The launch of the EU Response and Renewal Programme for local authorities in Ukraine and Moldova for M4EG 

To support the new realities of local authorities in Ukraine and Moldova, the EU Response and Renewal Programme was launched to offer direct support to city and town authorities under the Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) network, a joint EU & UNDP initiative in the Eastern Partnership region. This grant programme, of EUR 1.8 million, is designed to support municipalities to build an immediate recovery response and long-term pathways for renewal.   

The war in Ukraine profoundly impacts the region, leaving countless individuals and communities struggling to cope with its devastating political, economic, social, and environmental effects. Over 8.1 million¹ Ukrainians have fled to other countries, and are living as refugees abroad, while over 5.4 million² are internally displaced within the country as of February 2023. Furthermore, 674,057 Ukrainians relocated to the Republic of Moldova since late February 2022, with 102,283 remaining as of 16 January 2023, making it the country with the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita.³  

As the protracted war continues to bring destruction and community displacement, local authorities in both countries are experiencing immense pressure to address the immediate needs and possible long-term implications of socio-economic development as a result of the crisis. 

The use of systems approaches is currently being adopted as an alternative to traditional linear recovery efforts in post-conflict situations. Systems thinking can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the complexity of such situations, leading to more effective interventions. But although the application of systems thinking can help address the challenges of uncertainty, tunnel vision, and inconsistent information, it requires significant time and resource commitment, as well as agile measures to integrate systems thinking mechanisms.  

As the M4EG initiative takes on a hyperlocal systems approach to offer resources, a network, and learning opportunities to explore new growth trajectories for  towns and cities (urban makeover), we asked ourselves: how can we also apply systems thinking in the crisis context to support local authorities in Ukraine and Moldova build an immediate response and recovery?  

While using our existing Agora Framework as a template for whole system engagement, there was an urgent need to reduce the burden on local authorities and support them with external analysis and research. The thinking around this research design was led by a crisis response team at the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub, which worked in close collaboration with the UNDP Country Offices in Ukraine and Moldova to verify the analysis provided. 

To facilitate the conceptualization (and application) process for interested municipalities, the grant programme focused on two broad goals: (1) immediate response and recovery; and (2) renewal and anticipation. In addition, the crisis response team formulated several pre-defined/inspirational positions in four different areas to address challenges related to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).  

The Response and Renewal grant programme was designed in the following way: 

1. Immediate response and recovery 

The programme aims to provide support for the immediate needs of Ukrainians, which includes IDPs and refugees, whose homes and jobs were destroyed or severely impacted by war. It also seeks to ensure small-scale restoration of infrastructure and services. These are critical for the wellbeing of the residents and the functioning of the local economy. 

The needs identified are as follows: 

• Individual and household level: These address the needs of those facing difficulties adjusting to the social and economic life in the city/community, directly affected by the crisis. Examples of interventions could include ensuring or improving shelters or other short to medium-term housing, procuring supplies, providing light infrastructure or internet access, and addressing other basic needs of IDPs and refugees. The programme aims to promote the long-term integration of IDPs, refugees, and returnees in host communities, by fostering communication, economic linkages, and cooperation. This could include interventions like the creation of inclusive work environments, and facilitation of communal spaces to build social networks and engagement. The programme will also focus on supporting initiatives that provide skills mapping and matching, and building capabilities where there is demand among returnees, IDPs, and refugees. 
• City and community level: The focus is on re-starting the local economy by addressing the immediate needs on the ground (including city structures) through small-scale interventions to get energy, water, mobility/transport, and waste services running as well as tackling the immediate capacity needs of local authorities. Examples of interventions could include small-scale clean ups of the city after liberation, addressing the impact of shelling, repairing damage to multi-apartment buildings and the neighborhood through nature-based solutions, and reinstating public services that facilitate the integration of IDPs and refugees. Other examples at the city and community level also include supporting crisis coordination and decision-making of local authorities through data, knowledge management, volunteer schemes and tools such as the UNDP Sensemaking Protocol. A demand-driven needs assessment will be carried out at the town and city levels to identify other areas of intervention. 

2. Renewal and anticipation 

The programme will also focus on the opportunities that may come in a crisis, to re-imagine the role of local authorities and solution pathways for an economically and socially thriving town or city space. 

The needs identified are as follows: 

• Individual and household level: Support for longer-term integration of individuals and households (IDPs, refugees, returnees) and foster positive relationships with members of host communities. Examples here could include aid structures that foster feelings of belonging and togetherness in the community and the neighborhood, the provision of high-quality education, health and other services, support for rebuilding homes and the re-use of structures for shelters. Another example can be implementing small-scale urban infrastructure for economic development initiatives such as tourism using climate-smart and nature-based solutions. In terms of employment and businesses, examples include “future of work” initiatives, virtual or physical marketplaces or matchmaking platforms to bring new job and business opportunities, new value chains and industries. 
• City and community level: At this level, the emphasis lies with supporting sustainable, smaller-scale renewal initiatives for a better built environment that aim to create inclusive and vibrant places, connect external partners, and/or bring knowledge and engagement to the city system. Additionally, the programme will support interventions that aid local authorities to build or enhance their skills in social listening, sensemaking, and future crisis management and anticipation. The emphasis is on the provision of support for inclusive and systematic economic recovery plans and programmes. There are many successful case studies within the M4EG project on IDP and refugee response and coordination, which can be used for city-to-city support and capability sharing, within Ukraine and Moldova as well as across twinning cities in Europe. Other examples include community-based initiatives that create spaces for new economic activities and green jobs, such as eco-friendly delivery services, renewed public spaces for commerce, food courts and sustainable mobility. 

The call for local initiatives among M4EG members in Ukraine and Moldova was launched in October 2022, and generated extensive interest, with over 180 applications. The winners were announced in late March 2023, and will participate in a four-week learning sprint to strengthen their proposals. The journey will include social listening, building learning objectives and applying a gender lens to planning and decision-making.

Learn more about the EU Response and Renewal Grant Programme.

The Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) Facility is increasing its support to members in Ukraine and Moldova 

Brussels, Chișinău, Kyiv, 29 March 2023 – the European Commission and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced today the selection of 18 municipalities from Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova under the Call for Local Demonstration Initiatives as part of the EU Response and Renewal Grant Programme aimed at revitalising and supporting the recovery of local economies and communities impacted by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

Gérald Audaz, Team Leader for Economic Development, Connectivity and the Green Transition in Eastern Partnership countries at DG NEAR, European Commission, said, “The European Union’s support to Ukraine and Moldova is unwavering. In both countries, local authorities have deployed relentless efforts to respond to emergencies, protect citizens but also to actively lay the groundwork for the reconstruction of a vibrant economy. With the new EU Response and Renewal Grant Programme under Mayors for Economic Growth, we aim to support municipalities in their endeavour at laying strong and sustainable foundations for economic recovery.”

Lejla Sadiku, Knowledge and Innovation Team Leader at the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub, said, “The Call for Local Demonstration Initiatives showcased that a significant number of municipalities are ready to pave the path toward a resilient future by using emerging opportunities and new approaches.”

Seven cities were selected under Lot 1 – Response & Immediate Recovery, namely Chortkiv (Ternopil Oblast), Hlukhiv (Sumy Oblast), Kamianets-Podilskyi (Khmelnytskyi Oblast), Slavuta (Khmelnytskyi Oblast), Velyka Oleksandrivka (Kherson Oblast) from Ukraine, and Carpineni and Volintiri from Moldova.

As part of Lot 2 – Renewal & Anticipation, the following 11 cities were selected: Bucha (Kyiv Oblast), Chernivtsi, Kharkiv, Nizhyn (Chernihiv Oblast), Nova Kakhovka (Kherson Oblast), Slavutych (Kyiv Oblast), Velyki Luchky (Zakarpattia Oblast), Voznesensk (Mykolaiv Oblast) from Ukraine, and Copceac, Cimislia, and Drochia from Moldova.

