JAN 2021 MANAGERKREIS DER FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG Building cities for people The role and responsibility of cities in social-ecological transformations • Social-ecological policies: The prerequisite for fighting climate change • Radical shifts to social ecology: Paris since the 2000s • A brief aside: Older people, heatwaves and housing •‘Perspective Munich’ as integrated master plan • Citizen participation in transformation processes • Two surveys: cities worth living in and successful participation processes Policy Paper of Managerkreis of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Department for Economic and Social Policy Introduction Global peace, freedom, and prosperity depend increasingly on respecting ecological limits. Our planet is heading into a climate catastrophe, but not everyone is affected equally. Political deci­sion-makers must consider the social dimensions of every eco­logical transformation, to avoid exacerbating inequalities and prevent social unrest. Their high population density and their ability to address the effects on the ground make cities vital actors in the global fight against climate change. What roles do cities play in the social-ecological transformation, what vision do they share? The Building Cities for People laboratory set out to answer this question. The laboratory was conducted within the broader framework of the Global Green Deal forum, which was held on 1 October 2020 and organised by the Friedrich Ebert Foun­dation, the German Trade Union Federation(DGB), the Climate Alliance Germany, and the Olof Palme International Center. 1 Dagmar Köhler, German Institute of Urban Affairs, chaired the session. 2 Dr Éloi Laurent, Senior Research Fellow at Science Po Centre for Economic Research 3 , and Prof. Dr Elisabeth Merk, City of Munich’s Planning Director 4 , joined the discussion as expert contributors. Social-ecological policies: The prerequisite for fighting climate change “For sustainable transformations, you need to acknowl­edge that in each environmental challenge there is a social question. The policy of the twenty-first century is socio-ecological. We need to combine social aspects with ecological aspects. Otherwise, we won’t be able to do environmental policy. If you are blind to social issues, you will not be able to implement environmental policies. …