Powerhouse Award 2019

Congratulations to the cities of Essen (Germany) and Changzhou (Jiangsu Province, China) who are our URBAN-EU-CHINA Powerhouse Competition Award Winners 2019! 

Following our in-depth investigation into some best examples of Europe – China city-level cooperation on sustainable urban development, we identified the Essen-Changzhou city-city partnership as a superb example of an ambitious, well-planned and well-managed partnership.

The Essen-Changzhou city-city partnership was established in 2012 and they are working together in a range of areas including urban planning and design, city construction, green buildings, education and geriatric care.

The development of the ‘Sino-German Innovation Park’ was announced at the high level China-EU Partnership on Urbanisation Forum in Beijing in 2013 with Premier Li Keqiang and President José Manuel Durão Barroso and was officially opened in 2015 in Changzhou. The Sino-German Innovation Park focuses on Europe-China cooperation in urbanisation, low-carbon cities and innovation and was selected as one of the four key demonstration projects by China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the EU Delegation to China in 2016.

Other city-city activities include the development of the joint venture ‘Sino-German (Changzhou) Innovation Design Centre Co, Ltd.’ which was founded Koschany + Zimmer Architekten (KZA) and the China Design Group Co., Ltd, the co-organisation of Sino-German Summer Studios on Sustainable Urban Development that provides German and Chinese students with opportunities to go on exchange and learn more about the practical implement of urban planning projects, and the Sino-German Geriatric Conference in Essen was organised by the German-Chinese Economic Association (DCW), together with the Essen Economic Development Agency (EEC) to exchange information and share experiences about caregiving, geriatric care and the care facilities and training in China and Germany.
The Essen-Changzhou city-city partnership is well managed by their local city councils with regular exchanges of its citizens and government-led delegations to deepen mutual understandings and the signings of agreements to explore new cooperation opportunities.

Essen and Changzhou are the second winners of the URBAN-EU-CHINA Powerhouse Competition Award. For more information about the 2018 URBAN-EU-CHINA Powerhouse Competition and our winners Manchester (UK) and Wuhan (Hubei Province, China), please follow the link
https://www.urbaneuchina.eu/en/zhongouchuangxinchengshijiangzaijingbanfa-oumengkeyanchuangxinzongsisichangchuxi/