Background:

The financial increase of EUR 1.8 million, under the auspices of the M4EG Facility network, provides direct support to the selected cities in Ukraine and Moldova. 70 percent of the grant component will be available to Ukrainian local authorities and 30 percent to local authorities in Moldova. The funding has two lots: 1) Response & Immediate Recovery, aimed at supporting the immediate needs of people affected by the war, and 2) Renewal & Anticipation, aimed at supporting local authorities to get on track with their sustainable development pathways with a funding range EUR 30,000-50,000 (no co-financing required) and EUR 70,000 – 100,000 (at least 20% co-financing required) respectively.

The M4EG Facility draws on the Mayors for Economic Growth Initiative, launched and funded by the European Union (EU) in 2017. Since 2021, the EU-funded M4EG Facility has been managed by UNDP in close cooperation with the EU, local authorities and a range of partners.

Learn more about M4EG.

The Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) initiative held a Partner Dialogue in Istanbul on 28 February 2023, bringing together representatives from the EU and UNDP and prominent partners such as Agence Française de Développement, Arup, Center for Public Impact, CHÔRA Design, Climate KIC, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 

The Partner Dialogue sought to provoke new ways of looking at possible transformations at the city level and exploring new approaches to better address complex and systemic challenges. The discussion aimed to create a space for reflection on how to scale up learning and financing opportunities for the network of 400+ cities under the programme.

Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG), a joint EU and UNDP initiative focused on reimagining urban and local spaces, is running a Portfolio Journey with 10 selected cities in Eastern Partnership countries. Starting in late 2021 with its first cohort, the Portfolio Journey is a three-year-long learning, design and management programme, where cities get to learn about and apply a portfolio approach to their selected topic. The journey guides them to put in motion transformative Urban Makeovers to bring about improved economic opportunities, build vibrant communities and promote innovation practices. 

Two cities in Ukraine are currently testing the portfolio approach for crisis response and recovery with the support of UNDP Ukraine and UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub (IRH). For the remaining eight cities, UNDP IRH is partnering with CHÔRA, an organization that brings their Strategic Innovation framework and capability to the table, to co-design and facilitate the cities’ Portfolio Journey.

How it started?

UNDP has embarked on a journey to move away from projects and apply a more connected and horizontal portfolio approach as an integral part of our Strategic Plan 2022-2025. Regionally, UNDP in Europe and Central Asia has been developing the portfolio practice, with the goal of applying it not only internally to our programming, but also with our partners such as municipalities. The journey started when we co-developed with CHÔRA Agorà, an urban transformation portfolio framework for informing and structuring our portfolio designs for urban transformation. The framework was first applied within the City Experiment Fund (CEF), where four cities designed and activated their urban portfolios in 2021. In 2023 the urban transformation work continues with 15 cities under the M4EG and CEF initiatives. Recently, we were able to activate portfolios in four new cities under the M4EG initiative: Batumi and Kutaisi in Georgia, Areni in Armenia, and Ceadîr-Lunga in Moldova. 

Dynamic Management Framework

Activating portfolios means that we have finished the first round of design work – analyzed the context and the relational problems, formulated a shared portfolio intent, built a hypothesis for change, designed and initiated implementation of the first set of learning options, part of their portfolio. Learning options are interventions, which are designed by setting learning goals to inform the portfolio holder, usually municipality teams, about their selected topic. When layered together, learning options support decision-making regarding where to channel resources for lasting solutions to urban challenges. For us to extract learnings and experiences from a portfolio’s learning options and use the intelligence in both adapting our portfolio and scaling our solutions, we have created a Dynamic Management Framework for the M4EG Portfolio Journey. 

The Dynamic Management Framework uses Sensemaking as a tool in order to enable a continuous and adaptive strategic learning cycle in the portfolios over time, which we have applied to urban challenges. Dynamically managing an urban transformation portfolio aims to amplify and multiply the positive systemic changes that the portfolio can create through supplying urban decision-makers with timely intelligence, learnings, and possibilities for adaptation. It also ensures that every time portfolio managers and teams are taking a decision, they are being held accountable, aligning their decision with the portfolio’s intent and the positive systemic changes it aims to achieve. The Dynamic Management Framework, therefore, ensures ongoing coherence between the envisioned portfolio intent and the executed portfolio activities, as well as between the overall municipal portfolio and other related activities in the city’s ever-changing context.

3 distinct characteristics of the Portfolio Dynamic Management Framework

1. A core characteristic of the framework is the learning spiral

At its core, dynamically managing a portfolio closes the loop between the design of a learning option, the learning option activity or experience itself, the extraction of learning from that experience through Sensemaking, and the intelligence generated that is used to inform and design new interventions based on the learnings.

This learning cycle is repeated at different levels of the Portfolio: Portfolio Intent, Portfolio Positions, and Portfolio Options. We will come back to this in further detail later, under Point 3.

It is in this stage of the framework that we use Sensemaking, a strategic organizational learning capability and a structured tool to learn from existing experiences such as projects and activities. We do this through a series of workshops with portfolio teams and when relevant we also include external stakeholders. Sensemaking has been widely used and tested in UNDP since the co-development of the UNDP Portfolio Sensemaking & Acceleration Protocol by CHÔRA and UNDP in 2019. 

The purpose and at the same time the formalized outcome of Sensemaking is actionable intelligence, which emerges through the interpretation and synthesis of cross-activity insights. In the M4EG programme, as a first step, we ran a Sensemaking and Dynamic Management Training, facilitated by our colleagues at CHÔRA, to introduce the participating municipal teams to a basic understanding of the portfolio sensemaking approach, tools and practice. We are currently at the stage where the municipal teams will start applying these tools themselves.

2. How is portfolio management different from project management?

A portfolio consists of multiple projects, activities, or learning options being implemented at different speeds and timeframes, and with different but connected learning hypotheses. The portfolio is the connective tissue that binds and gives meaning to the wide range of smaller activities or projects. The portfolio therefore provides a system or mechanism for strategic learning and dynamic decision-making to make sure we are striving towards a higher order goal, which we call the Portfolio Intent. This intent-driven, integrative, dynamic quality defines and distinguishes our understanding and application of portfolios from other notions of “portfolios”, which usually refer to a mere collection of thematic projects that have and follow their own solution pathways without a systematic mechanism that binds and guides them by purpose. 

When asking the question of project vs. portfolio management, it might also help to define what qualities we are looking for in a portfolio (that we possibly aren’t at the project level), which might make it more effective and successful. When designing a portfolio, we consider the following:

• the breadth and diversity of the activities that when combined, will accelerate the transformation we are interested in;
• the intensity of interactions the portfolio can induce in the city system and the density of relationships it engages towards the desired transformation;
• the speed and rhythm at which the portfolio will evolve and re-shape itself (again, through iterative use of Sensemaking as a tool for dynamic portfolio management);
• the overarching narrative the portfolio can produce for the problem-owner(s), here city governments, to attract and allocate resources.

These qualities are necessary when dynamically managing a complex urban transformation portfolio and we are currently working on embedding them into our management and evaluation framework. To manage and capture the information, experiences and intelligence of the portfolio throughout its management cycle, we have created a Portfolio Navigator, a light management dashboard, which showcases the interconnectedness of the different elements of the portfolio (such as Intent, Positions and Options). It can be updated regularly after each sensemaking phase and iteration in the design. The Navigator will help to manage the multiple activities happening simultaneously at different speeds and allow portfolio holders to monitor how these activities are mutually contributing to the Portfolio Intent. 

3. Sensemaking at different levels of the portfolio

Portfolio Dynamic Management also utilizes a structured process of iterative Sensemaking at different levels of the portfolio (see visual below) that we are currently applying within M4EG. Dynamic management is characterized by a continuous rhythm of iterations and consequent re-designs of the portfolio. In M4EG, we are testing a dynamic management system at four distinct levels of the urban portfolios (Options, Positions, Portfolio and Intent), with at least two key roles required to support this process: 1) option leads (these might be multiple people, each leading one learning option in the portfolio) and 2) a portfolio lead. The option leads are responsible for ensuring the effective implementation of each learning option in the portfolio, as well as capturing ongoing learnings from the on-ground experience. On the other hand, the portfolio lead is responsible for the direction and iteration of the whole portfolio, as well as designing and organizing the sensemaking and intelligence generation process to support the portfolio adaptation and re-design.

