Impact of learning city networks on multi-level urban development and transformation processes

Abstract

Learning city networks are real-time laboratories related to national and local urban development policies. In order to support learning city networks, the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) together with the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and partner cities have developed and further enhanced the multi-level D4UC (Dialogues for Urban Change) Method since 2012. This method makes an international exchange on the specificities of urban transformation processes, based on purposeful projects, possible for participating cities. The article discusses methods and lessons learned and is framed within a theoretical background of learning networks.