7th Stuttgart Forum for Development – ​​“Global Cities of Tomorrow” on October 9th in the Haus der Wirtschaft

The usual brand in a new guise - a description that applies well to this year's Stuttgart Forum for Development (SFE) with the title: "Global Cities of Tomorrow - Seeing the opportunities of the crisis together and making communities more sustainable globally". The conference of the Baden-Württemberg Development Cooperation Foundation (SEZ), which takes place every two years, takes place as usual in the autumn in the Haus der Wirtschaft in Stuttgart and for the fourth time in cooperation with the service center for municipalities in the one world of Engagement Global, However, it is more target group-specific, smaller due to corona and methodically reoriented.

This year, the focus is on municipalities. They are among the most important players in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In a total of four design thinking workshops on October 9th, the participants will address the topics of digitalization and municipal development policy, economics and municipal development policy, sustainable procurement in the municipality as well Thinking about culture and local development policy together. The method used aims to pursue creative and innovative approaches. True to the motto: it doesn't work, it doesn't exist.

Dr. will provide the necessary impetus for workshop work. Chirine Etezadzadeh, founder and director of SmartCity.institute. Every day she deals with how municipalities have to change and adapt in order to be able to assume their global responsibility locally and across thematic areas.

The 7th Stuttgart Forum for Development is the first in-person event organized by the Baden-Württemberg Development Cooperation Foundation (SEZ) since the beginning of the Corona crisis. However, it is possible to participate in parts of the event digitally. “A partial hybrid event, so to speak,” says Philipp Keil, Managing Director of the SEZ. “We want to offer further opportunities to participate in the conference and at the same time take advantage of the digital opportunities that the pandemic has pointed out to us. Because it is now time to initiate and accept changes, especially in the municipalities, which is why we will focus on them in particular in this forum.”