In the Sensemaking and Dynamic Management Training, the municipal teams gained a better understanding of the four levels of portfolio management and their rhythm. Each city team aligned the distribution of the key roles and responsibilities to support the dynamic management process of their portfolio. 

As a continuation of this learning process, we designed a hands-on training with CHÔRA to support teams with the first round of synthesis and documentation of learnings from activated options, which will be followed by sensemaking and intelligence generation training sessions in Spring 2023.

Ongoing learnings & next steps for M4EG

The process of setting up dynamic management systems and collective learning practices in organizations, which traditionally function in a linear and siloed way, has taught us that collective and strategic learning needs systemization, structures, and leadership. For this reason, we are currently experimenting with bridging the gap between the organizational structures and cultures of the municipalities we work with, and the new requirements that the Dynamic Portfolio Management Framework puts in place. Some concrete examples of what we are experimenting with right now:

• adding practical dynamic management requirements in the funding agreements and contracts between municipalities and UNDP;
• testing the monthly, quarterly, bi-annual and annual rhythm of the learning cycle with different municipalities and taking stock of the feedback;
• acknowledging that thinking in systems, relationships, synthethizing information, generating intelligence and leading by intent are specific capabilities that need to be built into systems;
• knowledge management systems are almost non-existent in municipalities and this poses an opportunity to strategically invest in such capabilities to inform dynamic management and decision-making.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this blog series on our learnings on applying dynamic portfolio management with cities! If you are doing dynamic portfolio management at the moment or wish to do so, please connect with us and share your reflections – we are here to build on each other’s learnings.

Background:  

In 2021 UNDP, together with the EU, launched the Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG), a regional initiative hosting a network of some 350 municipalities in the Eastern Partnership – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The M4EG’s intention is to demonstrate and inspire secondary cities’ new trajectories of growth to become more attractive and vibrant for people and financing. 

CHÔRA’s purpose is to enable complex social systems with transformational intents to take decisions about themselves. You can find a glimpse of our thinking and doing in development in our Green Paper: “Future of Development: Make Happen with Portfolios of Options”. 

Additional resources and readings: 

• See this previous article by our colleagues at the UNDP to learn more about how Sensemaking is being used in the UNDP. 
• See this article series (Part 1 and Part 2) by CHÔRA that demonstrates how the Dynamic Management tool and capability were applied with the UNDP Malawi CO.
• For an example of how the Agorà Urban Transformation Framework, co-developed by UNDP IRH and CHÔRA was applied, see this article about the Armenian city Stepanavan’s City Experiment Fund Portfolio Journey in 2021. 

Urban Imaginaries is a programme that supports towns and cities to reimagine local economic development and governance through new tools. Urban Imaginaries is one programme under the joint EU and UNDP initiative Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) Facility. The selected cities receive seed funds of up to 60,000 EUR and technical support for their experiments in their focus area. The partner of the programme is the Centre for Public Impact.

In the first cohort of Urban Imaginaries 2022, three communities from Armenia took part: Alaverdi, Ashtarak, and Charentsavan. From early spring to summer of 2022, human-centered design thinking was introduced to the communities, where they explored their identified problem and vetted and designed solutions through end-user research with residents. In November, all three presented their learning and effects so far in a regional Show and Tell event.  

What challenges were sought addressed?

The three communities identified different challenges. In Alaverdi, Lori region, (20,445 residents), residents and tourists are seeking a richer cultural life for a more thriving, inclusive community however the community is facing decaying building facilities and a shrinking number of local cultural activities.

Ashtarak, Aragatsotn region, (75,750 residents) was recently expanded to a consolidated community that includes one urban and 34 rural settlements, leading to a greater need for public transportation reform to boost connectivity and livelihood opportunities.

The municipality team in Charentsavan, Kotayk region, (40,000 residents) finds that its center is in need of a make-over to become more attractive for residents and tourists alike.

Learning and effects in Alaverdi

To provide sufficient conditions for cultural events, the Alaverdi municipality collaborated with the local business and renovated and furnished a privately owned cultural house. With the joint work of government, partners, local activity companies and TV company, a number of cultural events were successfully held in the cultural house. The positive feedback received from the residents indicates that they enjoyed the performances and has confirmed the awakening of cultural life. For the next step, the municipality will renovate the municipal cultural house and develop new innovative content to promote cultural life in the consolidated community, where both the residents and visitors would benefit. The municipality team reflected on the importance to experiment before fully fledged implementation for risk mitigation, and the importance to get adequate honest feedback from residents and experts. They intend to apply the approach acquired from the learning journey to both their future work and issues of neighboring communities. The municipality succeeded in leveraging the M4EG seed-funding to confirm additional resources of about two hundred thousand euros by the national government’s 2023 subvention program.

Learning and effects in Ashtarak

As an experiment, the community designed one route and rented two minibuses to operate, which was used by an estimated 130 passengers per day. They also introduced differentiated fee rates for specific groups including students, pensioners, and persons with disabilities. Coming up, 11 minibuses will be purchased, including 3 for people with disabilities, and 35 bus-stops will be constructed, at least one per settlement of Ashtarak. In line with the new transport network, a new ticket system will be introduced as well. The leadership successfully leveraged the seed-fund under M4EG to confirm additional resources of 150,000 euros for this scale-up by the national government’s 2023 subvention program, and private sector representatives have shown the willingness and made commitments to be involved. The municipality will also try to mobilize additional funding from international donors. In order to compare whether the municipality or the private sector is the better service provider, two routes will be provided by the private sector. The growing initiative is intended to foster increased connectivity and hence have a positive impact on the tourism sector and economic development.

Learning and effects in Charentsavan

Charentsavan municipality conducted two experiments to explore how to realize its tourism potential. One experiment was the improvement and maintenance of Khanjyan street, the central street of Charentsavan. Parts of the street were refurnished, including the Cinema Theatre Square, turned into a cultural space, where a festive cultural event was hosted after the construction. The part of the central street used by elderly people for leisure activities was also renovated to improve it. During the experiment, the municipality launched an awareness campaign, which was found to help change people’s hesitation to use funds for cultural space maintenance. The community team is of the opinion that the experiment also contributed to fostering improved trust of residents toward the local authority and helped to achieve more inclusive social agreement as diverse age, occupation and ability groups of population have been taken into consideration. Next year, a larger area that starts at the entrance of the city will be renovated.

To further boost the rural tourism potential, the local authority also supported a number of other initiatives in villages that part of the community, including the organization of the Arishta (Armenian pasta) Festival in Bjni village, where the team involved international stakeholders, provided additional funds from the municipal budget and strongly encouraged villagers to participate. Charentsavan also opened the Horse-Riding Center in Arzakan and invested more financial and information resources in it. This all has helped to increase the visibility of the community as a whole, created a sense of belonging among rural residents, and promoted the involvement of different stakeholders including businesses, NGOs, civil society organizations.

Other than implementing specific tailored-made interventions, each of the municipality teams has developed a new capacity in the field of human-centered design. The adopted approaches and processes would further contribute to both efficient design of municipality’s development interventions, as well as significantly increase the citizen engagement and participation in urban transformation processes.

The article is reposted from UNDP Armenia.

How “digital twins” of real cities can help guide innovation and transform our lives

As a child, I loved playing SimCity, a popular video game which focused on open-ended city-building. Although more than 30 years ago the gameplay and graphics on my PC were rudimentary, the game was revolutionary. It introduced the concept of simulation in which several realistic, well-defined rules determine what happens to the characters and landscapes. 

This initial love and understanding of simulations followed me well after my teenage years. At one point, I used simulations to design beam diagnostic instruments of the most complex machine ever built by mankind – the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Today, simulations are no longer just there for entertainment, but are actively reshaping innovation and, consequently, the real world.

The rise of the digital twins

Some of these simulations, if sufficiently sophisticated, can become “digital twins” – virtual representations of intended or actual real-world products, systems or processes. Due to their use by global companies and public bodies, simulated and virtual worlds have the potential to transform our lives.

Nvidia, a company best known for their graphics processing units, is using its Omniverse platform to build Earth-2. It’s a massive simulation of the planetary climate system, able to predict the climate in different regions of the globe over decades. Its aim is to enable the development of the best strategies for mitigation and adaptation to climate change and urge climate action by showing us the future more realistically.

