"And there is a magic in every beginning..." can be used to describe the atmosphere with Hermann Hesse's words, when nearly 70 experts from local politicss, local governments and academia came together for their first dialogue exactly ten years ago in Leipzig's former, now stylishly renovated town bath. Since then, Connective Cities has developed from an initial pilot project into an internationally networked city platform...

The Amman Urban Observatory is developing "urban indicators". They record key features for measuring sustainable urban development, such as the unemployment rate, soil sealing or the percentage of people living in poverty. Real-time monitoring improves planning processes by enabling more informed decisions. The Connective Cities network now intends to set up a working group to identify various best practices for monitoring urban parameters.

The participants of the "Women in leadership positions in municipalities" working group began their activities with this statement. The virtual kick-off took place on 16 May 2024. The participants, representing 14 municipalities and civil society from Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco and Germany, showed great enthusiasm and team spirit to engage with like-minded people on this topic, share experiences and develop locally adapted solutions.

Municipalities must develop medium and long-term strategies to fulfil their development task. They face major challenges in the areas of urbanisation, service delivery, economic development, environmental issues, social inequalities, demographic change and crisis management. Against this backdrop, Connective Cities' Local Development Strategies Working Group supports municipalities in the MENA region in tackling their local strategic planning process.

Connective Cities South East Europe hosted a side event on "Renewable Energy Options at Municipal Level" on 7 June 2024 during the Local Economic Development (LED) Forum in Tbilisi. The session provided a platform for mayors from Georgian municipalities to share innovative approaches to promoting renewable energy initiatives. This was followed by an intensive discussion on challenges and possible solutions to advance the renewable energy agenda.

The DMDP aims to improve connectivity and mobility within the city while reducing flooding through structural and non-structural measures. Cooperation and coordination between different stakeholders, including authorities, communities and other organisations involved in the project, as well as effective communication and coordination have proven to be essential.

There are many ways for cities to reduce the negative effects of heat on the population: creating more green spaces, planting shade-giving trees, greening building facades, creating cooling corridors, for example through watercourses, sensitising the population and much more. To do this, it is first important to know where the heat builds up in a city. During the workshop in Heidelberg, the participants developed action plans for their strategies and pilot projects. Their goal is to implement their pilot projects by the end of the year.

The reuse of existing buildings enables cities around the world to continue using the grey energy bound up in concrete and steel in a sustainable and economically efficient way. The goal of an emission-free construction sector is currently leading to this paradigm shift. The upcoming event aims to to present good practices, exchange innovative approaches, identify challenges and jointly develop solution strategies.
Application deadline: 30.06.2024. Apply now!

The Urban Thinkers Campus is an initiative led by the World Urban Campaign and driven by UN-Habitat. It serves as an inclusive forum with around 100 participants for a dialogue between urban researchers, practitioners and policy makers with the aim of driving constructive urban change. Save the date! Further information will follow. For expressions of interest and queries, please contact Charlotte Watermann at charlotte.watermann@giz.de .

Is your municipality interested in carrying out a joint intra-year project with a municipality in the Global South or Ukraine in the context of municipal development policy?
German municipalities are invited to apply for the funding of the Fund for Small-Scale Municipal Development Cooperation Projects (KPF) online until 15.10.2024! Domestic projects can be funded with a grant between 1,000 euros and 20,000 euros and South-North/North-South partnership projects with up to 50,000 euros.