IMPRESSIONS OF THE ACT NOW MAYORS’ CONFERENCE 2022
OUR CONTRIBUTORS
Alexandra Sußmann
Deputy Mayor for Social Affairs and Integration, City of Stuttgart, Germany
Remigijus Šimašius
Mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania
Iryna Ozymok
Founder of the International Mayors Summit, Kyiv, Ukraine
Leoluca Orlando
Mayor of Palermo, Italy
Jinnih Beels
Vice Mayor of Education and Youth, Antwerp, Belgium
Andriy Sadovy
Mayor of Lviv, Ukraine
Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychala
Deputy Mayor of Gdynia, Poland
Oleksandr Senkevych
Mayor of Mykolaiv, Ukraine
José Manuel Ribeiro
Mayor of Valongo, Portugal
Matthias Weber
Strategic Designer at Urban Change Academy, Germany
Isabella Conti
Mayor of San Lazzaro di Savena, Italy
Wojciech Bakun
Mayor of Przemyśla, Poland
Yehia Daher
Mayor of Qaraoun, Lebanon
Eleni Zervoudaki
Deputy Mayor of Chania, Greece
Umberto Costantini
Mayor of Spilamberto, Italy
Carla Nunes Semedo
Executive Councillor of Cascais, Portugal
Marc Serra
Councilor for Citizenship Rights & Participation of Barcelona, Spain
George Antoun
Host of the ACT NOW Mayors’ Network, Lebanon
Vaida Aleknavičienė
Deputy Mayor of Joniskis, Lithuania
Dirk Neubauer
Mayor of Augustusburg, Germany
Marie Wutzler
Design Thinking Expert, Innovation in Politics Institute, Germany
Piotr Borawski
Deputy Mayor of Gdansk, Poland
Christoph Meineke
Expert in Digital Leadership for Local Politics and Government, Germany
Katya Petrikevich
Public Participation and Civic Tech Expert, Participation Factory, Czech Republic
Tjark Bartels
Expert in local government innovation, Germany
Urban Strandberg
Managing Director_International Youth Think Tank, Sweden
CONFERENCE CORE THEMES
Mayors for Mayors: We stand with Ukraine
The war in Ukraine calls on us all to show solidarity and support for our European neighbours. We invite Ukrainian mayors to share their situation and needs, and tell us how we can help. Participating mayors will have the opportunity to express their solidarity and offer concrete assistance to their Ukrainian colleagues. Moreover, as Ukrainian refugees continue to arrive in cities across Europe, we reflect on learnings from previous refugee movements.
Economic
Transformation
Local economies, high streets and city centres have all suffered from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Local leaders need to find new ways to regenerate their regional and local economies. We will show you how to implement such processes and best practices from around Europe to create agile, sustainable and digital solutions.
Climate
Action
The Climate crisis is one of the greatest threats to our society. Municipalities are confronted with huge responsibilities to reduce carbon emissions, adapt citizens’ habits and provide protection from changing weather conditions. Together we will find ways to make your communities more resilient and better prepared for the effects of climate change.
Democratic
Solutions
The rise of populism and illiberal democracies poses a major threat to democracy around the world. Gain insights into promising new participative approaches to make local democracies more inclusive, responsive and powerful.
Social
Cohesion
The pandemic has brought to the forefront a series of tensions and divisions endangering our peaceful coexistence. Mayors and other local leaders are under immense pressure, and are also subjected to hate speech and other forms of antagonism. Discover ways to counteract polarisation, regulate conflicts and build cohesive communities.
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS
Enjoy over 30 sessions, workshops, and field trips – all excellent opportunities to meet and hear from other local leaders, growing your skill set to create even more impact within your community.
The conference took place under the patronage of the Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, Frank Nopper and in cooperation with the City of Stuttgart.
Mayors, local innovators and young changemakers meet for the ACT NOW Mayors’ Conference in Stuttgart!
Welcome to the centre of one of Germany’s economically most vibrant metropolitan regions and innovative high-tech location which is the first German city to test and use quantitative SDG indicators at local level.
Mayors, local innovators and young changemakers meet for the ACT NOW Mayors’ Conference in Stuttgart!
Welcome to the centre of one of Germany’s economically most vibrant metropolitan regions and innovative high-tech location which is the first German city to test and use quantitative SDG indicators at local level.
Mayor of Social Issues and Social Integration
City of Stuttgart
About the city
Discover more of Stuttgart and find your way around with the cities accesible online city guide!
The venue
The 2022 edition of the conference was held at Wagenhalle.
This spectacular venue is purposely designed for hosting conferences to ensure the best possible experience.
OUR PARTNERS
IN COOPERATION
In cooperation with the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, we are organising a 2-day youth workshop with our partners from the “NOW — Connecting the Dots” project.
AGENDA
Supporting vulnerable groups
Best Practice Exchange
The reception of refugees – how to accommodate refugees
Fireside Chat
Local leadership in the digital age
Local Leadership Training
POLIS – Connecting Political Professionals
Co-Creation Session
Engagement Global – Learnings from the Middle East programme
Co-Creation Session
Communities for climate action
Best Practice Exchange
Young mayors – how to lead at a young age
Fireside Chat
A design sprint for the city hall – the Local Lab methodology
Local Leadership Training
Using Data for better decision making
Local Leadership Training
Making rural economies attractive
Best Practice Exchange
State-of-the-art local participation
Best Practice Exchange
Youth participation in MENA communities – how can mayors and young people collaborate successfully
Fireside Chat
Stay healthy in local leadership – handle public pressure
Local Leadership Training
Urban Creativity Now! Creating the post-Covid city
Local Leadership Training
Youth Taking Lead for Empowerment and Democracy Innovation
Co-Creation Session
Entering the town of Fellbach from Stuttgart, you pass through an industrial estate and an agricultural area standing side by side. As part of the preparations for the International Building Exhibition 2027, hosted in the Stuttgart Region, the area is being converted to make it fit for future needs such as adaptation to climate change, a greater mix of uses and closing material and energy cycles. The project is founded on cooperation and dialogue.
Stuttgart is located in a geographical basin. Combined with its citizens’ heavy reliance on private cars, this means that air quality is a serious problem. Yet the city is taking action. Join us on an e-bike tour of the city’s connective network of alternative forms of transport, including call bikes, car sharing, e-scooters and more.
The Cannstatt district in Stuttgart is home to a wide range of social facilities. Get to know the local social ecosystem, including visits to the “house of the family” and the “dasCANN” youth center.
The platform https://stuttgartbessermachen.de/ (“make Stuttgart better”) invites citizens to participate in the democratic process and encourages them to engage in dialogue with one another. In this tour, we will get to know the foundations who run the platform, and take a look at two of their latest projects.
Stuttgart is a frontrunner for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. We will learn about the role of the city’s External Relations Department and the city-wide Agenda 2030 Association as examples of co-creation for SDG-implementation. We will pay a visit to the Welthaus (One World Centre), a vivid example of Stuttgart’s spirit of international and social cohesion – a venue for intercultural exchange, global learning and fair trade which includes the global classroom, fair trade café and fair trade shop.
Stuttgart’s Ausbildungscampus (Vocational Training Campus) brings together businesses, engaged citizens, the city administration, and other organisations to support young people (in particular refugees) as they enter the job market.
What can we do to ensure that new arrivals in a city find their feet and feel at home as soon as possible? We pay a visit to the Welcome Center to find out more about Stuttgart’s approach to meeting this challenge.
The “Am Rotweg” neighbourhood in Stuttgart, constructed in the aftermath of the Second World War, is due a major overhaul. Two housing cooperatives are inviting residents to get involved in helping them to create high-quality, affordable and sustainable residences while also promoting a strong sense of community.
The Stuttgart-Münster thermal power station processes around one third of the waste produced in the whole state of Baden-Württemberg, using cogeneration to transform it into electricity and long-distance heating. Find out more about this leading energy recovery program on a tour of the power station.
Climate change is confronting cities around the world with new challenges linked to extreme weather, including heavy rainfall and urban heat islands. In this tour, we take a look at what Stuttgart is doing to counteract these issues, including the creation of green spaces, water retention measures, and depaving urban spaces.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO in Stuttgart is home to the Immersive Participation Lab (IPLab), a working and presentation environment which accurately renders 3D graphics in real-time. On the tour, we will get to know the latest applications for virtual reality technology, including city planning tools and new methods of collaborative decision-making.
Stuttgart is a city with a long and liberal tradition of integration. This tour gives you the opportunity to learn more about the integration of refugees in recent years, which is founded on a strong link between civil society and communal policy. We will pay a visit to the Breitscheidstraße Welcome Rooms, as well as a refugee accommodation centre (tbc.)
The Impact Hub Stuttgart is a platform for creative and entrepreneurial action, and is also home to the Social Impact Lab for social innovation. They develop, test and realise visions for a responsible and sustainable economy. We will get to know how they work and what city halls can do to create spaces for innovation.
Stuttgart 21 is one of the most controversial infrastructure projects in Germany. On this tour, we will visit the InfoTurm (“Informationtower)” and get to know the learnings from ten years of intense communication surrounding a large construction project. We will also visit the construction site and explore the planning behind the emerging urban district.
#MAYORSCONF22
