To enhance the city’s sustainable development strategy, the city of Lviv decided to join the international Voluntary Local Review (VLR) community to monitor the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. A first step was to develop a city booklet to bring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) closer to city administration. In 2022, Lviv now plans to publish its first Voluntary Local Review.

In a ceremony on 1st October 2021, the German City of Leipzig, together with the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), awarded the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation Prize for Local Politics. Both award winners developed and implemented outstanding municipal policy concepts for overcoming the Corona pandemic in cross-border European and international partnerships. 

As part of the learning process on local economic development and job creation in the MENA region, representatives of the Qalqilya municipality in Palestine have developed a project aimed at supporting local businesses in the food processing sector. The municipal team from Qalqilya municipality participated in an expert mission led by the Food Cluster of Business Upper Austria.

In four sessions, the working group members had the opportunity to present their initiatives, projects and thoughts on establishing crisis response mechanisms in their municipalities. The participants benefitet from the peer-to-peer exchange, gained tremendous experience in coming up with action plans and learned methods of effective crisis communication.

The Jordanian municipality of Al-Karak has established a modern arboretum to promote urban gardening in public spaces. In the water-scarce south of Amman, permaculture is being used to green desert sections. These two examples show how the challenge of urban gardening can be addressed in the MENA region. 

A lack of software capacity, time-consuming documentation and low digital literacy hamper the digitalisation process in many municipalities. As a result of the intensive exchange in the period from September to October 2021, the working group members not only created and gained a new knowledge base for their future or ongoing digitalisation project, but also insights into the international practice of their colleagues.

Albania faced three consecutive crises in very short timeframe. Besides the pandemic, the country is struggling to recover from the effects of two devastating earthquakes. The project 'Adopt a grandparent' is an initiative to help the lonely elderly by providing groceries and medical care to their homes, helping those who live alone around their house, or merely accompanying them during difficult times.

In the midst of the energy crisis that Lebanon is facing, the municipality of Qaraoun has succeeded in overcoming serious energy supply challenges through renewable energy. In addition, the municipality has succeeded in raising community awareness of sustainable energy production and is empowering women through technical and vocational training.

The citizens of Durban are proud of their green metropolis. The fact that public spaces have been kept green or have been restored to their natural state is the result of a movement with its origins in the 1980s, the Open Space Network. In this podcast, Sabelo Nkosi from the eThekwini Municpality talks about the collaboration of communities, science, SMEs and the city administration.

Stan Mwanakayaya, Director of Urban Planning at Livingstone Municipal Council, talks in our Good Practice podcast how the municipality improved its community planning processes through an integrated approach, with participation from the local residents.

Cities around the world are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Connective Cities Lab offers a compact online programme for urban practitioners and municipal experts from around the world to discuss challenges, develop solutions to address the pandemic and support municipal recovery. 

• 10 Capacity Strengthening Capsules - Learn, Design, Share.
• Design Thinking Workshops
• Guidance on individual funding proposals
• A 48 hours hackathon to create digital innovations in a short space of time
• Pitch & Demo Day: showcasing solutions
• Virtual gallery: a tour of the results

This event will present good practices from Connective Cities network South East Europe in the field of crisis management and digitalisation. We cordially invite international urban experts to explore the close connection between these two topics. Join us! 

Connective Cities is organizing a series of activities until the end of 2021 as part of the Urban Gardening and Social Entrepreneurship learning processes. These virtual exchanges will advance the elaboration of some project ideas that emerged from these virtual events. Experts from Berlin, Maputo, Dresden, Brazzaville and Eltville will participate in the tailor-made follow-up activities.

More information coming soon!