akzente | Das Magazin der GIZ

Together against flooding

The Indian city of Bhubaneswar is working to curb flooding and unblock drains.

Tracking down the truth

A Mexican-German team shows how forensic science can help bring certainty for families of missing persons..

Germany’s EU Council presidency

Current Topics

Governance and democracy

Education at the core of EU-Africa Partnership

A guest column by Patrick Awuah, Founder and President of Ashesi University in Ghana

Governance and democracy

A renewed EU-Africa partnership fit to the global context

A guest column by Sandra Kramer, Director EU-AU relations, West and East Africa (DEVCO.D)

Security, reconstruction and peace

‘Helping to build social peace in Mexico’

Maximilian Murck, Manager of the Strengthening the Rule of Law Project in Mexico, on the origins, key findings and next steps of the cooperation.

Highlights

CITIES

Together against flooding

The Indian city of Bhubaneswar is working to curb flooding and unblock drains.

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The future is urban

Cities have a key role to play in efforts to meet climate and development goals. GIZ advises municipalities and supports public involvement in decision-making.

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‘Sustainability remains a key issue’

Ashok-Alexander Sridharan is the Mayor of Bonn. He wants the city of his birth to be carbon-neutral by 2035.

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Blessing or curse?

Never before have so many people lived in cities. Facts and figures from the big-city jungle.

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Agile or fragile

What cities will look like in the future, depends heavily on the right management.

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Europe and Africa: the future of the partnership

One topic, two perspectives – in our new feature section, we ask experts to analyse a topic from their own personal perspective. To kick off, we are looking at the relationship between Africa and Europe.

Education at the core of EU-Africa Partnership

A guest column by Patrick Awuah, Founder and President of Ashesi University in Ghana

A renewed EU-Africa partnership fit to the global context

A guest column by Sandra Kramer, Director EU-AU relations, West and East Africa (DEVCO.D)

Regions

Europe

Europe and Africa: the future of the partnership

Europe

Education at the core of EU-Africa Partnership

A guest column by Patrick Awuah, Founder and President of Ashesi University in Ghana

Europe

A renewed EU-Africa partnership fit to the global context

A guest column by Sandra Kramer, Director EU-AU relations, West and East Africa (DEVCO.D)

Morelia, Mexico: The trend of urbanisation is moving forward. This makes it all the more important to plan cities sustainably and make them safe for the people who live there. The following pictures show examples of challenges and ideas of how to solve them. Find out more about the work of GIZ in this area here Municipal and urban development in development cooperation and here Urban and regional development
© GIZ CiClim Mexico

Accra, Ghana: Local artists transforming jointly with kids from the neighbourhood the old houses into unique artwork. Such an urban up-grading supports local bonding and strengthens the social cohesion within the community.
© Lennard Kehl

Hội An, Vietnam: Although more and more people are moving into cities, they depend on their rural surroundings to feed the residents. Cities on the other hand play an important role for improving agricultural value chains. Through better urban-rural-linkages, sustainable development in both regions gets more vital.
© Lennard Kehl

Cairo, Egypt: The Nile represents the lifeline of an entire country. Yet, it becomes increasingly polluted due to an overall poor waste and sewage management, endangering the country’s urban and rural livelihoods. It is a symbol that urban growth has to take a city‘s surrounding ecosystems into account in order to be truly forward-looking and sustainable.
© GIZ Egypt

Beijing, China: The Houhai lake is the largest lake in the centre of Beijing. It serves as a local recreation area for Beijingers and visitors and helps to forget a little bit of the daily rush in a metropolis of 21 million inhabitants. Inner-city lakes and parks make urban life much more liveable for example by improving air quality.
© Felix Döhler

Durban, South Africa: The beach promenade is the ideal place to relax ‘The Golden Mile’, as it is also called, is open to everyone and considered a safe public space. The mangrove forests and dune rehabilitation along the promenade also serve an important role when it comes to protecting the city from storm surges and sea level rise.
© Lea Sarah Kulick

Mérida, Mexico: Active mobility not only contributes to the environment and climate, but also to better personal health, performance and happiness. However, inadequate road safety and cycling infrastructure are still tall barriers for achieving a greater bicycle use. In Mexico, some cities like Mérida actively promote the bicycle as transport means through public policies.
© GIZ CiClim Mexico

Peshawar, India: The decorated Buses are a colourful example of affordable urban mobility. Public transport offers a low-cost option in comparison to private vehicles or taxi services. Therefore, the provision of affordable, accessible and sustainable public transport solutions is an important matter of concern for a city worth living in.
© GIZ Pakistan

Amman, Jordan: High density, dominance of concrete structures and heat-island-effects increase the pressure on local biodiversity and air quality in many cities. Enhancing urban green infrastructure could mitigate these effects. Amman, for example, prepares to create ultra-dense, highly biodiverse and multi-layered urban forests that allow balancing the immense land scarcity with the city’s need for functioning ecosystems.
© Katharina Manecke

Mumbai, India: Pedestrians in all parts of the world are not provided with the necessary infrastructure. Plus, transport is often seen as gender-neutral. However, women and men have different needs to using transportation. Therefore, it is important, that the role and potential of women in sustainable urban mobility is highlighted and permanently strengthened worldwide.
© Carlos Pardo

akzente | Das Magazin der GIZ

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Regions

Cities - laboratories of the future