In March 2018, the City of Bratislava applied to take part in the International Urban Cooperation (IUC) programme, focusing on the themes of climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions and smart eco-city development. In April 2018, Bratislava was paired with the Japanese city of Tokorozawa. The 18 month city pairing between Bratislava and Tokorozawa officially commenced in October 2018. The first IUC city-to-city meeting was held from 10-11 October 2018 in Brussels, allowing representatives of both cities to meet in person.

Bratislava is interested to learn about the Japanese approach to sustainable climate-resilient & smart city development and design, particularly concerning: nature-based adaptation measures, their combination with traditional approaches (maximising potential green areas such as gardens and other forms of public greening), the use of traditional architecture and city planning and their benefits for cooling urban space, sustainable buildings, water-retainment systems, increasing the energy generation capacity and the climate resilience of public space, energy efficiency solutions, smart city management of public spaces and strategies to improve public awareness.

The cities are also working on their Local Action Plan, which will be implemented in the coming years. Bratislava plans to integrate the lessons learned from the IUC cooperation within the city's adaptation to climate change Action Plan, which was approved in April 2017. The cities' cooperation within the IUC programme will run until January 2020.