Twelve cities and seven countries in Asia are currently working on adopting a nexus approach, developing nexus projects and integrating the nexus approach into urban planning assisted by the project “Integrated Resource Management in Asian Cities: the Urban Nexus”.

The “nexus” approach aims at integrating the planning and management processes of the key sectors of energy, water and food. This approach can contribute substantially to the long-term sustainable development of rapidly growing cities in their regions. It is crucial to involve municipal, subnational, national and supra-regional actors and utilities in more integrated planning and management.

Regional workshops have been organised since June 2013 to provide a platform for participating cities to exchange experiences and for multi-stakeholder dialogue between cities, regional/provincial and national governments, meso-level organisations, academia and research institutions, the private sector, networks of cities and international financing organisations.

The exchange platform continued with the organisation of the 7^th regional workshop in Tanjungpinang, Indonesia from 19-21 July 2017. More than 150 international and local participants attended the workshop including local, national and sub-national government officials from partner cities, line ministries and provincial governments, representatives from academic organisations, private sector enterprises and other relevant stakeholders.

The partner cities presented progress on planning and implementing project activities. They also shared good practices in practical, ongoing initiatives and city level infrastructure development that have resulted in positive impacts. These range from large-scale infrastructure investment models to smaller projects such as Waste Water Treatment Plant rehabilitation, the Mae Kha Canal rehabilitation, Building of new a Solid Waste Management Site, and Energy efficiency in a Health Centre.

The partner cities and organisations also developed and shared policy recommendations for adopting nexus approaches at the local level based on an urban nexus framework and enabling dimensions consisting of:

– Governance
– Inclusive-decision making
– Urban planning
– Finance/business practices
– Science, technology and innovation (STI)

As an exercise during the workshop, the participants linked the ongoing Nexus projects in their cities/countries as well as the policy recommendations to the implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III).

The policy recommendations will be distributed to all cities and partner organisation to review and comment on before their adoption and implementation.

The workshop ended with a visit to the city hall of Tanjungpinang, the selected site for innovative waste water management in Senggarang and cultural heritage locations that interact with the local population.

The project is implemented by GIZ in partnership with ESCAP and ICLEI and with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).  Partner cities’ establishment of nexus task forces has enabled inter-sectorial cooperation of municipal administrations. Peer-to-peer learning has strengthened the regional exchange between the participating cities regarding inter-sectorial experience sharing, exchange of respective best practices, and South-South cooperation.