- Climate protection & adaptation
Urban Climate Future Lab
Introduction
The ARL – Academy for Spatial Development in the Leibniz Association is part of the interdisciplinary research network Urban Climate Future Lab (UCFL), which is conducting a six-year study on the interactions between urban development and climate change. Researchers from the Technical University of Braunschweig, Leibniz University Hannover, Leuphana University Lüneburg and the Gerics Climate Service Centre Germany are working together to develop sound and innovative approaches for the sustainable transformation of urban spaces. The spatial focus of the study is on Lower Saxony. However, the research is also aimed at gaining insights that can be transferred to other urban areas. The UCFL is one of a total of five climate future laboratories in Lower Saxony and is funded by the zukunft.niedersachsen funding programme of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture and the Volkswagen Foundation.
Integrative Governance for Resilient and Climate Just Spatial Transformation
The sub-project ‘Integrative Governance for Resilient and Climate Just Spatial Transformation (GOV)’, which is being worked on at the ARL, focuses on urban governance practices for climate-adapted and equitable spatial development. The project team – consisting of Dr Katharina Kapitza (project lead) and Dr Ricardo Kaufer and Nele Buchholz (doctoral candidate) – is investigating how urban governance can be designed to support inclusive and transformative planning processes while enabling socio-ecological and equitable climate adaptation. The central question is how different groups of actors – from citizens to administration, politics and business to civil society initiatives – interact, make decisions and what power relations play a role in this. In addition to analysing existing governance practices in Lower Saxony, scientific debates on equitable climate adaptation are evaluated and linked to empirical case studies (Salzgitter, Oldenburg, Vechta district).
The project team combines qualitative social research methods, including interviews, participant observation and document analysis, with a systematic literature review. On this basis, the sub-project is working with partners from academia and practice to develop scenarios and co-creative workshop formats to test integrative governance approaches for equitable and climate-adapted urban development. The ARL's close links with professional practice and research also enable knowledge transfer in planning and administrative practice – the project thus contributes to sustainable urban governance structures in times of climate change.