Newsletter «Zurich International»

The City of Zurich has been developing a project partnership with the port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon since 2017. The temporary partnership revolves around the exchange between experts from Zurich and Tyre and focuses on two main topics: “mobility” and “welcoming refugees”.

From 1–2 July 2019, experts from Tyre and the City of Zurich (Civil Engineering Office, Urban Development Office and  AOZ with the support from EBP) drew up a list of concrete priorities and project ideas in the area of mobility. Their primary aim is to promote non-motorised and bicycle traffic in order to enhance the quality of life of poorer population groups and improve their access to the city centre. The experts discussed the basic principles for the development of a mobility strategy, the main thrust of which would seek to reduce car traffic in Tyre and improve the quality of urban life. They also launched a concrete project to promote the bicycle as a means of transport, giving population groups that cannot afford a car better access to central places of daily life (shopping, schools, public authorities, etc.).

Partners of the EU project “Metamorphosis” (see Newsletter October 2018) from all over Europe came to Zurich for the fifth project meeting on 24 and 25 June 2019. The two days were dedicated to discussing the ongoing pilot projects in Tilburg, Merano, Munich, Alba Iulia, Graz, Southampton and Zurich.

The busy schedule was lightened up with a visit to Tiefenbrunnen, the pilot housing development. There children and young people from the neighbourhood had been involved in painting the Altenhofstrasse tunnel on the previous Saturday, 22 June. The 25 guests were very impressed by the painting project and the children’s creativity. A bicycle tour through Zurich took in further measures that have already been implemented or are currently being planned by the City of Zurich in the context of “Stadtverkehr 2025” and that have met with a great deal of interest.

But Zurich too benefits from the international exchange within the context of the “Metamorphosis” research project. Selected projects running in the partner cities offer new approaches that can also be transferred to Zurich.

Ruth Furrer, Project Manager Data, Methods + Strategies, Civil Engineering Office

The mayors of Hamburg, Vienna and Zurich are faced with many of the same issues – citizen participation in the construction of a new subway line, urban expansion that incorporates a sustainable energy supply and intelligent traffic development, or how to deal with an overload of events and overtourism. The three cities have to deal with similar challenges – such as population growth, maintaining economic prosperity, migration and integration, new forms of mobility or the creation of affordable housing – and no matter how different their political framework and institutional flexibility may be, the solutions they find are comparable in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

It was for this reason that Peter Tschentscher, Mayor of Hamburg, invited his Viennese colleague Michael Ludwig and his Zurich colleague Corine Mauch to Hamburg for a trialogue of the three cities on specific matters relating to urban development. According to the declaration of intent issued by the three mayors, this first exchange is to be followed by others at regular intervals – cities, after all, are hot spots where the major social, economic and political issues of the time are manifest. Exchange with others is important and profitable, because there is always something to learn from each other, be it in the prudent handling of the consequences of a municipal repair such as the motorway tunnel roof in Hamburg-Altona – or Zurich-Schwamendingen – or in the sustainable development of the respective municipal airports.

Mayor Corine Mauch attended the first meeting of the Mayors Migration Council, which took place in New York from 13 to 15 July 2019. Along with ten other mayors from all regions of the world, she sits on the Leadership Board of this new initiative, which seeks to actively strengthen the influence of the cities in the international discourse on migration.

Cities are on the frontlines when it comes to migration and refugees – whether they are places of origin, transit or destination. But despite being key players in dealing with migration, cities have not yet really had a voice in intergovernmental dialogue in this area – especially in multilateral organisations such as the UN. This is where the new “Mayors Migration Council” initiative comes in. Its aim is to strategically bundle the activities of existing networks in the area of migration, providing technical and administrative support to enable the cities to actively shape international migration agendas (e.g. Global Compact for Migration, Global Compact on Refugees, 2030 Agenda). The cities will also receive support in finding new forms of collaboration. The Mayors Migration Council was launched by the Open Society Foundations, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It is headed by eleven mayors of cities from all regions of the world: Zurich, Montreal, Kampala, Freetown, Quezon, Milan, Amman, Bristol, Athens, Los Angeles and Sao Paulo.

In New York, the Mayor was able to share Zurich’s experiences. With the project partnership “Erst-Flucht-Stadt” (“First-Refuge City”), she presented an innovative cooperation between the Lebanese city of Tyre and the City of Zurich. Following this, the Mayor also presented the AOZ project “FOGO”.