A brief titled “Supporting city-to-city collaboration” reviews ways in which Yokohama, Japan, “is at the frontier of city development cooperation and public-private partnerships.” Authored by Toru Hashimoto, Director General, International Affairs, City of Yokohama, the brief identifies lessons learned over the past ten years in sharing Yokohama’s expertise in sustainable urban development with other cities.

Through the Yokohama Partnership of Resources and Technologies (Y-PORT), a public-private partnership and international cooperation program that began in 2011, Yokohama has enabled partner cities to adopt sustainable solutions. 

Hashimoto recommends several steps that have contributed to the success of Y-PORT, including: 

• involve the private sector from the outset by inviting them to offer their expertise and solutions to specific challenges based on their experience;
• co-create solutions and facilitate opportunities to build on ready-made green innovations of partners, building on the partner city’s unique context and community structure;
• tailor technical assistance to the needs of the partners; and 
• incorporate opportunities to expand networking and knowledge sharing.

The brief notes that benefits of Y-PORT for Yokohama have included cases in which knowledge partners from the private sector have entered business arrangements, and increased visibility in the business community environment, social and governance (ESG) focused investments.

The brief is part of the Brookings Institution’s ‘City Playbook for Advancing the SDGs’ series, which provides how-to briefs and case studies on advancing sustainable development and social progress locally. The briefs focus on four themes: Governance and Partnerships; Data and Measuring Progress; SDG Priorities; and Budgeting and Finance. The briefs come from cities participating in Brookings’ SDG Leadership Cities community of practice. [Publication: City Playbook for Advancing the SDGs: A collection of how-to briefs on advancing the Sustainable Development Goals locally] [Supporting city-to-city collaboration]