Association of German Cities Annual General Meeting – now digital!

The Association of German Cities represents the interests of all large and small cities in Germany and enforces them with a unified voice - before the state, the federal government and the European Union. wegewerk was given the task of redesigning the website of the Association of Cities and Towns and, above all, broke many new ground in terms of technology. Our five highlights of the giant project.

The German Association of Cities is the voice of cities. Representatives from Aachen to Zwickau come together here to work towards a good living environment for their residents, promote democracy, look to the future together and remain capable of action.

The general meeting takes place every two years and, in addition to electing a new president, offers an extensive programme – from housing policy and heat protection measures to AI best practices in the municipal sector. For years, a comprehensive analogue booklet provided guidance during the multi-day congress – but that is set to end in 2025: we were commissioned to digitise the programme.

Project: Goodbye brochure!

We have been working with the German Association of Cities since 2020 and manage their extensive online presence. The municipal umbrella organisation knew from experience that it could entrust us with this complex project with complete confidence.

The user experience had to be as simple and pleasant as possible – no additional app downloads, intuitive to use, smoothly accessible at all times and up to date. The new content also had to be easy for editors to maintain using the existing content management system (TYPO3).

For the 43rd German City Council in Hanover, we therefore created a mobile-optimised website with numerous special features:

  • Absolute mobile capability: Easy scrolling through the programme from anywhere, even when the network is not so good. Lazy loading for images and lean codes were used to guarantee fast loading times.
  • Dynamic programme display: Programme information was created as a page or data record and automatically displayed on the website in real time.
  • Practical and personalised: Many practical features, such as the ability to favourite programme items, save calendar entries or set a countdown timer to the start of the next event, enabled participants to put together their own personal programme schedule.  
  • SEO optimisation: The website was adapted to current SEO standards, especially for local searches relating to Hanover and the event.

Not only were the 1,500 delegates on site treated to a successful event: everyone who was not there was able to watch the meeting via livestream. The recordings are still available on the website. The same applies to the welcoming speeches by Belit Onay, Lord Mayor of the state capital Hanover and Deputy President of the German Association of Cities, Markus Lewe, Lord Mayor of the City of Münster and President of the German Association of Cities, and Helmut Dedy, Chief Executive of the German Association of Cities, which motivate further close exchange between cities, joint action in the face of global crises and assertiveness at European, federal and state level.

Goodbye paper – real added value created

Customers and participants alike were enthusiastic, and not just because the online offering saved paper waste. A website with app-like features created real added value during the multi-day congress.