Similarly, BMW, a major German car manufacturer is building a simulated factory before starting construction of a physical one. These simulations are providing real-time insights into highly complex, unpredictable systems and help avoid costly mistakes or disasters.

According to Accenture’s Tech Trends 2022 report, the global digital twin market is expected to grow from $3.21 billion in 2020 to $184.5 billion by 2030. Digital twins are also finding their way into the public sector and especially urbanism – just as it was predicted by SimCity and Sims games.

“SimCities” become reality

Many analysts predict that, soon enough, every major city on the planet will have a digital twin inside a virtual world that will revolutionise the way we manage traffic flows, public transport systems, power demand, and more. Some estimate that as many as 500 urban digital twins will be deployed by mid-2020s. The impact on the economies will be significant. A recent WEF report, sees the global digital twin city market reaching nearly $50 billion by 2026. ABI Research, a global technology intelligence firm, estimated that $280 billion can be saved by 2030 through use of digital twins for more efficient urban planning.

As drivers of development, cities are natural ground for innovation and are thus perfect sandboxes to see how simulations can help us with various challenges related to reaching multiple Sustainable Development Goals: building sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11), fostering industry innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), taking climate action (SDG 13), as well as establishing partnerships to achieve the goals (SDG 17).

For example, Singapore’s use of its digital twin is already highlighted as best practice in the 2021 UNDP Handbook on Smart Urban Innovations. Its 3D virtual model allows new developments to be simulated with great precision. This digital twin is used in planning bicycle lanes and parking lots, taking into account many factors such as road obstacles, tree shading, surrounding facilities, traffic connections and other safety parameters. The model is also very useful for long term planning. Singapore’s ageing population will require major changes to infrastructure, and different actors can now work together virtually to make and test solutions.

The capital of Estonia, Tallinn, aims to use digital twins to increase public participation in urban planning and to track energy consumption. Seoul in South Korea uses it to predict wind paths and inform urban design in a way that reduces spread of forest fires, heat island effect (spots in urban areas with higher temperatures) and spread of fine dust.

Simulations need to be human-centric

What will come next? Simulation of entire societies and testing economic policies in virtual worlds before applying them in the real world? However, creating more complex and ambitious digital replicas raises questions about privacy and cybersecurity.

Many of these digital twins are made possible by a multitude of sensors that track real-world data and movement. Take for example workers at factories with digital twins that may find their every movement followed while a hacker of a digital twin could gain frighteningly precise knowledge about how a system works and what its vulnerabilities are. These risks can be compounded if they are related to citizens who are not aware of what data is collected about them, or management of key infrastructure systems such as, energy, heating or water supply .

Digital twins, like the metaverse, also have environmental impact as high-end data storage and processing are energy-hungry processes.

Furthermore, these technologies can be challenging to implement. Even the most basic ones require many elements to be put in place: data-collection capability of urban Internet of Things – sensing networks as well as protocols around data governance, system interoperability, fast data processing, ensuring data quality, security and privacy.

All of these challenges require both top-down (e.g. setting up centres to coordinate and manage all data) and bottom-up approaches (e.g. what do the citizens and other key stakeholders think are most important things to model), and all application scenarios need to be human-centric.

Finally, the initial development of digital twins can be costly and complex. Much of the initial investment tends to fall on the public sector, while private companies stand aside for the first few years until they can formulate a clear investment rationale. Even though public bodies may be the ones initially investing, they should engage all stakeholders, especially the private sector, to ensure standardisation and interoperability with future actual and potential users. 

Tool for a sustainable future

Nevertheless, digital twins, especially in urban settings offer significant benefits and opportunities for innovation. Remembering, once again, my first brush with urban simulation, playing SimCity, I realised that I enjoyed two things: no one wins or loses, and everything has a solution.

I am aware that digital twins of real cities will never be able to capture reality perfectly, and that there will always be mistakes, like those you see when running a city simulation on a basic PC. Real life, as we know, has high variability, is full of uncertainties and fuzziness and thus cannot be perfectly simulated nor can models serve as perfect guides to tricky questions of policies.

However, I believe that, through the use of precise mapping, integration and constant interplay between virtual and physical cities , monitoring, as well as their power for making predictions for various scenarios, digital twin cities can provide us with innovative solutions for a sustainable future. I also believe that, like in a game, there will be no losers in the city of tomorrow, and that our urban environment will become sustainable, more convenient and more inclusive.

Reposted from UNDP Serbia.

The European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched today a new ecosystem of learning opportunities to reimagine urban and local spaces for transformative change and future-readiness under the Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) Facility. The Urban Learning Center (ULC) is designed as an umbrella for various programme and learning opportunities, knowledge management and stakeholder engagement of the M4EG network, and will be supported by an online platform. The ULC aims to introduce approaches beyond “business as usual” to support municipalities with an “urban makeover” vision, i.e., helping Mayors and their teams re-invent their cities with a focus on key priority areas such as green and digital transitions, and on approaches such as foresight, social and community listening, sensemaking, adaptive and agile management. The ULC will also foster local solutions linked to the implementation of the Economic and Investment Plan for the Eastern Partnership region and the realizations of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in the 2030 Agenda.  

“The network of 350 M4EG cities keeps growing, and so do the needs of municipalities. In such unprecedented times, Mayors and their teams seek new ways to stimulate economic growth and unlock the potential of the green and digital transitions,” said Nicholas Cendrowicz, Deputy Head of Unit C.1. Georgia, Moldova, Economic and Investment Plan for the Eastern Partnership countries, DG NEAR. “Coupled with up-to-date learning insights, the Urban Learning Center will allow cities and towns to attract more investment, people and opportunities.” 

“UNDP, together with the EU, strives to ensure that local authorities that are members of the M4EG Facility receive new learning and networking opportunities. The challenges faced by municipalities are highly complex. Hence, they need to develop a portfolio of skills and solutions focusing on innovations toward building smart and inclusive cities,” said Gerd Trogemann, Manager of the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub. 

The Urban Learning Center is designed as a Learning Ecosystem that interconnects community members at the national and regional levels, organized around the practitioner member as both a learner and contributor. Access to ULC is free and available through the SparkBlue online community engagement platform (sign-up is required for new participants). The ULC was developed as part of the Mayors for Economic Growth Facility funded by the European Union. You can access here the ULC concept note to discover more about the center. 

Background 

The M4EG Facility draws on the Mayors for Economic Growth Initiative, launched and funded by the European Union (EU) in 2017. Since 2021, the EU-funded M4EG Facility has been managed by UNDP in close cooperation with the EU, local authorities and a range of partners. 

Media enquiries 

For the European Commission/DG NEAR: 

Mr. Thibault Charlet, Programme Manager, Digital and Local Economic Development, DG NEAR Unit C1, thibault.charlet@ec.europa.eu 

For UNDP: 

Mrs. Laurence Lessire, Regional Communications Specialist, laurence.lessire@undp.org 
Ms. Svetla Baeva, Communications Lead, Innovation Team Istanbul Regional Hub, svetla.baeva@undp.org 
Mr. Anton Sydorenko, M4EG Facility Communications Lead, anton.sydorenko@undp.org 

A financial top-up under the auspices of the Mayors for Economic Growth Facility supports the crisis immediate response and recovery & long-term renewal of Moldovan and Ukrainian local authorities, including support to Ukrainian refugees and those displaced by the war, throughout 2022-2023.

Brussels, Chișinău, Kyiv, 30 November 2022 – The European Commission announced today a new financial agreement of EUR 1.8 million to enhance direct support to city and town authorities that are members of the Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) Facility network in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova (Moldova). Seventy percent of the grant component will be available for Ukrainian local authorities, and 30 percent to local authorities in Moldova. The additional funds, along with previously repurposed funds from the M4EG project will sponsor a Call for Local Demonstration Initiatives focusing on revitalizing and supporting the recovery of local economies and communities impacted by the war.

The structure of the fund will have two aspects:

1. Response & Immediate Recovery – funding range for each proposal: EUR 30,000-50,000 (no co-financing required). It intends to support the immediate needs of people (IDPs and refugees) whose houses, jobs and businesses were destroyed or affected by the war and small-scale restoration of infrastructure and services
2. Renewal & Anticipation – funding range for each proposal: EUR 70,000 – 100,000 (at least 20% co-financing required). This aspect aimed at to support local authorities impacted by the war to get on track with their sustainable development pathways and lay foundations for economic recovery, future sustainable growth and modernization of cities and communities.

