Amongst the middle-sized cities in Germany, Mannheim has by far the highest\u00a0level of cultural diversity<\/strong>. This imposes a challenge, as well as enriches the city. Furthermore, the city is characterized by its strong\u00a0industrial sector<\/strong>\u00a0and, therefore, by a constant call for\u00a0innovation<\/strong>. This could play out well for Mannheim: according to the economist\u00a0Richard Florida<\/strong>,\u00a0talent, technology, and tolerance (3Ts approach)<\/strong>\u00a0are key to the success of cities. As those 3Ts do not easily fall from heaven, a well-working strategy is obligatory for long-term success.<\/p>\n By using the\u00a017 SDGs<\/strong>\u00a0as guiding principles, the City of Mannheim included suggestions and opinions from more than 2,500 citizens to develop seven key objectives for the\u00a0strategy \u00a0Mannheim\u00b2 2030<\/a>:<\/p>\n In a world shaped by\u00a0VUCA<\/strong>\u00a0(volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity), strategy development is a difficult task to undertake. Focussing on the newly introduced\u00a0strategy \u00a0Mannheim\u00b2 2030<\/a>, I talked with Christian H\u00fcbel, Mannheim\u2019s strategic manager about the\u00a0difficulties in city strategy development<\/strong>\u00a0and on the approach to\u00a0international engagement<\/strong>\u00a0at the local level.<\/p>\n Which process did you use to develop the strategy?<\/strong><\/p>\n We knew that it was crucial for the success of the strategy, which has been developed by the use of a participation process, that results must follow expeditiously. As shown in the experiences from other cities, people get unsatisfied when prompt results are not at hand. So what we did first is to set up a process. We\u00a0discussed strategic issues with employees in other cities\u00a0<\/strong>to learn from their experiences.<\/p>\n We set up strategy teams with stakeholders from politics, economy, and academia. We started\u00a0internal workshops for each department<\/strong>\u00a0to define key objectives, and we\u00a0determined key performance indicators<\/strong>\u00a0which we assigned to specific targets. We installed a strategic management system, which implemented the strategy into the budget plan of the municipality and the daily businesses of the departments.<\/p>\n This wasn\u00b4t easy. When the departments presented their objectives to one and another, what became apparent to all is that some targets were opposing. We then were able to discuss if there existed good reasons for (partly) opposing targets, or if we could\u00a0bring some of them in line with each other<\/strong>. This regular process of goal development and strategy conformity has been optimized in the last four\u00a0double budgets<\/a>.\u00a0 Once the strategic management system was in place, we were able to develop the new strategy in a broad participation process that could immediately reflect it in the budget plan.<\/p>\n While we all want to achieve the SDGs, the cities are the crucial area to do so. More than half of the world\u2019s population lives in cities, and about 80% of the GDP is raised in urban areas, but also about 75% of the CO2 emissions arise there. This is why we were convinced that we would need to localize the SDGs to Mannheim. Following the internal work and discussions in the strategy process, we gathered\u00a0ideas from the citizens<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The 17 SDGs from the United Nations worked here as a framework that we used to give citizens modules to think in for engaging in the strategy development process. First, city-workers asked citizens about\u00a0city-related issues at large regional events<\/strong>. After that, people were randomly selected and invited to open workshops. We\u00a0achieved response rates of 6-12%;<\/strong>\u00a0in addition, a large number of people wrote letters to explain the reason for their absence, which we did not include in the response rates.<\/p>\n Which feedback did your strategy get internally and externally?<\/strong><\/p>\n Internally and externally, we first faced a lot of\u00a0skepticism<\/strong>\u00a0when we started with strategic management in 2010 and with the intent of developing a far-reaching strategy. But with time, we gained\u00a0acceptance,<\/strong>\u00a0and with acceptance came\u00a0success.\u00a0<\/strong>The plan is now widely embraced. The broad backing of the local council undoubtedly helped. And \u2013most importantly \u2013 the Mayor was always a frontrunner. There was an overwhelming agreement that in a progressive strategy, it was important to pursue\u00a0evidence-based policies<\/strong>\u00a0instead of those which are mainly shaped by ideology.