How cities around the world can support each other

Buumba Malambo is delighted: “We’re implementing almost all of the measures I can see here on the presentation slide.” Together with 14 other representatives of cities and regions from all over the world, she is sitting in the rooms of the Goethe-Institut in Berlin-Mitte on a sunny day at the end of June, eagerly listening to a presentation given by employees of the German municipal umbrella organisations. The subject: what German cities and municipalities are doing to meet the challenges associated with urban spaces. How is it possible to obtain funding? What is the best way to use the funds? Which projects are prioritised over others?

These are questions that 27-year-old Malambo has to ask herself every day, too. As mayor of Kafue, a town in Zambia located 40 kilometres south of the capital Lusaka, she has worked hard in recent years to improve the living conditions of citizens. And the situation is no different for her than it is for mayors in Germany: it’s all about raising funds for urban development and implementing measures strategically. “It’s really amazing to see how similar towns and cities in Germany and Zambia are in this respect. And how much we can learn from each other as a result,” she says.

Germany as a pioneer

The fact that cities all over the world are struggling with similar problems is at the heart of a foreign policy approach that has become increasingly important in recent years: urban diplomacy. This refers to options for taking action at sub-national level that enable cities and municipalities to enter into direct contact with other countries or partner cities and municipalities so as to provide mutual support at both the economic and political level. 

The experts travelled from twelve countries under the Federal Republic of Germany’s Visitors Programme. For one week, the group will have the opportunity to familiarise themselves with Germany’s involvement in this area and network with each other. In addition to a meeting with employees of the Association of German Cities, the programme includes a visit to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Foreign Office, as well as a short trip to the Ruhr region in western Germany – an area that is undergoing urban structural change.

Keeping the channels of communication open

Germany is regarded as a pioneer in the field of urban diplomacy. Strengthening urban diplomacy as a supplement to foreign policy relations is explicitly mentioned in the German government’s current coalition agreement. “We will underpin relationships between cities and expand urban diplomacy,” it says. For example, the Federal Foreign Office is supporting partner cities in the USA and the United Kingdom in the area of sustainable development as part of its Urban Diplomacy project launched in 2021. This is being implemented by the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) and Engagement Global, in cooperation with the Association of German Cities.

Martha Ellen Henry, International Relations Manager of the City of San Antonio in the US state of Texas, praises this impetus as an important step towards professionalising sub-state engagement. At the same time, she’d like to find out how urban diplomacy is reflected in Germany’s concrete foreign policy actions. The answer is provided by Marcell Moll, an employee of the Association of German Cities and the Council of European Municipalities and Regions. “Urban diplomacy is a way of keeping the channels of communication open – even when relations are difficult through traditional diplomatic channels.”

According to Moll, German cities enjoy a great deal of freedom here and can decide for themselves to opt for cooperation – even if this does not directly align with the position of the federal government: “There is no mandate from the government – the cities decide for themselves.” Many of the participants find this quite astonishing. “Though there are no legal requirements, our decisions are de facto very closely linked to the government level,” says Dr Rayane Oliveira de Aguiar Athias, Executive Secretary for International Relations for the Brazilian city of Recife. “Otherwise we would have to fear that our funding would be cut.”

Learning from each other on an equal footing

But urban diplomacy goes further than this. It enables cities to learn from each other – on an equal footing. “Up to now, German city partnerships with the Global South have been based on a desire to provide assistance from a position of strength,” says Marcell Moll. “It’s now becoming increasingly apparent that German cities can learn a lot from their partners in more southern regions of the world, too.” One of the reasons for this is climate change: there has been a shift in climatic conditions in the regions of Germany. So German cities can familiarise themselves with adaptation measures that are already having to be adopted by urban centres located further south. Initiatives have already been started that are based on this phenomenon. One example is the so-called climate twins Düsseldorf/Toulouse and Toulouse/Tunis, which are engaged in dialogue with each other for this purpose. Climate projections indicate that by the end of the century, future temperatures in Düsseldorf will have approached those in today’s Toulouse, while future temperatures in Toulouse will have approached those in today’s Tunis.