“The European family stands together with Moldovan and Ukrainian municipalities. With the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, affected municipalities showed great resilience and courage in the face of war,” said Gérald Audaz, Team Leader, Economic Development and Digital Transition in Eastern Partnership countries, DG NEAR. “This is why we keep mobilising support – to strengthen local authorities who are now dealing with complex challenges, striving to re-start a local economy by addressing the immediate needs in the city on the ground.”

“For the last nine months, we have witnessed how the ongoing war led to significant loss of life, devastating destruction of infrastructure, and unprecedented internal displacement in Ukraine and towards neighbouring countries,” said Lejla Sadiku, Innovation team leader, UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub. “City authorities are at the forefront of the conflict and its complex effects. Direct support will help address immediate needs and re-think and re-start local economic development trajectories.”

As of February 2022, the M4EG initiative in Ukraine carried out several interventions to support cities, equipping IDP shelters in Lviv, supporting a crisis coordination centre in Melitopol, setting up a network of 34 United Nations Community Volunteers in 29 local authorities, and launching an online course on crisis management and the integration of internally displaced persons for local authorities.

In Moldova, a rapid light assessment of M4EG signatories provided a snapshot of their level of readiness for emergency response and recovery. Emergency support such as equipment and assets to improve living and sanitation conditions for refugees was delivered in 14 local authorities. The EU Delegation and UNDP confirmed their support in establishing a Response and Coordination Unit under the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova (CALM) to strengthen crisis management capabilities.

Municipalities interested in participating in the Call for Local Demonstration Initiatives should be part of the M4EG network. To join the network, Moldovan and Ukrainian municipalities should reach out to M4EG Secretariat in respective countries through the following link.

Disclaimer:

The M4EG Facility draws on the Mayors for Economic Growth Initiative, launched and funded by the European Union (EU) in 2017. Since 2021, the EU-funded M4EG Facility has been managed by UNDP in close cooperation with the EU, local authorities and a range of partners.

For media inquiries:

For the European Commission/DG NEAR:

• Mr. Thibault Charlet, Programme Manager, Digital and Local Economic Development, DG NEAR Unit C1, thibault.charlet@ec.europa.eu

For UNDP:

• Mrs. Laurence Lessire, Regional Communications Specialist, laurence.lessire@undp.org
• Ms. Svetla Baeva, Communications Lead, Innovation Team Istanbul Regional Hub, svetla.baeva@undp.org
• Mr. Anton Sydorenko, M4EG Facility Communications Lead, anton.sydorenko@undp.org

In our previous story „Imagine the city we want,“ we introduced the Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG), a joint EU and UNDP initiative that supports a sustainable, digital, just and inclusive transformation of cities and communities in the Eastern Partnership countries. 

In a nutshell, the M4EG is about finding new ways to deal with complex urban challenges of the present and future. It is about going hyperlocal – engaging with local communities to learn, co-design and test together what transformation pathways could look like in the city or town system. 

A demonstration project to guide future investments of the EU Eastern Partnership Agenda: “The M4EG is important for us because it firmly fits into a wider EU policy, it is a project that takes a radically new approach to local development; it is a demonstration project to guide investments and translate the Economic and Investment plan for the Eastern Partnership countries at the local level. For green and digital transition innovation is necessary, this is what this project is about for local development.”

Thibault Charlet, Programme Manager for the M4EG initiative at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) 

13 mayors as frontrunners 

The M4EG introduces new tools and approaches, with four mayors currently testing what it could mean to go from a linear project approach to a systemic portfolio approach for local transformation. Kutaisi and Batumi (Georgia), Areni (Armenia) and Ceadir Lunga (Moldova) are cities making up the first cohort of the Portfolio Journey. Each designed a portfolio with a total of 40 different options to be implemented. Our partner here is the Chora Foundation. 

The other nine cities are undertaking an innovation and learning programme called Urban Imaginaries, where cities get a change to test human-centered design through seed-funds. The cities embarking on this journey are: Alaverdi, Ashtarak and Charentsavan from Armenia; Poti, Rustavi, Samtredia and Tskaltubo from Georgia; and Cahul and Călărași from Moldova. Our partner here is Centre for Public Impact. 

Instead of looking for up front solutions, these cities and communities are examining the problem from different viewpoints, engaging with unusual suspects, and attempting to curb our reflex to focus on quick solutions for sticky problems. Embedded in empathy, they aim to get a different understanding of the city or town landscape and its economy – going out of the city hall and their offices to talk to residents and local actors, focusing on who the city is and the local stories are. The city teams set up hypotheses and go out to test, pilot, validate various ideas to see how it works. Instead of creating solutions, they are learning how to solve problems as a team, together with their local communities and residents.  

It is impossible to bring-in all 13 stories, but we have featured some examples to better illustrate what is “business as unusual” for local governments. 

Smart waste in Kutaisi, Georgia 

Kutaisi’s portfolio intends to place the city on the eco-smart urban planning frontlines in Georgia and beyond. Of the many designed interventions, the smart waste pilot is looking to gather data on two fronts: what’s the business case for implementing smart tech to optimize waste collection, and how does people’s sorting behaviour change when they are facing new sorting mechanisms such as non-transparent containers or monetary incentives through eco currency. The pilot will implement this tech intervention in a small part of the centre, with a limited number of containers to gather data. At the end of the pilot, they will know: how much money can be saved by automating the planning of waste disposal using sensors on waste bins and whether people sort just as well, better or worse, with financial incentives or with non-transparent containers. This data will give decision-makers an idea of what it would take to unroll this solution across the city, which will be an important infrastructure investment based on a pilot validated by residents. 

Energy transition of Ceadir Lunga, Moldova 

Ceadir Lunga is home to 20,000 people, located in the south of Moldova, right at the border with Ukraine. A key challenge is increased energy prices for gas and oil, particularly during winter months, coupled with the environmental harms of fossil fuel dependency. The town relies on imports for all their energy needs from the Russian Federation. While their energy standards are outdated; it is evident this is not viable nor sustainable going forward. That is why the focus of city transformation is on the transition to renewable and diversified energy sources to reduce imports and improve efficiency. The town wants to support vulnerable groups and tackle high unemployment rates with energy knowledge that can lead to new jobs. “What is new in this process for us is to bring in residents closer through consultations and interviews and to take a more holistic approach to a challenge such as energy imports,” notes Mayor Anatoly Topali from Ceadir Lunga.  

How another Moldovan town is reimagining waste management can be found in this blog from Călărași. 

Public transport system reform in Ashtarak, Armenia 

Our third example comes from the Ashtarak community in Armenia, only 22 km away from Yerevan. Ashtarak consists of more than 30 villages and has no public transport service, which significantly impacts economic opportunities for local citizens. “We started the public transport reform process as we want to have public transportation services available to our community. We shall establish a test bus route to connect our many community settlements. We are still developing the route, and defining the bus stops’ locations and tariffs in public discussion with our residents. We plan to build closed bus stops, which will have solar-powered heating, lighting and wi-fi. We will start with 3-4 small vans, but the plan is to buy 11 small buses, out of which 3 will be adjusted for use by people with disabilities. For our community development, it is vital to connect settlements with public transport – the 35 new bus stops and greater mobility will change many lives in our community,” shares Mayor Ishkhan Barseghyan. Attracting financing is often difficult for secondary cities and towns, however Astarak has successfully used the M4EG seed-fund to mobilize additional funding from the central government for its public mobility ambition. 

15 new city troopers – Azeri cities on board, re-start in Ukraine, and more frontrunners in Armenia 

Eight local authorities in Azerbaijan and Armenia recently joined the Portfolio Journey and Urban Imaginaries initiative, together with the seven cities from Ukraine, who put their work on hold due to the war but are back with a plan to re-build and re-imagine their future. We are looking forward to hearing what comes out of the learning journey for Khirdalan, Icherisheher, Sabail, Urva, Mingachevir and Naftalan in Azerbaijan, and Lviv, Melitopol, Poltava, Sumy, Trostianets, Mykolaiv and Ternopil in Ukraine, and Gyumri and Kapan in Armenia. 

