16 June 2024

A team from Freetown City Council made a delegation visit to the City of Mannheim in Germany. The purpose of the visit was to gain a better appreciation of how urban planning and design approaches can help to create a more sustainable, cleaner and greener city. The mission was aimed at informing the design and implementation of the city’s Central Business District Urban Regeneration project which is due to formally start next month.

The team had opportunities to learn how the city can create more livable urban spaces through improved management of council assets and public spaces. This included exploring revenue raising opportunities from parking controls & enforcement and the management and acquisition of council property assets to support the implementation of urban planning initiatives, such as financing and building of city car parks.

The itinerary included site visits to new housing development, recently implemented public space projects and the mass transit depot in the city. Presentations were given by staff from the Geoinformation and Urban Planning Department and the city’s Mass Transit Authority. The team included: Ishmaila Bah (Chief Financial Officer), Amadu Yapo Sesay (Parking Manager), Jonathan Weekes (Project Engineer) and Modupe Williams (Integrated Expert in Urban Planning).