This report is the outcome of a two-year collaboration between the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the Programme of Work of the Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC), and the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) led by Pilar Garrido, Director, as part of the Programme of Work of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The project was funded by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and implemented in co-operation with the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) of Engagement Global.
The project and the underlying policy dialogue were managed by Stefano Marta, Head of the Smart and Sustainable Cities Unit, CFE, under the supervision of Aziza Akhmouch, Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division, and Soo-Jin Kim, Deputy Head of Division, CFE. The report was drafted by a team composed of Lorenz Gross (Chapters 1, 3, 5 and 6), Policy Analyst, CFE, and Marcos Díaz Ramírez (1, 2, 4, and 6), Economist, CFE, under the supervision of Stefano Marta, CFE, as well as Jieun Kim (5 and 6), Policy Analyst, DCD, under the supervision of Henri‑Bernard Solignac-Lecomte, Senior Economist, DCD. Valuable comments on earlier drafts were provided by Nadim Ahmad, Deputy Director, Rüdiger Ahrend, Carlo Menon and Laurence Côté-Roy, CFE, and Anjeza Llulla, DCD. Rachel Morris, DCD, provided comments and supported the finalisation of the drafting process. Gabriela García Sandoval, external consultant, CFE, provided research assistance for the quantitative analysis. Natalia Montejo, external consultant, CFE, supported the data verification process. Lucas Vázquez Bassat, consultant, CFE, supported the implementation of the dedicated surveys.
The OECD is grateful to the BMZ, GIZ and SKEW for the excellent collaboration, their active engagement and relentless support to organise workshops and provide feedback on interim results, in particular Yeliz Bercht and Anne Bolling from the BMZ, Maria König, Maryna Nathkir, Felix Reischl and Carl‑Philipp Schuck from GIZ, as well as Jessica Baier, Kurt Baudach, Dorea Pfafferott and Alexander Wagner from SKEW.
The OECD thanks all representatives from local, regional and national governments and their associations, academia, international organisations, non-governmental organisations and civil society who participated in the three workshops that were conducted as part of the project and provided valuable feedback on early versions of this report. The OECD also thanks the more than 180 local and regional governments that responded to the two DDC impact surveys.
Thanks are also conveyed to representatives from the 16 case studies for their engagement in the project, namely: Basque Country, Spain (Javier Cortes); City of Baruth/Mark, Germany (Karsten Wittke); City of Dresden, Germany (Tamara Karp); City of Fredericton, Canada (Sean Lee); City of Glasgow, United Kingdom (Duncan Booker); City of Lahr/Schwarzwald, Germany (Manfred Kaiser); City of Lublin, Poland (Krzysztof Stanowski); City of Zurich, Switzerland (Karolina Merai, Christina Wandeler); County of Böblingen, Germany (Lisa-Marlen Hitzing); County of Giessen, Germany (Manfred Felske-Zech); Federal State of Bavaria, Germany (Melanie Habelitz-Wollgam); Federal State of Berlin, Germany (Stefani Reich); Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany (Katharina Krings); Municipality of Bornem, Belgium (Lore Van Opstal); Municipality of Châtellerault, France (Arthur Berthet); and Region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy (Veronica Lenzi, Mirella Orlandi).
Thanks are extended to Bridgette Joyce in the CFE for preparing the report for publication, as well as to Eleonore Morena for editing and formatting the report.