<\/p>\n The SDG\u2019s work internally and externally and also as a good\u00a0marketing instrument<\/strong>. They are easy to understand as everyone can relate the goals to their personal lives and identify with at least some of them (No Poverty, Gender Equality, Decent Work, Climate Action, etc.). Using them emphasizes the\u00a0importance of involving people\u2019s daily concerns<\/strong>\u00a0to guarantee improvements in the 17 SDGs. This also improved the acceptance of the strategy. The difficulty in localizing global charters is adapting them to the needs of the city without losing their contribution at the global level.<\/p>\n Which is the biggest challenge to the implementation of the strategy?<\/strong><\/p>\n Internal change management is always a huge challenge. As it is in the case of most larger organizations, departments tend to develop some kind of\u00a0silo mentality<\/strong>. This can be best tackled when you explain and discuss \u2013 also controversial \u2013 the longtime need and success of the strategy. You have to convince those involved in the implementation that it will ensure the sustainable future of the city and its inhabitants. You must not give the impression that this is purely a matter of controlling or monitoring!<\/p>\n Moreover, in Germany, we had no\u00a0impact-oriented steering<\/strong>\u00a0for a long time. Our steering instruments were focussing on inputs. For example, the agency for regional business development counted calls instead of companies that were able to establish themselves in the market. We, therefore, introduced key performance indicators with a stronger impact-orientation.<\/p>\n In the long run, the challenge is to permanently reflect on your strategy and regularly rethink the objectives you agreed upon. Developing a general strategy is also about the\u00a0bigger picture<\/strong>\u00a0to maximize total utility even if that can sometimes be at the expense of specific fields.<\/p>\n What diplomatic relationships with other cities does Mannheim maintain?<\/strong><\/p>\n For Peter Kurz as Mayor of Mannheim, it was very important to improve Mannheim\u2019s international engagement. When he assumed office, partnerships with other cities<\/strong>\u00a0were set up according to their strategic relevance and not solely because of the chance for student and cultural exchanges. Very early, we used partnerships for city-to-city learning.<\/p>\n Involvement in international networks was fostered as strategic partnerships can help in difficult situations. By way of illustration, we have two city partnerships with Chinese cities that provided us with masks in the wake of the\u00a0corona crisis<\/strong>. Those\u00a0international networks<\/strong>\u00a0give us a chance to gather know-how from others, acquire funds, and set up our own topics on the agendas of international city-communities. Examples of international involvement are the\u00a0UNESCO Cities of Music<\/strong>\u00a0Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0EUROCITIES network<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Another important network Mannheim participates in is the\u00a0Global Parliament of Mayors<\/strong><\/a>. Initiated and in conjunction with the political scientist Benjamin R. Barber who died in 2017, Mannheim is a founding member of this network, which was established in 2016. With them, we think about how local politics, topics, and needs can be represented on the global level.<\/p>\n Find more about city strategies:\u00a0<\/strong>Have a look at our talks with officials from\u00a0Helsinki<\/a>,\u00a0Eindhoven<\/a>,\u00a0Bochum<\/a>, and Z\u00fcrich\u00a0to find out more about\u00a0city strategies<\/strong>\u00a0in the face of\u00a0global competition.<\/strong><\/p>\n","excerpt":" Broad participation and international engagement Key to Mannheim\u2019s straightforward strategy is the United Nation\u2019s 17\u00a0Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They lay […]<\/p>\n","thumbnail":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/05\/15_gro\u00df.jpg","thumbnailsquare":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2020\/05\/15_gro\u00df.jpg","authors":[{"id":23763,"name":"Markus Overdiek","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/de\/blogger\/markus-overdiek\/"}],"categories":[{"id":152,"name":"Globalization","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/category\/globalization\/"}],"tags":[{"id":175,"name":"globalization","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/tag\/globalization\/"}]}\n
A talk on Mannheim\u2019s strategic approach<\/h2>\n
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Foto Thomas Troester<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n![\"Mannheim\"](\"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/TT_Tag2UrbanThinker_72.jpg\")
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Foto Thomas Troester<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n