New Project „Lebendige Wände − Living Walls“

The project “Lebendige Wände” (Living Walls) was launched in October 2021. Funded by the Saxon Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture, the project focuses on testing suitable facade greening concepts in Leipzig. Together with lwb, Saxony's largest municipal housing association, as well as the environmental protection association “Ökolöwe” and the citizens' initiative “Wir im Quartier”, obstacles are identified, the interests of residents are recorded, and greening and maintenance concepts are developed. An elaborate climatological measuring concept allows the monitoring of the cooling capacity and the vitality of the plants during heat and drought. The results will be integrated into existing urban climatological models.

More information: Project  „Living Walls − Green facades for multifunctional climate adaptation in the city“

We welcome Fengxiang Guo as PhD student

New video online: Christian Kuhlicke in Portrait

Online Forum MigraChance

Online forum „Migration und Konflikt vor Ort – an Konflikten wachsen oder scheitern?“
(Local Migration and conflict – growing or failing by conflicts?)

From April to the mid-May, the BMBF project MIGRACHANCE held its expert forum on the local significance of migration-related conflicts. The event, originally planned as a conference meeting at the UFZ, was converted due to Covid-19 into a series of eight digital workshops to which we invited contributions from science and practice ( details in German).

For the SUSoz Department Alexander Krahmer, Dominik Intelmann and Annegret Haase took part and carried out the moderation as well as preparation and follow-up of some of the workshops. With our guests we discussed the importance of conflicts as drivers of social and institutional change, dealt with the conditions of local conflicts and critically examined ideas about the role migration plays in urban conflicts. In addition, we reflected (from a practical as well as scientific perspective) on the influence of the political, legal and institutional framework, as well as the various actors involved. Another central topic was the adequate handling of local conflicts and what innovations have so far been made in their treatment. Per workshop the number of participants was between 25 to 50. A documentation is in preparation.

New Team Member in the REGREEN Project

Julius Knopp joined our department at the beginning of April. After he graduated as M.Sc. in Geoinformatics in 2019 at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, he is now working as a researcher in the REGREEN project, funded by the European Commission, together with Ellen Banzhaf. The main focus of his research so far has been remote sensing of urban areas using high-resolution satellite data with a focus on green spaces and urban heat islands. With enthusiasm he studied the distribution and accessibility of urban green spaces. During his studies at university, he also conducted several qualitative research on student housing markets and citizens' initiatives by means of guided interviews. In the REGREEN project, he will continue to work on combining qualitative and quantitative investigations to foster resilience in cities.