Is Berlin a „green” city? What projects, places and people are contributing to a sustainable future for the German capital? In the search for answers to these questions, filmmakers Kika Yang and Randolfe Camarotto, set-out to produce a video walk. The project was a cooperation between CITYMAKERS and the Sino-German Urbanisation Partnership implemented by the GIZ.
Be it in China or Europe, the ability to create communities (both spatial and social) is the ‘currency’ that lies at the heart of livable cities. Five years after the development of the CITYMAKERS China-Europe program, an ecosystem of places and spaces for the exchange and testing of new models of livable cities has emerged across cultural, disciplinary and national boundaries.The Global Village Map shows this ecosystem – a snapshot of projects, places and spaces where most activities happened in the CITYMAKERS program during 2015 and 2020.
5 years of project funding by CITYMAKERS co-initiator, the Robert Bosch Foundation, are coming to an end this autumn. Better than ‘singing the blues’ we decided to happily celebrated a rich ‘harvest’ of results, true to the motto of ‘Keep Talking, Keep Walking, Keep Thinking.’ – Watch the 5-Year-Special-Video, get the CITYMAKERS Global Village Postcard, read the special interview-series, and have a look of how lucky we were to celebrate life in Berlin.
Das multimediale Wechselspiel von Keep Wuhan Walking – bestehend aus Audio-Atmosphären, Reportagen, Essays und wissenschaftlichen Einordnungen – führt die Flanierenden digital durch Wuhan – ob vor dem Bildschirm, im Lesesessel oder unterwegs über Kopfhörer.
The multimedia interplay of Keep Wuhan Keep Online Magazine – consisting of audio atmospheres, video impressions, reports, essays and scientific writings – guides you as strollers through Wuhan digitally – in front of the screen at home or on site in Wuhan.
The CITYMAKERS Virtual Walks Project investigates fundamental themes of life in cities and on the countryside that are as relevant for people living in China as for those living in Berlin or any other European city. 20 people have taken part and created amazing video walks! Watch them here!
Between September 1–18, 2020, 45 people from the CITYMAKERS community responded to the invitation to form a virtual circle, a chain of CITYMAKERS voices. What a kaleidoscope of competences on the virtual stage, ranging from high-profile academics to hands-on urban farmers, from art curators and activists to municipal intrapreneurs!
The CITYMAKERS China-Europe program – as of Sept 2020 – has evolved from a project consisting of two initiating partners to a network constellation of diverse actors on various levels with several sub-projects. Be inspired by the long list knowledgeable, prestigious, creative, dedicated, committed, wise, diverse, trusting, kind and unique partners we had the pleasure to work with!
The STADTMACHER-Koffer is a toolkit designed by CITYMAKERS to deepen the dialogue between city-making enthusiasts from Europe and China – as well as all people who are interested in the topic of liveable cities in the Chinese-European context.
Social Entrepreneurship meets City-Making: How to move from idea to reality? From project to long-term sustainable business models? Key questions for those who want to really MAKE a difference and create impact. One line of activities within the CITYMAKERS Program was built around social entrepreneurship capacity building. Read here about our learning journey in this field, and on the 4 project cases by peers from the CITYMAKERS community.
Our Community-Voting has decided. These are the eight winners of the CITYMAKERS Virtual-Walk Project. Congratulations! They have one these unique souvenirs…
In this interview Knut Wimberger – systemic thinker and social entrepreneur, who has lived in China for 20 years – talks with us about current challenges of society, the social entrepreneurship ecosystem and his vision for the future of living.
When looking for an expert on the combined topics of environment, education and China, the name Dr. Eva Sternfeld 艾娃博士 pops up at the top of the list. CITYMAKERS has the good fortune of regularly counting Eva among the experts and partners in its network, where she was involved in the focus group “Urban Farming”. While Eva spent her time in quarantine in Qingdao earlier this month, we took the chance to interview her again.
Eve Nagel works as a Project Manager for the Robert Bosch Stiftung, in the program area International Understanding and Cooperation. In this interview, she reflects on the progress the CITYMAKERS network has made over the years – and adds her ideas on for where the journey could be further headed.
Die Landschaft der Stakeholder in der deutsch-chinesischen Urbanisierungs- kooperation ist dicht. Nicht immer per se nur des Kooperierens wegen macht kooperieren Sinn, aber manchmal “liegt es auf der Hand”, die Ressourcen zu bündeln, vor allem dann, wenn Ziele und Zielgruppen ähnlich sind. So im Falle von URBANIXX und STADTMACHER. Für Herbst 2020 haben wir uns einen gemeinsamen Workshop vorgenommen.
2014 kam eine Vorhut von Stadtmachern in den Genuss eines Spaziergangs mit Dr. Eduard Kögel, der uns der Suche nach der Vision der lebenswerten Stadt durch das Märkische Viertel führte. Anlässlich des CITYMAKERS-Virtual Walk Projektes, der Aktualität des Themas, und nicht zuletzt aus “Stadtmacher-Freundschaft” mit Eduard Kögel, der uns in diesem Projekt immer wieder begleitet hat, haben wir diese Erinnerung noch einmal “hervorgeholt”.
Song Qun is an architect, artist and curator from Xian, the founder of “Bendi 本地- Local Life”, a 3,000 sqm large cultural space for the contemporary presentation of “Urban Memory”. His approach is beyond mainstream understanding of heritage in China, advocating for cultural memory as the story of everyday life of people and their objects. What impressed him most in Berlin was the Jewish Museum. “The openness of Berliners towards the history of their city is admirable, and I learned a lot from the fact that each museum is writing the history of the city in its own way.”
Was für eine Stadt ist Wuhan? Auf diese Frage eine Antwort zu geben, ist nicht leicht, andererseits gibt es aber auch sehr viele Antworten. Ist sie das Zentrum Chinas? Ein historisch bedeutender Ort? Eine strategische Industriebasis? Eine Stadt am Wasser, von der Schifffahrt geprägt? Das Chicago des Ostens? Eine äußerst populistische Stadt? Chinas größte Provinzstadt? Heimat der heißen Gǎnmiàn-Nudeln? Ursprung von Flüchen mit Lokalkolorit? Chinas heimliche Hauptstadt des Punks?
Die globale Epidemie Covid-19 hat mit Wuhan als vermutlichem Ursprungsort eine Stadt ins Zentrum des weltweiten Interesses gestellt, deren bedeutende Stellung im globalen kosmopolitischen Städtegeflecht des frühen 20. Jahrhundert im Westen nahezu in Vergessenheit geraten ist.
Zum Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts hatten die drei Städte Hankou, Hanyang und Wuchang – die heute Wuhan bilden – geteilt durch die Flüsse Jangtse und Han, zusammen mehr als eine Millionen Einwohner. Da Seeschiffe über den Jangtse bis weit ins Landesinnere fahren konnten, war der Ort prädestiniert für den Handel.
Die beiden bedeutendsten, erhaltenen Gebäude der ehemaligen deutschen Konzession werden inzwischen als Museen genutzt. Das ehemalige Konsulat übernimmt dabei als Museum der heutigen Partnerstädte eine Brückenfunktion zwischen Wuhan und der Welt.