A study visit of representatives of the City of Poznań to Zagreb took place on 21 and 22 April 2026 at the Z
agreb Energy Centre (ZEC), as part of the project “
Activating Green Courtyards for Carbon Neutrality - ActGREEN” and the
NetZeroCities consortium and program.
This was the second visit within the
Twinning learning programme, aimed at exchanging knowledge on urban greening, participatory governance models and climate sustainability, with an emphasis on the transferability of solutions between partner cities.
Study visit
Day one: Greening, participation and climate solutions - from procedure to implementation on the ground.
The first day of the visit opened at the ZEC with a welcome from the host and an overview of the programme. The participants were welcomed by
Irena Matković, Deputy Head of the City Office for Development, Physical Planning, Construction and Reconstruction, and
Nebojša Ivančević (Senior Expert Advisor, City Administration General Secretariat), who presented the study visit plan and the framework for cooperation between the City of Zagreb and the City of Poznań within the Twinning learning programme.
During the conversation with the colleagues of the project team from Poznan and the team from Zagreb (
Tanja Dijan, Natalia Halbauer, Dražana Halar, colleagues from ODRAZ - Marina Vojković, Magdalena Makar and Luka Vidan), the guests showed a strong interest in the processes that preceded the public call for greening, political will, the legal process of obtaining consent for the financing of backyard greening activities by applying nature-based solutions with city budget funds and EU funds, the criteria of the public call for greening, the challenges of implementing procurement and other important details that can help in replicating the activities of the city of Zagreb in Poznań, and the same was presented in the upcoming thematic session.
In the thematic session dedicated to the ActGREEN project, associate professor
Ph.D. Iva Rechner Dika (University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture) and
Nebojša Ivančević presented an overview of greening implementation:
legal and procedural steps, public call criteria, as well as the possibility of repetition and long-term sustainability of project activities.
Afterwards,
Filip Ćurko (Zagreb Energy Center - ZEC part of the City Office for Economy, Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Planning) presented
the role of the ZEC one-stop-shop and the potential for cooperation on renewable energy projects, as well as the links between energy solutions and urban interventions that contribute to climate resilience.
The part of the program dedicated to citizen participation included the topic “
Suggest a Better Neighborhood!” and current events related to participatory budgeting and initiatives such as
Pocket Forest, presented by
Marija Rukljač Jelinčić (Assistant Mayor) and
Barbara Tomičević (Senior Expert Advisor) from the City of Zagreb (City Office for Municipal Self-Government, Transport, Communal Services, Civil Protection and Safety).
Jelena Marković from
REGEA then
presented projects related to climate sustainability and opened the space for discussion on possible areas of future cooperation.
The day concluded with a field trip - a guided tour of the renovated courtyards (
Palmotićva 39, Prolaz J.Ratkaja 2, M.Laginje 5) implemented as part of the pilot and project activities. The tour was led/coordinated by
Iva Rechner Dika and Vanda Sabolović (City of Zagreb -
City Office for Development, Physical Planning, Construction and Reconstruction).
We emphasize that we showed our colleagues from Poznan the coherence of the city's projects on the topic of climate change management from the city offices, REGEA (presented projects that support the City Climate Contract and climate change adaptation activities) to other institutions such as ZEC, the combination of the work of the city offices and the combined project team during the implementation of the ActGREEN project showed the importance of cooperation between different city offices of the city of Zagreb for the benefit of the implementation of the ActGREEN project on the topics of participation, participatory budgeting, the work and activities of ZEC as a one-stop shop (we use the space as an extension of the ActGREEN one-stop shop in physical form), the work of colleagues from the Directorate General for Economy, Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Planning on the topic of GIS modeling, HUB project activities and with the help of the project coordinator and the ActGREEN project leader, the execution of works on landscaping the yards registered in the public call for greening.
During the first day, we were supported by the city advisor who provided the
NetZeroCities program, colleague
Vlatka Berlan Vlahek, who works in the consortium as part of energiecities.
Second day: Transferability of solutions, Action plan and mapping of future cooperation.
The second day of the visit was again held at ZEC with a morning introduction by the hosts, led by
Natalia Halbauer and Nebojša Ivančević from the City of Zagreb, with a focus on the results and further steps after the end of the Twinning study program.
Representatives of the City of Poznań presented the following key elements of transferability and planning: Alicja Nowak
presented the assessment of transferability and the draft Action Plan of partner cities, which laid the foundation for adapting solutions to local contexts and their implementation in the next phase of cooperation.
Next,
Joanna Michalska presented the experiences of Poznań related to the
Commission for Civil Dialogue and the
city budget, emphasizing the value of institutionalized participation mechanisms and continuous dialogue with civil society.
Poznań was also represented by female colleagues accompanied; Katarzyna Bogdańska-Głuchowska and Beata Swiatkowska, who shared their project experiences in mitigating and adapting to climate change within the Department of Urban Regeneration
The central part of the second day was a facilitated workshop on mapping cooperation opportunities after the completion of the Twinning learning program. The workshop was led by Hannah Walther (NZC facilitator, Rupprecht Consult),
during which the participants mapped common interests, potential directions of cooperation and defined the next steps and conclusions of the program.
The visit was rounded off with a discussion about possible cooperation in future calls for the Horizon program, which gave the two-day work a clear perspective for the continuation of the partnership and the joint development of project ideas.
With the upcoming lunch, the final part of the program for the second day of the visit was carried out in the premises of the Zagreb Zoo, where, with the help of Jurica Ambrožić and colleagues from the Zoo, we saw the space and projects that the
Zagreb Zoo, as one of the city institutions, also contributes to climate change management and the protection of global biodiversity.
The twinning learning program within the NZC consortium and program is an important item in the implementation of the Horizon project, as it aims to strengthen the capacities of cities by sharing knowledge and practical experiences in implementing
various projects, targeting those that promote climate change management, i.e. decarbonization, and promoting the EU Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