The network of cities shares that the mutual success ingredient of this journey so far is their teams – people with open minds, dedication, deep engagement and who lean into a process that often goes beyond what has been tried and tested before, all with the guidance and space to experiment, created by their leaders, the mayors and deputies.  

Without people’s commitment, no transformative change can happen. 

The M4EG Facility builds on the Mayors for Economic Growth Initiative, launched, and funded by the European Union in 2017. Starting from 2021, the M4EG Facility – funded by the EU – has been managed by UNDP in close cooperation with the EU, local authorities, and a range of partners. 

Cities: A powerhouse for innovation

Throughout history, cities have held a central role in innovation. First, local governments often are more agile than the national or regional ones in identifying and responding to problems. Then, they are closer to their constituencies, making them well-positioned for participative action. Finally, when facing unprecedented challenges, cities benefit from a wide action range to carry out new solutions, and mobilize communities for a faster response. 

On 31 October, the United Nations celebrated World Cities Day, bringing together urban partners to share their approaches on local action, creating more connected, inclusive and sustainable cities. 

Emerging challenges 

In the Europe and Central Asia region, urban spaces have experienced multiple transitions and shocks. UNDP’s strategic innovation work in cities shows that cities are at a precipice  – under-resourced, over-extended, and with unreformed development models – allowing any dent or crack to destabilise the system anew. The outdated economic model no longer works – cities and towns, especially smaller towns, frequently house decrepit industries and are home to young people who want to leave. Yet, while we can easily pinpoint the problems in the region’s recent history and present, the way out is less clear. But there is hope. To live up to people’s expectations for a thriving future, local governments need to move beyond traditional and obsolete economic models, and embrace learning and flexibility to change practices that keep them relevant and open to new opportunities. This is a shift in mindset, collaboration, and capability – and reinventing themselves will accelerate change within the systems.

In this context, urban stakeholders are asking themselves: What do we need to do now to shift systems?

Can we shift urban systems?

Since August, through our Urban Talks Series, we have been exploring these questions and featuring stories of changemakers who have powered innovation to address new and old challenges alike. From these stories, several themes have emerged: 

Interconnectedness. Urban systems are interconnected: for example, an investment in public infrastructure will increase the value of property around it and drive other investments. To make them more manageable, urban challenges have been sliced into single issues. But to be effective and make urban systems more resilient, there is a need to work on understanding and building connections between different parts of the system. Urbanist Dr. Jayne Engle, current Co-Director of Participatory Canada, challenged us to explore the interconnectedness between the intangible (wisdom and values), and the tangible – physical, digital, environmental and institutional infrastructures (see Urban Talk #3). Her work recognizes that the future needs to be built together with those to whom it belongs, incorporating the voices of children and young people, and placing at the heart of urban development a balanced relationship with nature. Movements like Japan’s Future Design show how to factor in future generations into the design of interventions now, as do Fridays for Future, a youth-led and organised climate activist movement. In Batumi, Georgia, the city government, in its effort to diversify its economic model and rebrand itself into a tech-city, has ended up identifying and connecting to stakeholders that are driving the startup ecosystem (see Urban Talk #4).

Distributed Power. Radical collaboration between different actors – what Mayor of Ungheni in Moldova, Alexandru Ambros, calls a “web of bridges”, generates active feedback loops and enables cities to respond faster when shocks happen. Building the “web of bridges” is reliant on  trust, open communication and shared missions. The Istanbul Planning Agency Vision 2050 team, is another good example of that (see Urban Talk #1). They conducted consultations with over 20,000 people to determine the city’s vision and mission. The city landed on a vision for the future of the city as vibrant, free and diverse, and continued to ‘translate’ this mission into a multitude of actions – from how the municipality works to the projects planned across the city. Similarly, NetZero Cities are supporting 100 cities in Europe to move to carbon neutrality by 2030, together with those to whom the city belongs – communities, companies, city governments (see Urban Talk #7). In the digital space, Barcelona and about 50 cities, with UN Habitat’s support, are developing digital transformation strategies that are people-centred, and that support sustainable urbanization (see Urban Talk #6).

Imagination. In our last Urban Talk, Charles Landry called for boldness and unleashing creativity in cities. Broadening imagination, adopting a learning mindset and encouraging creative bureaucracy are foundational in not only being resilient to shocks, but using them as an opportunity to shift systems. The Creative Bureaucracy movement in the making brings together bureaucrats from around the world who are using their imagination and capabilities to reimagine the role of governments as enablers of change. In this regard at one end of Europe, SPIN Unit is looking into what it would take for the city of Tallinn in Estonia to create a fully self-sufficient food system – including moving to a regional scale, changing diets and re-shaping behaviours. How to get there is a process of discovery that requires “disciplined pluralism,” laced with creativity and hyperlocal knowledge (see Urban Talk #5). On the other end of Europe, UNDP North Macedonia built a portfolio on circularity, by which it unlocked new partnerships, reframed questions and opened up new spaces for collaboration to rethink waste management (see Urban Talk #5).

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Cities are starting to reimagine themselves – exploring new economic models that are better balanced with nature, new forms of participation, and understanding more deeply how flows of people (e.g. refugees, internally displaced people, tourists, gig workers, etc.) are reshaping urban fabrics.

Curious to explore and learn how urban spaces are adapting in these ever changing conditions? See all the recordings and all the key insights from our Urban Talks series: innovation.eurasia.undp.org/urban-talks-series-summary-and-takeaways/.   

UNDP’s work on the application of systems thinking to urban transformation is supported by the European Commission and the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovakia. To learn more about our urban transformation work, see here, including our Mayors for Economic Growth Initiative in Eastern Partnership countries and the City Experiment Fund.

Illustration: Anina Takeff for Fine Acts

A personal reflection of the past year as the lead orchestrator for a joint EU & UNDP project called the Mayors for Economic Growth 

International development is for the most part executed through development projects. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is no exception, and since our beginning some 60 years ago we have developed an overall solid programme and project management practice.  

Yet, the rapid changes and increasing complexities of global and local issues around inequalities, global warming, participatory governance, and public crises and emergencies, question our understanding of linear transformation reflected in our project management.  

Many of us working in international development are becoming uncomfortable with presenting ourselves as ‘solution providers’ as if we know what the destination looks like and how to get there. For many of today’s complex challenges and the polycrisis we find ourselves in, we have no ‘best practice’ to lean on. 

The thinking that we might be losing relevance due to our projectized approach and how we as an organization are exploring and learning to apply strategic innovation for system change is gaining traction among leading innovation colleagues and senior management, and I would argue is a growing discussion across the organization and sector. 

At times, in order to alleviate the pain, we apply #linear approaches to the problem, which can cause unintended consequences. When we disconsider the whole #system the problems we face are involved in, these consequences come back to us.”

SI Network 

At a first glance, the Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG), a joint initiative with the European Union to support towns and cities in Eastern Partnership exploring new trajectories of growth, looks like a standard development project following the established rules and regulations, alongside the ongoing 4,500 projects within UNDP. But M4EG has another intention, that of being a sandbox to test what new handbooks in development could look like while embracing the radical uncertainty of our times.  

When we kicked M4EG off in 2021, we asked ourselves: if we accept that the world is complex and unpredictable, how can we inject ways to make our project management more agile, i.e., respond to issues, findings, and opportunities as they emerge? 

In some ways, the M4EG has an identity crisis, engaging in deep self-reflection. It straddles the existing frame and project approach, while riding towards what could emerge.   

Here are our key takeaways from a project management perspective. 

From the start, we designed M4EG for tolerance and adaptability to ensure timely responses and relevance. This flexibility allowed the project team to act faster and make many small and some larger changes over the first year of implementation, among which are: 

1. New mentoring programme for municipalities: We transformed the standard ‘call for proposals’ into a learning and mentoring journey called Urban Imaginaries Programme, based on a concept around Urban Makeover (vibrant communities + economic opportunities + innovative approaches) that has taken shape within our wider innovation team over the past years. This led to a partnership with the Centre for Public Impact, and the opportunity for 20 municipality teams to learn how to use and implement human-centered design with seed funds. 

