Mannheim

Germany

Mission city Pilot city
National Mission Ecosystem Germany
Mannheim Mission City Label
Population 530 thousand
City Area 26 km²
City active since June 2022

Key Learnings

Mannheim City Lab on Social Innovation in Energy Transitions (SONNET)

In line with the city’s overall climate policy, the city of Mannheim developed and implemented a city lab ("living lab" approach) as part of the EU Horizon project SONNET. The city lab aimed at mobilising citizens for the development of the neighbourhood Neckarstadt-West, a neighbourhood with many residents with migration background, where language barriers posed a challenge to the city to engage with citizens for energy transition efforts. Whereas the Covid-19 crisis posed significant barriers to the original idea and scope of actions, the city still managed to implement diverse actions. The city lab entailed mobile participation/planning containers, gamification with apps, and explored measures for the neighbourhood such as energy role model flats, a neighbourhood fund (crowdfunding) for energy efficiency measures, and more. Towards the end of the project, additional funding from the German development bank KfW was acquired for a neighbourhood renovation management, which enabled a certain level of continuation of the activities. The overall impact lies in the social dialogue and processes that were strengthened and shaped, rather than measureable emmission recutions.
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