Dr. Nina Schwarz
Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Department of Computational Landscape Ecology
Permoserstr. 15 | 04318 Leipzig | Germany
phone: +49-(0)341-235 1970
fax: +49-(0)341-235 1939
Position
Scientist in EU-Integrated project PLUREL
Research topics
- Development of urban regions, especially with respect to climate change
- Agent-based modelling
- Integrative modelling of human-environmental systems
CV
| since 2007 | Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany. Postdoctoral researcher in EU-Integrated project PLUREL (www.plurel.net), integrated modelling of urban systems |
| 2003 - 2007 | Scientist at the Center for Environmental Systems Research (CESR), University of Kassel, Germany. Project Glowa-Danube, group environmental psychology: Designing and implementing a spatially explicit agent-based model for the water-use of domestic households (sponsored by German Ministry for Education and Research) |
| 1998 - 2003 | University of Lueneburg, Germany: Diploma in Environmental Sciences. Diploma thesis on spatial planning of offshore wind farms. Major subjects: environmental law, environmental planning, renewable energy |
Publications
Schwarz, N. (2010): Urban form revisited – Selecting indicators for characterising European cities. Landscape and Urban Planning 96(1), 29-47.
Schwarz, N., Bauer, A. & Haase, D. (in print): Assessing climate impacts of planning policies-An estimation for the urban region of Leipzig (Germany). Environmental Impact Assessment Review.
Schwarz, N., Haase, D. & Seppelt, R. (2010): Omnipresent sprawl? A review of urban simulation models with respect to urban shrinkage. Environment & Planning B 37(2), 265-283.
Haase, D. & Schwarz, N. (2009): Simulation Models on Human-Nature Interactions in Urban Landscapes: A Review Including Spatial Economics, System Dynamics, Cellular Automata and Agent-based Approaches. In: Living Reviews in Landscape Research, 3, article no. 2
Schwarz, N. & Ernst, A. (2009): Agent-based modeling of the diffusion of environmental innovations — An empirical approach. In: Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 76 (4), pp. 497-511.
Schwarz, N. & Ernst, A. (2008): Die Adoption von technischen Umweltinnovationen: Das Beispiel Trinkwasser [Adopting technical environmental innovations: the case of drinking water]. In: Umweltpsychologie, 12(1), pp. 28-48
Barthel, R., Janisch, S., Schwarz, N., Trifkovic, A., Nickel, D., Schulz, C., Mauser, W. (2008): An integrated modelling framework for simulating regional-scale actor responses to global change in the water domain. Environmental Modelling & Software 23, pp. 1095-1121
Ernst, A., Schulz, C., Schwarz, N., Janisch, S. (2008): Modelling of water use decisions in a large, spatially explicit, coupled simulation system. In: Edmonds, B., Hernández, C., Troitzsch, K. (Eds.): Social Simulation Technologies: Advances and New Discoveries, Hershey: Idea Group Inc. pp 138-149.
Schwarz, N. (2007): Umweltinnovationen und Lebensstile, Eine raumbezogene, empirisch fundierte Multi-Agenten-Simulation [Environmental innovations and lifestyles, A spatially explicit and empirically founded multi-agent simulation]. Marburg: metropolis
Schwarz, N., Ernst, A. (2006): Using empirical data to build an agent-based model of innovation diffusion. In: Proceedings of the workshop on agent-based models of market dynamics and consumer behaviour, Surrey, GB, January 17/18, 2006
Schwarz, N. (2003): Das Spannungsverhältnis von Meeresschutz- und Eignungsgebieten in der Ausschließlichen Wirtschaftszone [relationship between nature conservation and areas for offshore wind farms in the German exclusive economic zone]. Berlin: Berliner Wissenschaftsverlag, series of environmental law
Schwarz, N. (2002): Querdenkende GeneralistInnen [generalists thinking outside the box]. In: pö-Forum zur Politischen Ökologie, issue 75: Zukunftsfähige Wissenschaft braucht Querdenken, Herausforderungen für Lehre und Forschung durch Nachhaltigkeit, p. 18f.
Kopytziok, N. & Schwarz, N. (2001): Abfall als Indikator von Nachhaltigkeit [waste as an indicator for sustainability]. In: Jahrbuch Ökologie 2002, München: Beck, pp. 188 -198
Scientific awards
C.-F. Graumann award for environmental psychology, granted by the section of environmental psychology within the German Psychological Society
Dissertation project
Despite the presently good water quality and availability in Germany, future water demand is interesting because of rising needs to restructure water-related infrastructure on the one hand and regional water scarcity due to climate change on the other hand. In the past technical innovations have led to a decrease of water demand. Therefore the present work analyses future diffusion of water use innovations in domestic households.
The book integrates findings of environmental psychology, sociology, diffusion research and bounded rationality. The interdisciplinary approach as well as the explicit empirical foundation distinguish this work from other models for the diffusion of innovations in which neoclassical utility optimisation, abstract agents and simple spatial representations are dominant.
In a first step, a psychologically founded empirical survey was carried out. By means of written questionnaires as well as telefone interviews, theoretical models of action were tested and main factors for the acceptance of water use innovations were analysed. Both are the empirical basis for the multi-agent simulation which was carried out as a second step. The model represents a real geographic area (Munich and the surrounding area in Southern Germany). Agent types are aggregated Sinus-Milieus® out of lifestyle research. Agents take decision rules with varying complexity according to their type and the innovation under decision. Results regarding the validity of the model show a good fit when compared to independent empirical data. Scenarios up to 2020 indicate that water-saving innovations will further diffuse even without further promotion, therefore water demand per capita is very likely to decrease further. To speed up diffusion, instruments - specific for agent types and innovations - were identified.
Download of source code: