The Winners of the Photo Contest 2025 "Future Now!"
For the ARL Photo Contest 2025, we invited participants to capture the socio-ecological transformation through images.
We wanted participants to explore: How is this change visible in our cities and regions? What successes, as well as conflicts and challenges, shape the socio-ecological transformation of our living spaces? From sustainable energy projects and new mobility concepts to biodiversity-friendly agriculture – we asked to show us through photos what transformation means to the particpants.
Submissions were accepted until February, the winning picture for the Audience Award was chosen by exhibiting the pictures during the ARL congress 2025 - here are the winners!
1st Place
Juliane Ribbeck-Lampel
‘Sinking’ trees - (energy) landscape in the course of time | The picture shows the Cottbus Baltic Sea in the Lusatian lignite mining area during flooding in March 2024. The area of the future local recreation area has been reshaped several times in the course of a human lifetime: the former settlement, agricultural and meadow areas were demolished in favour of the development of the Cottbus-Nord open-cast mine in the 1970s/80s. Lignite mining and the energy industry changed the landscape into a dusty, technical-looking desert. The Jänschwalde power station in the background still symbolises this period today. With the end of lignite mining in 2015, new uses had to be defined for the hollowed-out areas after less than 40 years. The development of a lake should enable leisure-related activities in particular. At the same time, however, questions of energy generation are being addressed. Large areas for wind turbines border the lakeshore, the water surface offers space for floating PV and a lake water heat pump also seems technically feasible. The transformation of the area of more than 19 square kilometres can be visualised as a snapshot during the flooding of the lake using the ‘sinking’ trees. The trees, which grew as pioneer trees on the former mining area, give way to the future lake area in a blaze of colour.
1st place jury voting
2nd Place & Audience Award
Juliane Ribbeck-Lampel
Survival in the face of climate change is linked to prosperity and wealth, a conflict for survival. | In urban areas, it is clear that under current conditions and without significant changes, survival can only be ensured with massive technical effort. Overheated urban and residential spaces require cooling technology that exacerbates the situation and is only accessible to the wealthy. The air conditioning units in the picture symbolise the massive intensification and at the same time make it clear that demands for urban design and aesthetics are reduced to absurdity against this backdrop. Urban transformation must be more than a short-term (cool) answer.
2nd place jury voting & winner of the ARL Congress Audience Award
3rd place
Josef Tinkhauser
Road reinforcement at the lake reservoir - The state road next to the Reschen lake (South Tyrol/Italy) has to be relocated due to an increased risk of rockfall. This requires the artificial lake to be drained and a new dam wall to be built using the material from the bottom of the lake.
3rd place jury voting
Congratulations to our winners, and heartfelt thanks to everyone who submitted their powerful, insightful, and thought-provoking images. Your creativity and vision have truly captured the essence of transformation and inspired meaningful dialogue.
View the all submitted photographs here.
The Jury
Katharina Kapitza
Dr. Katharina Kapitza is an environmental and sustainability scientist and Head of the Academic Section Strategies and Concepts of Spatial Transformation at the ARL – Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association. Her research focusses on gender and intersectionality in spatial transformations, energy transitions, resilience and climate adaptation.
Maria Partalidou
Dr. Maria Partalidou is a full Professor of Rural Sociology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Passionate about documentaries and photography she has used storytelling and images (photovoice) as a qualitative field research tool; as well as an educational tool for her students. She has published several papers on the social construction of rurality in the new era of mass media communication and on imaged based symbols produced and re-produced by urban dwellers rooted in the rural idyll.
Sonja Deppisch
Dr. Sonja Deppisch is a Member of the Academy of Territorial Devlopment in the Leibniz Association. Currently, she works as a freelancer in her own office AResTra: Atelier for Resilience and Transformation in Berlin (Germany) on land-use, resilience, climate change and biodiversity issues. Before she led the research theme "Global Change and Land-Use Strategies" at HafenCity University Hamburg (Germany) and her research focused on urban and regional resilience, their integration into land-use planning and development as well as how planning can deal with climate as well as environmental change. As a photographer she works on artistic as well as documentary long-term projects which relate the personal and / or the landscape with socio-political as well as historical developments.
Daniel Münderlein
Dr. Daniel Münderlein, a cross-cutting researcher at RWTH Aachen University and visiting professor at the University of Kassel's Department of Open Space Planning. His various roles as research coordinator and visiting professor underscore his expertise in navigating the complexities of contemporary urban landscapes. Daniel Münderlein's research distinguishes itself through its reliance on visual methodologies, a deliberate choice that suggests a commitment to understanding the nuances often missed by text-based approaches. By leveraging visual tools, he is able to delve into the evolving characteristics of urban landscapes and, crucially, explore the intricate relationships between these environments and the health and well-being of their inhabitants. His work contributes significantly to the ongoing discourse surrounding sustainable and human-centric urban and landscape planning.
The jury's selection process
The photos were evaluated by an international jury focusing on the following aspects:
- relevance to the topic as it was represented in the photographs,
- clarity of expression
- as well as photographic quality.
Of particular importance was that both the content conveyed and the photographic quality were convincing. Regarding the content the jury members discussed their spontaneous interpretations of the pictures and their bethinking of the pictures based on the other members interpretations and the captions, respectively.
The jury evaluated the photographic quality with regard to the perspective taken, light, composition and the overall aesthetic impression. They discussed whether these were artistically well realized and emotionally catching. In addition to the evaluation of the artistic and documentary implementation, another important factor for the ultimate ranking was which images had the strongest overall effect.
A selection of 20 photos rated highest by the jury were also exhibited at the ARL Congress 2025 in Halle in March 2025. Participants had the opportunity to vote for their favourite photo. The most-voted photo received the Audience Award.
