Solving urban challenges together

Every day cities are addressing multiple pressing challenges: sustainable mobility, resilience, various social challenges, energy transition, and climate change (flood prevention, heat, and drought) to name a few. Those are not free-standing issues, and this is, therefore, necessary to act on them using a multidisciplinary approach. Urban researchers and practitioners admit that collaboration between local/regional governments, the private sector, academia, and civil society is becoming essential. This round table was the first event in what will hopefully be a fruitful collaboration between Global Compact Network Netherlands and CLOSER CITIES. 

Key questions

During the round table, the following questions were addressed: How can cities make better use of urban knowledge the private sector has developed over the years to create more sustainable and livable cities? What are barriers and boosts, when it comes to urban knowledge sharing between the public and private sector? And how to increase the mutual responsibility for urban challenges and optimize the knowledge sharing process between a civil servant and an entrepreneur? To find answers to these questions a multiplicity of actors were invited to discuss their own experience on the basis of three cases. 

The round table began with a short introduction by the representatives of both Global Compact Network Netherlands and CLOSER CITIES, followed by three presentations of cases by Arcadis, the municipality of Leeuwarden and Witteveen+Bos, moderated by Eva Rood (of Erasmus School of Management). These talks were followed by three separate breakout rooms with 5-6 people. The discussions there were led by questions provided by the case submitters and moderated by participating moderators. The participants were divided over the breakout rooms so that there would be an even distribution of different types of actors in each discussion.

It was a closed event, meaning that the invitees were composed of members of Global Compact Network Netherlands and partners and connections of CLOSER CITIES. 

Main insights from the Arcadis case

The following questions were asked by Arcadis: 

• Innovation needs both time and space: which specific context would work well as a testbed for further research and practical experience to build a coalition? 
• What is the best level of scale to build our coalitions on? 
• Which soft and hard skills ensure the right base for collaboration?

The speed of innovation partly depends on the scale a business or organization is operating. It is important to start testing locally, on a smaller scale. Testing an idea in one city does not automatically mean it results in similar outcomes in another city. Pilots in different and larger cities are therefore recommended, taking into account the goal of scaling up. Another important element is laying focus on knowledge sharing to invite all kinds of actors to think along. However, within the circular economy, government regulations can hold back implementing innovation on a larger scale and slow down the overall implementation process. This has to do with the fact that regulations regarding the safety or health-being of certain products are often not up to standard, and therefore a product can easily be determined by the government laws as unsafe.

Personal interest is crucial for ensuring the right base for collaboration, especially within startups or the scale-up field. People with intrinsic motivation are the ones who connect the dots in an ecosystem. From a municipality's perspective, having someone that speaks the language of businesses and can easily put themselves in someone else’s shoes, is another valuable soft skill. In short, having connections is a key component for establishing the right base for collaboration.

Main insights based on discussing the Leeuwarden case

The city of Leeuwarden asked the following questions: 

• How can we as a municipality truly partner with multinationals to create change? 
• How can we measure the impact of the projects and initiatives that we already undertake?

Barriers to finding partnerships for change come both from our colleagues in the legal and procurement departments (who aren’t as familiar with sustainability), and from those we choose to collaborate with, politically speaking (MNEs, NGOs, or startups). Referring to Arcadis’ concept of involving a broad range of stakeholders in the pre-competitive state, it is best to involve everyone in the process early on, but mostly as listeners. This way, we don’t block progress because of legal or political risk. Later on, we can integrate them into the process, and they will all be up-to-date. SDGs are nonpolitical: everyone has agreed on them. Hopefully, initiatives like Global Contact and CLOSER CITIES can be the super connectors in these conversations to make sure that the right people are at the table in this pre-competitive stage.

Main insights while discussing the Witteveen+Bos case

In this breakout-session, the focus was on the following questions: 

• How can the triple helix strengthen each other to catalyze sustainability? 
• And what could be barriers when it comes to effective collaboration in the city?

During the discussion it became clear that trust is pivotal if we want to develop effective triple-helix collaboration. The same is true for communication: this requires good attention, while working together with different types of parties. When you come from different backgrounds, as is the case in the triple and quadruple helix, not everyone speaks the same language due to different organizational cultures. It was suggested that the SDGs provide a common language that can be fitted into each organizational structure so that bridges can be built quicker and more easily. If the private sector and local governments use the common language the SDGs provide and if researchers support this process by translating scientifically substantiated information into pragmatic action, this could certainly build bridges. The focus will be more on ‘what is in it for all of us’ instead of ‘what is in it for me’.

Based on the valuable discussions and enthusiasm by the participants, a follow-up meeting will be planned in the Fall of 2021. Topics could include further analysis of the SDGs as common language, CSR policies related to solidarity and the involvement in urban topics by the private sector. 

About the organizers

The Global Compact Network is a UN initiative aimed at mobilising a local movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders with the intention of improving the lives of future generations.

The CLOSER CITIES initiative (co-founded by Vital Cities and Citizens) is all about science for sustainable urban development carried out by constant interaction between urban science and urban practice.