From 2010 to 2017, there was an exchange with the Ukrainian university city of Vinnytsia, which with almost 370,000 inhabitants is similar in size to the city of Zurich. Vinnytsia is considered to be particularly innovative in Ukraine: Modern, citizen-friendly urban development, customer-oriented administration, good offers in the social sector and energy efficiency are among the main concerns of the city government.

The exchange between Zurich and Vinnytsia began with a project of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO, in which the Zurich transport company VBZ provided the Ukrainian city with 25 second-hand tram cars free of charge. Subsequently, Vinnytsia expressed interest in the activities of Zurich's urban development. Zurich's know-how was particularly in demand at the process level.

In autumn 2011, a first joint workshop on "urban strategies" took place. As a result of further workshops, including on the use of public space and the participation of the population, for example, the renovation, design and upgrading of the Druzhby Narodov Park was advanced. In parallel, SECO carried out a large-scale project in the field of energy efficiency in Vinnytsia with the aim of introducing the "City of Energy" label and modernising the district heating system. In 2015, Vinnytsia became the first Ukrainian city to receive the European Energy Award.