Some people would like very much that they could come back to earth again just to see how much fruit their work bears meanwhile. In the last years of his life, the American political scientist Benjamin Barber wrote several books that centered around the central thesis that the world can only be saved if the cities become its most important political engine.
In “If Mayors Ruled the World” in 2013 he wrote that the strengthening of civil society and participatory democracy could only come from urban societies. On the one hand, because they have a much greater creative potential than the encrusted, paralyzed nation states. On the other hand, because they depend on cooperation and pragmatic solutions in their everyday politics – indispensable prerequisites for any fair cooperation. And thirdly, because many megacities have long since grown into global players themselves.
In “Cool Cities: Urban Sovereignty and the Fix for Global Warming”, which appeared shortly after Barber’s death in 2017, he continued his urban emancipation theses in a politically highly explosive manner: According to Barber, only cities could stop Donald Trump’s agenda. But he also made cities more responsible than before: As the main cause of climate change, they now have a damned duty to get involved in a completely different way than before. Never at a loss for a catchy phrase, Barber stated: “The 20th century was the century of the nation states. The 21st century will be the century of the cities.”
There are now various global associations of cities with the aim of bringing political issues to the fore: “Mayors for Peace”, “Mayors for Universal Income”, “Mayors for Climate Action”. The largest association is likely to be the “Global Covenant of Mayors”, the “worldwide contract of mayors”, in which more than 9,000 mayors have come together with the aim of doing more for the climate.
I got one last month Travel through Europe made to see, in a nutshell, how the continent is doing. One of the most exciting encounters on this tour was my meeting with Bart Somers. In 2000 he became mayor of the city of Mechelen, which at that time was considered the dirtiest city in Belgium. 80,000 inhabitants from 138 nations. Drug crime, bankrupt businesses, the middle class fled the city. 32 percent voted for the right-wing extremist Vlaams Belang.
16 years later, Mechelen made it into the top ten of European small towns in the “European Cities of the Future” ranking. The Vlaams Belang came to nine percent. Somers was voted best mayor in the world at the World Mayor Prize that same year. He did it with a mixture of law and order and a very consistent integration policy.
None of that should be an issue here. It’s just that they then made Somers Minister of the Interior of Flanders with the request that the miracle of Mechelen be repeated everywhere. The man has an irrepressible energy and is now trying to bring half of Belgium forward in every nook and cranny. Above all, however, he is currently trying to persuade 300 Flemish cities to sign a climate pact that is second to none: Since the Paris climate treaty stipulates a 40 percent reduction in emissions by 2030, the Flemish government shrugged and said that more than 32 percent could not be achieved, Somers drummed all 300 cities in the Flemish part of Belgium together.
Every mayor, who is now his “Local Energy and Climate Pact” sign, commit themselves to very specific measures for their respective municipality, for example one tree per inhabitant – if everyone is there, that makes 6.6 million trees by 2030. Half a meter of hedge or garden planting, an additional green place for every 1000 inhabitants At least 10 square meters and one charging station for e-cars for every hundred inhabitants. One square meter of concrete unsealing, one meter of new cycle path and one cubic meter of rainwater catchment area per resident.
The whole thing started on June 10th in Ghent, until the official signing in November in the European Parliament Somers wants to persuade all 300 municipalities and cities to participate. And I asked myself why there hasn’t been a similar initiative in Germany for a long time, based on the cities that show that it will work with the turnaround.