Barbara Baumbach emphasised that it was important to promote the potential of Connective Cites more widely. If innovative solutions are supported until they are ready for implementation and ultimately successfully realised, they should be marketed and disseminated together with the participating municipalities. The Agenda 2030 provides a frame of reference here at international level. Interlinking with bilateral development cooperation can also be useful in order to increase visibility. The participants in the Connective Cities network are already operating successfully as real-world laboratories at local and regional level. Connective Cities could have an even greater impact at national and international level.

The party is open, the exchange of expertise continues

Afterwards, things got more informal. In a relaxed atmosphere, however, the informal networks among the municipal practitioners were intensively woven and braided.