2. New crisis reality in Ukraine and Moldova: The project quickly repurposed EUR 700,000 to support the new realities faced by our network members in Ukraine and Moldova. Consequently, the EU is topping up the existing funds with EUR 1.8m to form a M4EG-EU Response and Renewal Grant Programme to continue supporting municipalities that are currently occupied, at the frontlines, or hosting Ukrainians that are internally displaced or refugees in Moldova.  

3. Financing links: Knowing that one set of time-constrained project funds will not result in the system transformation we seek, it became evident that UNDP and the EU need to play a stronger role as a bridge and orchestrator for new funding opportunities and partnerships for local authorities. When an EU-led Team Europe initiative, including with International Financing Institutions (IFIs), was launched for the Syunik region in Armenia, the EU called for increased engagement with municipalities in that region. In response, M4EG embedded the largest municipality in the region in the Portfolio Journey programme (going hyperlocal to design and dynamically manage portfolios for system transformation). Simultaneously, to support more of the municipalities in the region, we are launching an accelerated Synch Programme for local economic development (LED) planning to kick start the design of bankable projects that can attract financing. 

4. From local economic development plans to SYNCH: To switch from linear local economic development planning, the existing LED process under the first phase of the M4EG took on a system lens approach and moved towards continuous and adaptive planning to better stay in synch with changing needs and factors. The first pilot with our partners at Ove Arup and Climate KIC is taking place in Baghdati, Georgia. 

5. Show and Tell platform: Intentional co-design of interventions is a new approach for most M4EG members and requires stamina, patience, and more time than pre-defined interventions. The 4 to 6 months-long design phase for the first cohort of 13 towns and cities called for a celebration and peer-to-peer exchange in the form of a regional visibility event at the mid-year turn.  

6. Embedding storytelling: In addition to introducing storytelling as an untapped skill for municipality teams to shape local narratives, it became necessary for a change-orientated initiative like the M4EG to come with a clear future-ready identity. A new attractive brand was co-designed with the EU, with an intentional push for implementation and communication to increasingly go hand-in-hand. So far, more than 200,000 people have been reached in the Eastern Partnership. 

The M4EG’s identity sits between being a discovery and learning journey for system transformation, and the UN development project frame for operational effectiveness and expenditure delivery as performance indicators.  

To rise above operationalization, our key starting point is not ‘how many workshops and providers are needed,’ but rather ‘what are the emerging needs and realities for our set intention for more sustainable, inclusive, vibrant communities, and how could we best support?’ 

The M4EG intends to be tolerant and responsive, with a mixture of the relaxed and the precise. It has so far allowed the donor, implementer, partners, and beneficiaries to add a bit of themselves, to help adapt and customize, to be partners in a mission. We see a donor bringing in new partners and exploring new avenues, mayors utilizing the optimistic and colorful M4EG brand to strengthen their local visions, technical partners interested in co-testing new tools and approaches, and UNDP colleagues across teams asking to join in what has become an invitation for change. As Charles Laundry shares in his book on shaping a creative bureaucracy: “Every [bureaucrat] has a vast storehouse of “discretionary” effort, [and] many more are waiting in the wings to contribute more”. 

Projects appear across today’s disciplines and is a taken for granted modus operandi for non-routine goals. International development is no exception and arguably has become shaped by a ‘project hegemony’. Could we test ourselves out of this universality? 

“Once we denaturalize the project form, we can more clearly imagine alternatives to it. If not every action or every vision for the future amounts to a project, then what else is there? What kinds of transformation might practices of radical care (Hobart and Kneese 2020) or of ‘staying with trouble’ (Haraway 2016) yield? Why don’t we choose to de-projectify some social environments, for example, to ask what work or development might look like without perpetual projects?” (2021, Andrew Graan, What was the project? Thoughts on genre and the project form) 

Background:  

In 2021 UNDP, together with the EU, launched the Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG), a regional initiative hosting a network of some 350 municipalities in the Eastern Partnership – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The M4EG’s intention is to demonstrate and inspire secondary cities’ new trajectories of growth to become more attractive and vibrant for people and financing.  

Local governments are at the forefront of change and opportunity – whether that is tackling climate change, addressing inequality, or attracting and retaining talent. Yet, faced with new and emerging challenges all the time, cities and towns must be able to listen to residents, innovate and reimagine their ways of working to effectively respond to a rapidly changing world. 

That’s why the Centre for Public Impact and the United Nations Development Programme are excited to be partnering on the Urban Imaginaries programme under the Mayors for Economic Growth, a joint initiative between the EU and UNDP. Urban Imaginaries is a 10-month initiative that is supporting cities across the Eastern Partnership to develop solutions to their most pressing challenges by applying Human Centered Design – a problem-solving approach which seeks to change the way governments approach challenges, by engaging citizens in the design of better – and more human – solutions.  

The Urban Imaginaries programme in numbers

4 key learnings for successfully engaging with residents

Through the first phase of the programme, we’ve helped local governments define their challenges. These have ranged from how to reinvigorate cultural life and make public spaces more accessible, through to how to tackle youth unemployment and improve transportation systems. As part of this, we’ve supported local governments to engage with residents and other key stakeholders in their system to develop a deeper understanding of their challenges by using methods like social listening and sensemaking exercises. This has provided ample opportunity for learning, and we’ve summarised four key tips for those in local government who want to work more closely with residents.  

• Engage in the process with a learning mindset: Engaging with residents in problem-solving can provide a powerful tool for local government teams to learn more and question their assumptions about the challenge they’re hoping to solve and the way it is impacting residents. By practicing an open, learning mindset, this can better unlock ideas for solutions, and help teams reimagine their relationships with residents. 
• Co-design solutions for – and with – residents: While listening to residents to better understand your challenge is the first step, it is important to also continuously engage residents and other key stakeholders in the entire process of designing solutions to emerging urban challenges. This is key to ensuring that city leaders effectively engage with residents and will help deliver greater impact by creating services that better meet the needs of residents. 
• Preparation is necessary to listen deeply: The art of listening well to your stakeholders can be learnt, and practiced. Preparing a tailored interview guide in advance, capturing insights as well as making time to collectively reflect on learnings acquired during those conversations are key. It is also important to remember to come in with an open mindset and avoid leading questions. 
• Foster values such as empathy, humility, openness and inclusivity: These are all important attributes for city leaders looking to transform how they engage with residents and build trust. 

A closer look at our cities and towns

Having concluded the discovery phase of the programme, we’re excited to share how the cohort have engaged residents, what they’ve learned and provide an update on their progress. 

Amplifying cultural life in Alaverdi (Armenia) and Tsqaltubo (Georgia) 

Arts and culture can change lives, but also have a valuable role to play in contributing to a city’s economy. The arts and cultural heritage of Alaverdi and Tsqaltubo is unmatched in the region. Post-pandemic, both cities want to reimagine and innovate their arts and cultural sector to enrich the lives of residents, create jobs and galvanise economic activity and creativity.

The city of Alaverdi is reimagining cultural life for young people, to create more dynamic and flourishing cultural spaces for the community. Traditionally, Alaverdi has been a centre of cultural life, hosting international festivals such as “Theater fest”, organised annually to honour renowned writers Hovhannes Humanyan and the great actor Sos Sargsyan. As part of this learning programme, Alaverdi has been working with the community to understand their ambitions, aspirations and hopes for this sector. Residents have reflected their desire to enhance the city’s cultural life, which will benefit locals, attract tourists, preserve the area’s rich cultural heritage, and also create new jobs – thereby addressing the issue of migration the region is facing. 

“I am surprised at the results of the interviews! It seems the residents are really keen to get involved and they have a MUCH bigger understanding of the issue. For instance, in our interviews with youth, we learnt that they are keen to get involved in the co-design of cultural activities and participate in educational programmes.”

Ms. Karine Simonyan, Local Economic Development Officer (LEDO), Alaverdi Community Administration

In Tsqaltubo, the pandemic highlighted the need for social interactions, especially among the young population. Now things are changing, and residents are keen to connect, “we are happy to meet each other in person” reported one student. In response to this, the city is focussing on transforming cultural spaces into places for cultural and social interaction between diverse groups.

