1-Focus International has had the privilege of working with the Referent from the City of Frankfurt/Oder in Germany to enable the process of creating a Solar City – in reality what will most likely be a Renewable Energy City. Over the summer, we designed and facilitated the process that took this idea of creating a Model City to engaging the community in developing the first cut at a strategy. We have continued to support the various working groups as they expand their initial visions and continue the process of bringing them to reality.

Frankfurt/Oder is a former East German city on the Polish border. Many of the residents have a strong desire to re-connect with its sister city, Sublice in Poland. from a regional development perspective, Twin City planning would make the process far more effective.We have designed a change process that will involve the whole city and region in a short period of time. It is our belief that if the various stakeholders within and outside of the community are involved in a co-created, collaborative process then national (or EU-wide or International) publicity will be drawn to the project and the right mix of expertise, economic growth and commitment will emerge. This is our dream to quickly facilitate the process of healthy, sustainable change.

People in this community have a strong desire for some change—whether it be solar power or some other form of city identity is not the issue. What is the issue is that they are searching for an identity. There is still a high level of unemployment in the city, stemming from the fall of the wall. There is a growing far right movement and a deep frustration in the city by many of the inhabitants. People simply want to do something but remember past efforts negatively. In this process, we reviewed the scenario and designed a collaborative change process that started with the vision of the Lord Mayor. We then engaged a Steering Committee, a central stakeholder group, to form their own shared vision as an outgrowth of the one set forth by the Lord Mayor. Using a Future Search Conference (see photo), commitment was gained from a larger core group of cross-functional stakeholders across the city and region.

We, 1-Focus and the City, promised to continued to support them in the process of moving forward in many ways. This promised support gave participants the courage to take responsibility and step forward to lead the further development of the concepts they committed to as part of their overall the Solar City – Chance for Cross-Border Development vision.

Unfortunately, funding remains a serious issue and one that needs to be addressed before an entire implementation process can move forward. Meanwhile, members of our 1-Focus team, have continued to support the Project Teams with facilitation on a pro bono basis until the end of the year.

For readers interested in these kinds of community issues, an energy game has been developed by the Economist Group and supported by Chevron called Energyville. You can go to the site and”play” the game yourself.