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The #connectedinEurope Project: Empowering Smart Cities

The #connectedinEurope Project offers cities and municipalities the opportunity to network across Europe on topics relating to digital urban transformation and to explore these topics in greater depth in web seminars.

The #connectedinEurope Project

In the coming years, the European Green Deal and the Digital Europe Programme will play a central role in the implementation of European regulations and the design of funding instruments. One of the aims is to develop European municipalities into smart cities. This requires a European exchange between institutional players and municipalities on how the digital transformation can contribute to realising the goals of sustainable, integrated urban development that is oriented towards the common good at European and national level.

The project addresses the pronounced need for structured bundling and support for the participation of municipalities in European networks, projects and initiatives in the field of "digital transformation and urban development". For the municipalities, networking not only brings knowledge transfer on innovative and proven practices in digital urban development across borders, but also resilient partnerships, collegial advice and opportunities for subject-centred exchange on replicable projects. To this end, the project systematically analyses and supports the participation of municipalities in European networks, projects and initiatives.

Grafik „Wirkungslogik #connectedinEurope“
Grafik „Wirkungslogik #connectedinEurope“ GIZ

The core activities of the project are information, qualification and empowerment of German and European municipalities for European networking. To this end, the project team provides the municipalities with practical tools and knowledge to establish and consolidate their own networking activities through peer learning programmes and specialist workshops. At the same time, the project is further developing national and European networks on digitalisation and urban development. The Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) is providing technical support for the project. #connectedinEurope runs until December 2024.

Peer Learning Tandems

Networking on the topic of sustainable and digital urban development enables a direct exchange between municipal partners, deepens the understanding of common challenges, facilitates the identification of potential solutions, enables the transfer of knowledge and expertise and strengthens the motivation to act. In order to achieve these goals, the #connectedinEurope project team launched a call for participation for German and other European municipalities. 

From December 2, 2021, to February 25, 2022, municipalities were able to apply for participating in six peer learning partnerships on the topic of digital urban development/smart cities.

  • Sofia (Bulgaria) - Krefeld (Germany)
  • Arezzo (Italy) - Hamm (Germany)
  • Vari Voula Vouliagmeni (Greece) - Geestland (Germany)
  • Utrecht (Netherlands) - Munich (Germany)
  • Alba Iulia (Romania) - Arnsberg (Germany)
  • Bolesławiec (Poland) - Pirna (Germany)

Peer Learning Tandems: 
Report and Agenda from the Kick-off Meeting in May 2022

12 European municipalities set out to promote knowledge transfer and networking on sustainable digital urban development for 2.5 years.

The first virtual kick-off meeting took place on May 17, 2022. It gave the participating cities the opportunity to find out more about the project and the peer learning tandems. They got to know their partner municipalities and other participants and jointly created the basis for their future collaboration.

At the event, 26 municipal representatives from 12 participating cities learnt about the special features of the project and the framework for the peer learning exchange. They got to know their partner cities and other participants and learnt about each other's challenges and priorities for action in the field of sustainable digital urban development/smart cities.

In addition, the partner cities laid the foundations for their future cooperation and defined the thematic priorities for their first local working meetings, which are planned for the summer and the second half of the year. The range of partnership topics collected is broad and promising: from cultural heritage, smart mobility, energy monitoring and smart water systems to data ethics and literacy, data infrastructure, civic engagement and participation, waste management, circular economy and more. Over the next 2.5 years, the municipalities will benefit from the close knowledge transfer with their partner cities, expand their networks and participate in accompanying activities of the #connectedinEurope project.

The agenda of the event is available and the report summarises the contributions and views of the participants.  

Networking Workshop for Municipalities

First networking workshop for municipalities in Leipzig took a close look at governance in smart cities

Almost 50 European city representatives from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the Ukraine discussed the challenges in their municipal administrations both on site and virtually. Presentations of good practices and valuable impulses for the implementation of digital projects came from Espoo, Leipzig and Reykjavik. The participants then exchanged views on internal and external administrative processes and challenges in the context of smart city governance for sustainable and integrated urban development. While one group dealt with the internal administrative challenges for urban planners and smart city project managers in the digitalisation of urban development - for example in relation to data platforms, data collection and internal communication - another group discussed the various opportunities for (digital) citizen participation in urban development.

Following the meeting, further alliances were formed among the participants to discuss the next steps in the development and implementation of digital strategies and projects.

The documentation, agenda of the event and the project presentation of the #connectedinEurope project are linked accordingly.  

Contact and Social Media

Contact #conectedinEurope

E-mail: iscn@giz.de

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