Transforming cities

Possible pressure points you are experiencing:

• Governance: You can't align city governance with your key challenges because of institutional inertia, and other external challenges.
• Missions: You can't harness the value of missions because you have inherited century-old structures that don't facilitate collaboration and collective learning.
• Collaborations and multi-level governance: You can't build meaningful collaborations between your city and other stakeholders.

There are ways forward.

See, for example:

• NetZeroCities: In this Horizon-funded programme, we are helping 112 cities in Europe to become climate-neutral by 2030.
• Sustainability Governance in the City of Tallinn: In collaboration with the City of Tallinn, we developed the concept of sustainability governance and how cities can grow the capabilities and structures to lead sustainable transformation.
• Mayors for Economic Growth (M4EG): We worked with the UNDP to support raising the ambition of cities in achieving sustainable growth and integrating innovation spaces into the fabric of city governance.

Possible pressure points you are experiencing:

• Vision: Your vision far outlasts electoral cycles, and there are many competing interests.
• Strategy: You want to make sure your city's strategy is sustainable, inclusive, and equitable.
• Democracy: You want to connect with your city's residents and understand the importance of integrating their perspectives, so your city can thrive.
• Sustainability: You need to embed sustainability in all of your practices — including your strategy — but you don't know where to start.

These are some of the things we can help with!

See, for example, our work in:

• CommuniCity. We facilitate the European-wide CommuniCity project by designing and testing inclusive co-creation methods to engage hard-to-reach communities in solving urban challenges across Europe.
• Solving clusters of challenges in sustainable city transitions. We supported sustainable urban transitions by helping Finnish cities identify challenges, develop strategies, and implement solutions for more sustainable and resilient urban environments.
• KESTO. We co-developed and tested replicable strategic leadership models to support Finnish municipalities to operationalising city-specific SDG goals in a cross-sectoral manner.
• BEMINE. We developed urban mobility and accessibility solutions, supporting municipalities to create strategies for better-connected regions in Finland.

Possible pressure points you are experiencing:

• Skills and capacities. Formal training focuses too much on hard skills, actually failing to build skills for more long-term and collaborative governance.
• Embedding innovation. Your city's approach to innovation is hindered by governance challenges.

Well, you cannot find people more passionate about this than us.

See, for example, our work in:

• Training Latvian policy planners. We trained Latvian policy planners to integrate foresight and future-oriented approaches into policymaking, enhancing their capacity to address long-term challenges and opportunities.
• Building capacities for anticipatory policymaking in North Macedonia. We provided training on anticipatory policymaking to equip policymakers with tools and methodologies for addressing future challenges and creating resilient, forward-thinking policies.
• Training future leaders in the Finnish civil service. We trained future leaders in the Finnish civil service to strengthen their capabilities in foresight, systems thinking, and innovative policymaking to address complex societal challenges.
• Training agile leaders in Bahrain. We designed and delivered a training programme for Bahraini public sector leaders, equipping them with agile leadership skills to navigate complex challenges and drive transformative governance.

Possible pressure points you are experiencing:

• Affordable housing. You struggle to find a way to keep housing prices low while also incentivising development.
• Construction. Your development plans clash with sustainability goals, and you don't know how to embed circularity in construction.
• Strategic knowledge. Beyond smart data, you don't know what your residents and stakeholders need.
• Mobility. You don't know how to embed innovation in a sector that greatly impacts your city's emissions.

We understand; we talk to many city leaders experiencing exactly the same pressures.

See, for example, our work in:

• Housing first. We developed a new systems perspective on Finland's successful Housing First model, highlighting lessons for other countries aiming to address homelessness through sustainable and systemic policy approaches.
• Humble Timber. We convened a cross-sector alliance in Finland to identify bottlenecks and solutions for advancing timber construction, resulting in actionable strategies to accelerate sustainable building practices.
• REALLOCATE. With our partners, we explore innovative ways to shift towards more sustainable and inclusive mobility systems in Europe by rethinking how transport resources are shared, allocated, and utilised across communities.
• C40 Cities. C40 Cities connects nearly 100 of the world's leading cities to take bold climate action, sharing knowledge, driving collaboration, and delivering impactful solutions to address the global climate crisis.