Interdisciplinary support of municipalities in the digital transformation

On 7 November 2018 the German Association for Housing, Urban and Spatial Development together with six other organisations established the cooperation "Digital Cities and Regions". The cooperation aims to support municipalities and municipal companies in their process of digital transformation as a part of urban development. For electromobility, smart homes, digital reservation systems and online shopping show the extent to which our lives have been digitalised already. Even though there are many initiatives dealing with digitalisation and "smart cities" today, non of them pursues an integrated approach and shows different perspectives.

The cooperation aims to close this gap. The main issue in the next ten years is to provide municipalities and cities with suitable and adaptable solutions in dealing with digitalisation. Furthermore, the establishment of a federal action programme to support the transformation process is suggested.

Municipal level is crucial

A digitalisation in the fild of spatial development opens new and creative possibilities to deal with challanges such as climate change, the transition to the usage of clean energy, economy or demographic change and livelihood security. In order to be successful in this transition process the minicipal level is crucial. The cooperation supports the municipalities in their effort. Their work is partly based on the recommendations from the „Smart City Charta“ by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety in 2017. To support municipalities and cities financially, the cooperation calls on the federal government to establish a federal action programme "Digital Cities and Regions".

Exchange of experiences and consulting

This programme shall help the municipalities to establish the exchange of experiences among each other and bundle different approaches in dealing with the transformation process. In addition the associations recommend the introduction of a practice-orientated political and municipal consulting for relevant departments in the field of urban development. This way the municipal competences will be expanded and an equal partnership with the private sector will be possible. Parallel to the european approach the cooperation also recommends a diverse range of financial support for the municipalities such as funds or subsidies on a national level. These funds can help the municipalities to implement their integrated approaches and ensure a professional support.

To ensure a continuous dialog an independant communication interface between politics, municipalities, industry and research shall to be established. The associations recommend to the work of the federal action programme "Digital Cities and Regions" to be cross-departmentally.

The associations offer support

The cooperation "Digital Cities and Regions" offers its help to the federal government in establishing the federal action programme "Digital Cities and Regions". The federal government can benefit from the experience and expertise of the associations and networks.