On September 14th and 15th, experts and interested parties from the urban development scene came together for the 15th time at the Federal Congress on National Urban Development Policy. Over 1200 representatives from politics, administration, science, planning practice and civil society took part in the event and exchanged views on current urban development issues.

In his opening speech, Rolf Bösinger, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building, emphasised the importance of an independent ministry for coordinating the numerous challenges that urban development will face in the future.

Opening Dr. Rolf Bösinger Source: BMWSB/nürnberger.de

Later in the evening, Cansel Kiziltepe, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building, awarded the Federal City-Green Prize 2022. From 20 nominations, five prizes and four recognitions for climate-adapted city green areas were selected and awarded. The award winners reported on how they manage to bring more greenery into the city despite all the competition for space.

Federal City-Green Prize-Award 2022 with Cansel Kiziltepe, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building Source: BMWSB/nürnberger.de

Klara Geywitz, Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Construction, also confirmed the ministry's role as a reliable partner for urban development and reported on the ministerial meeting on sustainable urban development of the G7 Group of Seven states.

Klara Geywitz, Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Construction Source: BMWSB/nürnberger.de

Toshiyuki Hayashi, Vice Minister in the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and participant in the G7 meeting, spoke about the current situation regarding urban development in Japan and announced that Japan will also continue the topic of urban development during its G7 presidency in 2023.

Toshiyuki Hayashi, Vizeminister im japanischen Ministerium für Land, Infrastruktur, Transport und Tourismus Source: BMWSB/nürnberger.de

Ms. Maimunah Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, emphasised that the communiqué adopted at the G7 is a reinforcement of the New Leipzig Charter and that the UN-Habitat will focus on making cities more resilient in the coming years.

Maimunah Mohd Sharif Source: BMWSB/nürnberger.de

How this can happen was also discussed intensively and sometimes controversially among the participants over the two days, but certainly from very different perspectives. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Schellnhuber in his speech stressed the urgency of consistently sustainable action in urban development and emphasised that sustainability is the central issue of our time.

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber Source: BMWSB/nürnberger.de

In a total of 13 individual events, specialist topics such as health, smart city and international urban development were discussed intensively.
On Friday, visitors could take part in excursions in small groups and visit urban development projects in Berlin. The program included the former airports Tegel and Tempelhof, the “Dragoner-Areal” and the House of Statistics.

Further information and a selection of videos from the congress can be found here:
To the Media Library (only in german)
The Central Forum: The Federal Congress