In a policy landscape often crowded with pilot projects and short-lived coalitions, Türkiye’s İklim Nötr Şehirler Ağı (Climate Neutral Cities Network), or İNŞA, stands out for a simpler reason: scale with structure. Established under the NetZeroCities City Expert Support Facility and coordinated nationally by Marmara Municipalities Union, the network brings together 55 municipalities from across the country to build climate capacity, share know-how and move local governments onto a common pathway toward climate neutrality.
That number matters. Not because networks win by size alone, but because municipal climate transition rarely succeeds as a boutique exercise. It requires a critical mass of cities, a shared vocabulary and an institutional home capable of turning ambition into routine practice. İNŞA appears to be doing exactly that. According to its program documents, it was launched through an open call and drew municipalities of different scales, regions and administrative profiles into one national platform. That breadth gives it unusual relevance in Türkiye, where the green transition of cities will depend not only on metropolitan frontrunners but also on district and provincial municipalities that are earlier in the journey.
The project’s real strength, however, is not membership alone. It is architecture. İNŞA does not treat local climate action as a generic awareness exercise. It separates municipalities into two tracks, “Accelerators” and “Newcomers,” then structures learning accordingly. Advanced municipalities are supported in data coordination and financial sustainability. Those at earlier stages receive a broader package that includes technical transformation, spanning energy, mobility and green infrastructure. This is a more mature design than many public-sector learning programs, because it recognizes that not all municipalities start from the same institutional baseline and that transformation requires differentiated support, not one-size-fits-all training.
The methodology is also unusually practical. Each module combines e-learning, core guidance documents, interactive online sessions and an application period in which participants are expected to work inside their own municipalities. In other words, the program is not confined to theory. It is built to move from knowledge to implementation. The emphasis on pilot applications, internal coordination and action planning suggests that İNŞA is less a conference circuit than an operating system for municipal transition.
That design choice is critical for green transition policy in cities. Municipal decarbonization is rarely blocked by lack of vision alone. More often, it stalls because data is fragmented, departments do not coordinate, finance teams are disconnected from climate goals, and technical units lack structured support to convert broad objectives into investable, implementable action. İNŞA addresses these frictions directly through modules on data and coordination, financial sustainability and project development, and technical transformation. In the project deck, the technical track extends across renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable mobility, waste and circular economy, green infrastructure, and clean technologies. That makes the network relevant not only to climate policy units, but to the full machinery of local government.
This is where İNŞA becomes more than a national network. It becomes institutional infrastructure. NetZeroCities describes national platforms as vehicles that connect cities with national governments and stakeholders, foster learning and collaboration, and extend the EU Cities Mission approach beyond the selected Mission Cities alone. Türkiye’s platform fits that role squarely. It creates a local-language, country-specific bridge between European climate frameworks and the realities of municipal administration in Türkiye.
In comparative terms, İNŞA is emerging as one of Europe’s larger national municipal climate networks. With 55 municipalities brought under a single platform, Türkiye is positioning itself alongside countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Romania, Austria, Finland and France, where national platforms have been used to help cities accelerate climate transition. But İNŞA’s significance lies in more than numbers. Its real strength is that it turns scale into structure, creating a national learning and implementation ecosystem that connects municipalities at different levels of readiness to a shared green transition agenda.
That distinction matters. In climate governance, visibility often goes to the flagship city, the pilot neighborhood or the high-profile infrastructure project. But transition is usually won or lost in the middle layer: the networks that help institutions learn faster, copy better and fail less. İNŞA’s promise lies precisely there. By convening 55 municipalities, differentiating support by readiness, and linking climate ambition to municipal practice, it offers Türkiye not just a project, but a replicable model for how cities can organize around green transition at national scale.
If backed with long-term commitment, İNŞA could do something many urban climate initiatives struggle to achieve: turn scattered municipal interest into durable transformation capacity. And in a decade when cities are expected to carry a growing share of the green transition, that may prove more valuable than any single flagship investment.