They were initially looking at how to increase the capacity of the Museum of Niko Nikoladze, in the city’s central cultural hub. However, in-depth user research revealed that residents face transportation limitations which inhibits their ability to experience all the city has to offer. The city is now exploring how they might better link surrounding villages and towns to their local cultural hubs. By addressing these needs, Tsakltubo hopes to take gradual steps towards creating vibrant social and cultural spaces away from the capital, to improve the quality of life for local people and create the conditions for local and international tourism.

Designing inclusive public spaces in Poti (Georgia), Ashtarak and Charentsavan (Armenia)

Many of our cities are focussing on making public spaces more inclusive, accessible and beautiful – which are often a reflection of the values and identity of a city. Frequently, urban spaces are not designed for or with the most marginalised communities in mind. Similarly, urban spaces do not always drive opportunities for intergenerational engagement. Though young people are often described as ‘social glue’, high fences surround our schools, playgrounds are clearly demarcated, and at worst, design features can discourage teenagers from occupying certain spaces. Too often, we erect barriers that segregate different age groups. 

Our cities are changing this. Poti is concentrating on improving open spaces in the city – in particular its central park. The park was previously renovated, but without using a design thinking approach. As a result, the renovation was completed without taking into account the needs of residents. It was built in isolation from many stakeholders and the park now lacks the spaces that residents need for recreation and leisure. The city team is prioritising the inclusion of historically excluded communities as part of their engagement with residents, and some of the ideas emerging from their research include ways of making the park more accessible for disabled communities.

“[complexity informed design thinking methods] are very helpful, because it helps us to understand what others need and build our empathy muscles. We’ve understood the needs may change from one citizen to the other, and we found some needs that were expressed by citizens that we did not expect. For instance, we came to this process thinking some improvements to the park did not fit, and we’ve understood through the interviews that they actually do because they respond to a need expressed by citizens.”

Irakli Lejava, Deputy head of Sustainable Development and Innovation Service, Poti Municipality 

Using the lens of inclusion also means thinking about those who are furthest from the public spaces designed for them. Ashtarak is located in a mountainous region of Armenia, and the city was recently united with 7 neighbouring communities as part of an administrative change. Through Urban Imaginaries, Ashtarak is looking for ways to improve public transportation services between the communities. Currently, these are not well-developed and are impacting the mobility of residents. This includes farmers who find it difficult to sell their products, students who are isolated from universities, and socially vulnerable residents who cannot easily access important public services. By reimagining connectivity between the central city and the other parts of the community, the team hopes to promote economic development throughout the area. 

“There is an excitement for this challenge in some remote communities where public transport never existed before. The enthusiasm from our residents is really pleasing – we’re getting really good energy from them as they understand this process allows them to be part of the problem-solving. This work is quite extensive, it might take longer than what we thought, but I am certain this will allow us to get better outcomes. In 20 years, we had never listened to residents in this way, so now we need to make sure we’re up to the level and make sure we keep them updated”.

Nazeli Arsenyan, Member of Ashtarak Community Council 

Charentsavan, a small city in Armenia, was founded in the 1940s by the Soviet Government to accommodate workers at a nearby hydroelectric power plant. One key challenge they are facing is the city’s attractiveness. They are therefore exploring how they can reimagine the city’s public spaces to make it more attractive for both residents and visitors. Feedback from the community has been key in shaping a shared vision and plan for the future:

“By engaging with residents, the one thing that surprised us is that we concentrated too much on the central part of the city – leaving the entrance outside. We’ve now realised that the perception of the city starts from the entrance. Our assumption to focus on the central area may have had some emotional grounds as well, and we’ve now realised from our interviews that the entrance needs to be involved in our process.”

Ashot Tserunyan, Local Economic Development Officer (LEDO), Charentsavan Community Administration

Promoting healthy living in Samtredia, Georgia

In Samtredia, the city is aiming to reimagine their sports infrastructure to improve the health of residents and increase regional tourism. They are interested in reinvigorating facilities around the municipality swimming pool, which was functioning well before COVID-19 and is seen as a popular regional attraction. 

Through the programme, the city team was encouraged to go deeper to understand the health behaviours of their community. In doing so, they learned that residents are apprehensive about visiting public spaces as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, residents are also interested in continuing exercise habits outside of the swimming pool which they took up during lockdown. The city is now exploring ways to respond to this feedback. These include introducing electronic booking systems to increase user safety when using facilities, developing gym facilities, as well as making more sustainable and energy-efficient choices for the city by adopting solar energy.  

“Interviews revealed some needs and interesting insights. What was interesting is that we’ve changed our initial plan based on the insights collected. We started this process with a very narrow angle, but with your recommendation we opened up our view to better capture a diversity of views from the visitors. It’s not about what we [the city leaders] want, it’s about what residents need.”

Mr. Lasha Ormotsadze, Head of Coordination Office for Samtredia Mayor’s Representatives

Taking an ecosystem approach to youth unemployment in Rustavi, Georgia

Rustavi, in Georgia, chose to focus on tackling youth unemployment – often a chronic issue that is often difficult to solve. Unemployment in Rustavi is high (approximately 20-22%) and it is above the country average (18.1%).

The Rustavi team conducted research to better understand the opportunities and barriers in this space. Through interviews with residents, the city gained a greater understanding of how to narrow down this challenge. The findings highlighted that there is already a vast amount of activity underway to tackle youth unemployment. 

For example, they discovered numerous initiatives run by local business and civil society organisations. While well-intentioned, many are not scalable and disconnected from each other. Now, the municipal government is reimagining its role as a connector, convener and amplifier to help the ecosystem collaborate around a diversity of initiatives that seek to develop new skillsets in young people, make job searching easier and provide better career planning tools. This re-envisioning of the role of government with the communities it serves will help solidify and unify efforts across different stakeholders in the city.  

“Thinking about ‘for whom is this really a problem?’ helped us understand who the main stakeholders are in the system around our problem. Our end users are of course the young people – but also the municipality and the local organisations and NGOs that are already supporting young people in the city. We’ve understood that our role is also to enhance the strength and great work local organisations are already doing to tackle youth unemployment. We need to engage them in our journey.”

Michael Lobjanidze, Strategic Development Manager of the Center for Artistic, Sports and Youth Development, Rustavi

Improving waste management in Cahul and Calarasi (Moldova)

Calarasi and Cahul are concentrating on challenges surrounding waste management, a key priority in their cities. Waste management infrastructure can be a critical piece of the urban identity puzzle and both city teams are working to better understand the nature of the problems their communities are facing. For example, in both cities the waste collection sites come with a multitude of challenges – they are not contained, attract stray animals, are not well lit and do not offer the opportunity for residents to recycle waste. Furthermore, collection times are often irregular and unreliable leaving the waste sites in disarray. 

By conducting user research and deep listening, they were able to better understand and prioritise the waste management challenges that each city is facing. 

“For us, the process was to learn the methodology and understand how we can put ourselves in the shoes of people. This project helped us understand that we can do things differently – we spoke with those who are in charge of waste management, we spoke to young people, to various people – this helped us understand the problem from various points of view.”

Lilia Rata, Investment Attraction Specialist, City Hall of Călărași

As a result of this work, both cities are able to design more relevant solutions that actually solve citizen needs, improve waste management and collection services, as well as consider environmental sustainability. In Calarasi, one of the ideas they will be exploring is a service that enables residents to share second hand goods with the community, to avoid waste and blockages in the waste management system.

What’s next? 

The next phase of the Urban Imaginaries programme has involved working with cities to support them to experiment, and test and learn from their proposed solutions. We look forward to sharing more about what we’ve learned with cities in the experimentation phase soon!

Background:

The Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG) Facility is part of the M4EG initiative, launched and funded by the European Union since 2017. The M4EG Facility is run by UNDP, starting from 2021, in close cooperation with the EU, local authorities and a range of other partners. www.eum4eg.com 

For media and other enquiries for UNDP/M4EG:

Anton Sydorenko, M4EG Communications Lead, anton.sydorenko@undp.org 

Tina Stoum, M4EG Regional Lead, tina.stoum@undp.org 

Reposted from Center for Public Impact.