Co-Creation

The latest statistics from Switzerland, Austria and Germany show that little progress has been made towards significantly reducing the number of road deaths. Reporting on these fatalities is often detached and formulaic. A new guide for journalists, developed by an international transdisciplinary team shows how language can play an important role in raising awareness of road safety.

In many cities abroad, politicians play a prominent role in making the mobility transition a reality. In Germany it is civil society actors who are driving change. Citizens in Berlin are putting the mobility transition on the agenda by campaigning for the introduction of Kiezblocks: A residential neighbourhoods with no through traffic. Many of these projects have been languishing in limbo for years despite backing from local government. Researchers from the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) have analysed this gap between decision-making and implementation. Using the example of Berlin’s Kiezblocks, they show how civil society actors are using political and media agenda-setting to contribute to the mobility transition in their city.

One third of global soil carbon is located in the permafrost regions of the Arctic, which cover 22 per cent of the Northern Hemisphere. Keeping soil temperatures low is vital to ensuring that this carbon stays in the ground. RIFS Fellow Torben Windirsch has studied this issue extensively and has shown in several scientific pilot studies that large herbivores helped to sequester carbon in Arctic soils over successive ice ages. As a fellow at the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS), he will explore how these findings can be communicated to Arctic communities and stakeholders.

Artist and RIFS Fellow Julika Gittner went to London in the 1990s to study art and later architecture. She has taught at the University of Cambridge Department of Architecture and History of Art for many years. Julika Gittner joined the RIFS in April. In this interview, she talks about her work and current projects.

Losland, a cooperation between the IASS and the association Mehr Demokratie, supports municipalities to sustainably shape their future. The Losland team draws from citizen participation methods to develop individualised participation processes in these municipalities. IASS political scientist Daniel Oppold has been scientifically accompanying the process since 2021. In an interview, he explains how the project works, what an “assembly for the future” is, and the project’s aims.

The wicked problems of the Anthropocene present major challenges to traditional scientific methods. Transdisciplinary research is a way to overcome these challenges as it involves both non-academic societal actors and academics from various disciplines. Despite its increasing popularity, the transdisciplinary approach still has not quite caught on everywhere – and it is often misunderstood. A publication from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) summarises definitions and characteristics of transdisciplinary research and outlines an exemplary three-phase model that transdisciplinary teams can use to carry out their research successfully.

The complex challenges of our time increasingly require scientists to step outside their conventional roles. A team of researchers from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) has examined innovative approaches to policy advice that support actors from politics and government in the development of collaborative processes to address socio-ecological issues. Their paper identifies the knowledge, skills and practices required to design collaborations.

As the course is now being set for the coming legislative period, policymakers should focus more on citizen participation. A team from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) Potsdam and the Institute for Research on Democracy and Participation (Institut für Demokratie- und Partizipationsforschung – IDPF) in Wuppertal have formulated a 7+5-point plan

Scientists are constantly working to improve models for energy systems. Is this making the models more responsive to the actual needs of users from politics, business and civil society? IASS researchers have reached a mixed conclusion: While improvements are being made, modellers and users need to collaborate more closely to make full use of the potential of models for the energy transition.

Climate change is is accelerating rapidly, but the results of the UN Climate Change Conferences regularly fall short of what is required. Does this have something to do with how these international conferences are organised? Could a new mindset help us to make more progress in the climate policy arena? Which inner qualities and mindsets are conducive to better forms of communication and collaboration?

As the evidence for disruptive climate change has mounted over the last decades, organised attacks on climate science have grown, flanked by conspiracy theories, disinformation, and false claims. How is disinformation produced, to what end, and by whom? A workshop addressing these and related questions took place at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam and was attended by a host of international scholars.

How can parliamentary representative democracies be strengthened and revitalised? In the context of the ever more complex future questions society has to grapple with, the study “Bundesrepublik 3.0” (Federal Republic 3.0) presents a concept for more citizen participation at national level. It was developed in a co-creative process where examples of best practice were considered and combined to generate new solutions.

The 24th UN Climate Change Conference (COP24) is due to take place in the Polish city of Katowice from 2 to 14 December. At this year’s COP, minds will focus on concrete steps towards implementing the Paris Climate Agreement. A whole host of experts from the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) will be there. At the international symposium on “Safeguarding Our Climate, Advancing Our Society”, IASS Scientific Director Patrizia Nanz will speak about the role democratic structures can play in the shift to sustainability. And IASS Scientific Director Mark Lawrence will represent the institute at the High Level Assembly of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition on the margins of the conference.

The region of Lusatia in Eastern Germany is experiencing a structural transformation due to the dwindling significance of lignite. In a new research project, the IASS will investigate the changes taking place there. Karl Eugen Huthmacher from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and IASS Scientific Director Patrizia Nanz presented the project at the Lusatia Dialogue on 25 June.