The Twinning Programme aims to create a network of like-minded projects, cities, and communities to circulate ideas, solutions, and challenges. The Programme operates at three levels: city-to-city, project-to-project, people-to-people.
From May 2024 to June 2025, participating cities and projects will engage in a series of activities designed to drive innovation and promote sustainable urban development.
In this page, you can find all the activities and updates on the Twinning Programme. However, it also works as a Toolkit for any organisation, network, or project which is interested in replicating the DivAirCity Twinning Programme in the future. For questions or doubts, contact us at contact@divaircity.eu.
In order to ensure the global dimension of the DivAirCity City-to-City Twinning Programme, dedicated mechanisms were put in place by the Consortium to ensure the engagement of cities across all continents, also in areas where the Consortium had limited experiences.
The Call for Expressions of Interest for Cities to join the DivAirCity Twin Programme was published to invite cities to join DivAirCity’s global network as Twin Partners.
The Selection Committee meeting took place to review the applications received from cities interested in joining the Twinning Programme. The aim was to select 20 cities based on their alignment with DivAirCity’s objectives and ensure balanced partnerships.
The opening event of the DivAirCity Twinning Programme was held in Orvieto, Italy, marking the official launch of the City-to-City activities. The event brought together representatives from 25 cities across five continents to foster collaboration and share innovative solutions for urban sustainability and climate resilience.
In May 2024, representatives from Veracruz and Bogotá visited Castellón de la Plana as part of the City-to-City activities.
Throughout two days, Twin Cities had the chance to strengthen cooperation, exchange knowledge, and share best practices in the field of sustainable urban development, nature based Solutions and social participation tools.
The first online Open House event focused on “Inclusive public procurement and governance models”, one of the topics which emerged during the Orvieto opening event. The event was moderated by EQN, who gave a presentation of some challenges and solutions to make governance and procurement inclusive and diverse, followed by a discussion among cities and partners.
DivAirCity is inviting research and innovation (R&I) projects to participate in our global network by becoming Twin Projects.
This online session focused on enhancing cooperation between the Global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) and the DivAirCity pilot and twin cities, presenting to them the application processes and highlighting strategies to support climate resilience.
Hosted by UniverCities, the session offered an interactive platform for addressing barriers to participation, particularly for vulnerable groups. Through a mix of presentations and open discussions, participants delved into innovative tools and frameworks for urban solutions, creating a horizontal space for city officials and partners to exchange experiences, ideas, and challenges collaboratively.
This session brought together twin city officials, experts, and partners to explore practical strategies for embedding inclusivity in urban governance.
This session brought together twin city officials, experts, and partners to explore practical strategies for embedding inclusivity in urban governance. Featuring expert presentations, interactive discussions, and collaborative reflections, the event provided actionable insights for fostering equitable urban spaces.
The fourth Open House under the DivAirCity Twinning Programme, held on the 20th of February 2025, focused on “Citizens’ apps”, a topic which several Twin Cities mentioned as interesting and relevant for their work.
During the meeting, the DivAirCity project was presented, and the Twin Projects had the chance to introduce themselves and their work.
At the beginning of March 2025, representatives from Freetown (Sierra Leone), Patras (Romania) and Lviv (Ukraine) had the chance to visit Bucharest District 2 as part of the City-to-City activities.
At the end of March 2025, representatives from Manchester (UK), Uwvie (Nigeria), Stintino (Italy) and Brasov (Romania) had the chance to visit Orvieto as part of the City-to-City activities.
The first event of the Project-to-Project Twinning Programme focused on NBS and it was held by UniverCities. The session was divided into three parts: first, NBS in the context of DivAirCity were introduced. Second, a roundtable discussion on challenges and benefits of NBS was held. Finally, projects had the chance to showcase their interventions, with several of them taking the stage to present their work.
At the beginning of April 2025, representatives from Klaipeda (Lithuania) and Vinnytsia (Ukraine) had the chance to visit Aarhus as part of the City-to-City activities.
The fifth Open House under the DivAirCity Twinning Programme, held on the 10th of April 2025, focused on “Best practices in Nature-based solutions”, one of the core topics of DivAirCity.
The second event of the Project-to-Project Twinning Programme focused on data and it was held by EcoWise. The session was divided into three parts: first, data in the context of DivAirCity were introduced. Second, a roundtable discussion on inclusive data collection was held. Finally, projects had the chance to showcase their approach to data management, with several of them taking the stage to present their work.
The second event of the Project-to-Project Twinning Programme focused on data and it was held by EcoWise. The session was divided into three parts: first, data in the context of DivAirCity were introduced. Second, a roundtable discussion on inclusive data collection was held. Finally, projects had the chance to showcase their approach to data management, with several of them taking the stage to present their work.
During May 2025, representatives from Basildon (UK) and Dhaka (Bangladesh) had the chance to visit Potsdam as part of the City-to-City activities.
Our cities (in white) and the Twinning matches:
