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Bilateral meeting between Zurich Mayor Corine Mauch and Mayor Rahm Emanuel in Chicago
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The challenges facing the world are always noticed first and often felt most acutely in «global cities». The world’s metropolises are targets for terrorist attacks, susceptible to climate-related and other natural disasters and have to contend with social inequality in a very confined area, as well as outbreaks of violence. However, this also means that they are the places where solutions to the world’s most pressing problems are found first. The Chicago Forum on Global Cities, organised by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Financial Times, is an international conference focusing on quite provocative questions about the importance and influence of world metropolises in coping with global challenges. It was attended by decision-makers, scientists and intellectuals from all over the world, who debated topics such as governance in metropolitan areas or coping with migration and integration in urban societies, and presented innovative solutions from their own cities.
In the context of the Forum, Zurich Mayor Corine Mauch exchanged views with her colleagues at various events organised especially for the assembled mayors from the USA and the Asian and African regions (e.g. Chicago, Austin, Philadelphia, Montreal, Sydney, Mexico City, Lagos, etc.) as well as Europe (Amsterdam, Bristol, Warsaw, London, etc.). A separate meeting took place with the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel. Barack Obama’s former chief of staff is a dazzling figure in the Democratic Party. He has been mayor of Chicago since 2011 and – in a way that can sometimes ruffle his opponents’ feathers – is actively committed to social justice and economic development in his city, if necessary in open opposition to the current US government.
Chicago Forum panel on Metro Governance
Link to event documents
Anna Schindler, Urban Development, Mayor’s Department
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Network meeting on urban development and anti-racism
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Delegates at the ECCAR meeting in Bonn
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With its membership in the European Coalition of Cities Against Racism (ECCAR), the City of Zurich has committed itself to implementing anti-discrimination measures locally. The German-speaking member cities of the city network meet regularly for an exchange of expertise and practice. This year’s meeting took place in Bonn in mid-June. Mayor Ashok Sridharan welcomed delegates from 14 cities, including Karlsruhe, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Wolfsburg, Bielefeld, Apolda, Dresden and Zurich. The City of Zurich informed the meeting about the current Racism Report and the highly regarded series «Racism in the Middle of Society».
This year’s meeting centred on the topic of «Diversity-oriented Urban Development». Andrés Nader (RAA Berlin) and Miriam Camara (AKOMA Education and Culture) explored principles and quality criteria for an anti-racist and diversity-focused approach to urban development. Despite different starting points and underlying conditions in the member cities, the strategic thrust remains the same in all cities: to establish anti-racism as an ongoing task within municipal institutions. The next working meeting will take place in Dresden in 2019.
Link to the anti-racism work of the City of Zurich (German only)
Michael Bischof, Integration Office, Mayor’s Department
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Utrecht has a «Plan Einstein»
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The Eurocities Working Group on Migration & Integration met in Amsterdam in mid-May. The Integration Office of the City of Zurich has been an active member of the Working Group since 2011, and maintains an exchange of views and ideas on integration issues with other European cities. In addition to various pan-European topics, the focus of the meeting was on the integration of refugees. The City of Amsterdam presented its programme for the rapid integration of refugees into the labour market, as well as various civil society projects on social integration.
The visit to «Plan Einstein» in Utrecht (see link below) was a very impressive experience. This innovative project was developed by the City of Utrecht in conjunction with partner organisations from civil society. Plan Einstein is located in a wing of the National Asylum Centre in the Overvecht district. Affordable housing for young people from the neighbourhood was created on the upper floors. On the ground floor, locals and asylum seekers meet and mingle with each other at courses on English, management and coaching. Besides helping people connect with each other and breaking down prejudices, «Plan Utrecht» also opens up career prospects specifically for young people.
Link to «Plan Einstein»
Adamo Antoniadis, Integration Office, Mayor’s Department
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The promotion of cooperatives is an issue in Hamburg too
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A visit to the «mehr als wohnen» cooperative was one of the items on the Hamburg delegation’s agenda
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A six-strong delegation from the Urban Development and Housing Authority of Hamburg (Office of Housing, Urban Renewal and Reorganisation of Land Holdings), headed by Chief Officer Karin Siebeck, paid a two-day visit to Zurich at the end of May. Besides visiting specific projects, some on land with building rights owned by the City of Zurich («mehr als wohnen» [«more than housing»] cooperative, Kalkbreite), the delegation was particularly interested in municipal tools to promote building cooperatives.
During the exchange it became clear that both cities have many issues in common: economic prosperity with strong population growth in limited space, leading to rising prices and very low vacancy rates. Part of the solution can be for the cities to collaborate with cooperatives. A conscious strategic commitment to cooperative housing construction, as is the case in Zurich, is important in this respect.
Different forms of property appreciation taxes in the context of densification projects are likewise being developed and applied in both cities. Currently there is intense debate in a number of German cities about preserving building structures, price levels and the composition of the population. In «milieu protected areas», qualified development plans can be drawn up, design ordinances issued or conservation areas established. The latter not only serve to «preserve the specific urban character of the area based on its urban pattern», but can also help preserve the social composition of the resident population. Even if legal and political framework conditions differ from one country to the next, such opportunities for exchange result in valuable ideas and suggestions, as well as opportunities for self-reflection.
Alex Martinovits, Urban Development, Mayor’s Department
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Munich Consultation on Land Policy
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Stephan Reiss-Schmidt, Munich, Anna Schindler, Zurich and Klaus Hubmann, Basel, in their active discussion
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The event «Munich Consultation on Land Policy» was held in Munich at the end of June. At the invitation of the Munich Initiative for Social Land Law, over 60 representatives from politics and administration in the cities of Berlin, Bremen, Frankfurt a.M., Freiburg, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg, Tübingen and Ulm, as well as from the Association of German Cities, the German Institute of Urban Studies and numerous other associations, foundations and universities took part in a municipal workshop on land policy. They exchanged views with members of the Bundestag, representatives of various ministries and other public figures on how to create affordable housing and cities pleasant to live in.
Guests included a representative of the City of Vienna, of the Habitat Foundation from Basel and of the directorate of the Office for Urban Development Zurich, who contributed various stimulating ideas and inspiration from their cities. At the end of the two-day discussions, a position paper was adopted which is now to be incorporated into Germany’s housing and land policy and that seeks to show cities possible courses of action with regard to a social housing policy.
Link «Munich appeal for a different land policy» (German only)
Anna Schindler, Urban Development, Mayor’s Department
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