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The COVID-19 pandemic has jolted societies out of normality, possibly creating new conditions for sustainability transformations. What does this mean for sustainability research? Because of the scope of the crisis, researchers have been heavily involved: not only have they had to speed up the pace of scientific production to provide urgently needed COVID-19 knowledge, but they have also been affected citizens. For sustainability science, this calls for an experience-based reflection on the positionality and orientation of research aiming to support sustainability transformations. Twenty sustainability researchers discussed their sustainability research on COVID-19 in three workshops based on the following questions: How does the pandemic - and the measures taken to deal with it - affect sustainable development? What can we learn from the pandemic from the perspective of societal transformation? The present discussion paper emerged from this multidisciplinary exchange among sustainability researchers, considering five topics: impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on sustainability transformations; learning for sustainability transformations; the role of solidarity; governance and political steering; and the role of science in society. Our discussions led to a meta-level reflection on what sustainability research can learn from research on COVID-19 regarding topics and disciplinary angles, time dimensions, the role of researchers, and how adequate preparation for both crises and long-term transformations requires interdisciplinary interaction.
Förderbanken vergeben in Deutschland jährlich mindestens 200 Milliarden Euro an Mitteln für Investitionen, die sonst nicht oder sehr viel später umgesetzt werden könnten. Sie arbeiten im öffentlichen Auftrag und richten ihre Tätigkeit an gesellschaftlichen Zielen aus. Diese Ziele haben sich weiterentwickelt. Angesichts von Klimawandel, Energiekrise und den Herausforderungen einer Kreislaufwirtschaft wollen sowohl die Länder als auch die Bundesregierung ihre Förderbanken umbauen. Gerade die Förderbanken der Länder müssen sich darum jetzt bereit machen für die "Weiterentwicklung von Förderbanken zu Transformationsbanken". Für die erfolgreiche Gestaltung dieses gesellschaftlichen Umbruchs brauchen sie Unterstützung. Wie dies gelingt, zeigt dieser Zukunftsimpuls.
The food system faces a multitude of challenges, including high greenhouse gas emissions, threats to biodiversity, increased diet-related diseases due to unbalanced diets, and socially problematic complex supply chains. This requires not only a transformation of the agricultural economy but also a change in the diet and lifestyles of all consumers. Developing and using digital and technological innovations can help to solve these challenges. In this context, the study provides impulses on how digitalisation can contribute to transforming production and consumption and which prerequisites have to be given to achieve this.
The study describes the approaches for digitalisation along the value chain. These include optimising the use of resources in agriculture - for example with the help of smart farming - and supporting consumers with digital tools and assistance systems - such as apps designed to support grocery shopping. In addition, new business models and a better connection between production and consumption processes are also possible. This includes, for example, new digital sales channels or tracking and communicating sustainability indicators such as CO2 emissions across all steps of the value chain in order to enable all stakeholders to take reliable action.
Das Ernährungssystem steht vor einer Vielzahl von Herausforderungen, wie unter anderem: hoher Treibhausgas-Emissionen, der Gefährdung der Biodiversität, der vermehrten ernährungsbedingten Krankheiten durch unausgewogener Ernährung sowie sozial-problematischen komplexen Lieferketten. Das erfordert nicht nur eine Transformation der Agrarwirtschaft sondern auch einen Wandel in den Ernährungs- und Lebensstilen aller Konsumierenden. Digitale und technologische Innovationen zu nutzen und weiterzuentwickeln kann helfen, diese Herausforderungen zu lösen. Vor diesem Hintergrund liefert die vorliegende Studie des Wuppertal Instituts Impulse, wie die Digitalisierung dazu beitragen kann Produktion und Konsum umzugestalten und welche Voraussetzungen dafür gegeben sein müssen.
Die Studie beschreibt die Ansatzpunkte für die Digitalisierung entlang der Wertschöpfungskette. Dazu zählen die Optimierung des Ressourceneinsatzes in der Landwirtschaft, etwa mithilfe von Smart Farming, die Unterstützung von Verbraucher*innen durch digitale Tools und Assistenzsysteme - beispielsweise mit Apps als Einkaufshilfe. Daneben erlauben auch neue Geschäftsmodelle und Rahmenbedingungen eine bessere Vernetzung von Produktions- und Konsumprozessen. Dazu gehören zum Beispiel neue digitale Absatzkanäle oder Prozessstufen-übergreifend Nachhaltigkeitskennzahlen wie beispielsweise CO2-Emissionen mitzuführen und zu kommunizieren, um allen Akteur*innen richtungssicheres Handeln zu ermöglichen.
The circle is a ubiquitous metaphor in the current scientific and political debate on possible strategies for coping with the changes brought by the so-called "Anthropocene". Terms such as "recycling", "upcycling", "downcycling", "life cycle" or "circular economy" all refer to the same geometric shape, which in turn can be found in numerous diagrams illustrating the respective design approaches and political strategies. But how does the circle shape the way we think and act as designers? Is it an appropriate metaphor to guide us to feasible actions, or is its degree of simplification too far removed from reality? In this article we look at the circular economy as a designed model, and question the circle as a communication tool for the cultural project of sustainability. As the circle may carry the risk of an oversimplified, unattainable, even disillusioning ideal, we discuss various alternative images and forms for their potential to become metaphors of alternative models. The hole, the plate, the pasture, the wheel, the mill wheel, the hamster wheel, the vortex, the double helix, the spider web and the rhizome - as metaphors, they each open up different perspectives and approaches to reality, they each construct different relationships and dependencies between nature and culture. The aim of this article is less about postulating the end of the circle as a metaphor in the sustainability debate, as it is about to fathom the circle's ends as a metaphorical tool. In other words, when does the metaphor of the circle become too abstract? As designers we can say that falling in love with a form right at the beginning of a design process can be rather limiting, as hardly any alternatives will be considered, and all further decisions are subordinated to achieving the desired shape. Therefore, we would like to emphasise the contingency of the circular economy as a model. We would like to welcome the thought that the circle has an "end".
A growing number of transformative research practices that redefine the role of science in engaging with local - mostly urban - transformation processes have emerged in recent decades. However, while education is considered a key driver for sustainability transformations, higher education has been slow to develop and implement dedicated, appropriate and effective transformative education programmes and learning modules. In this paper, we present a framework of design principles for transformative learning modules in higher education. These principles are derived from two growing discourses: higher education sustainability learning, and transdisciplinary and transformative research - both of which are centrally anchored in the field of sustainable development and sustainability science. The principles presented provide guidance for course leaders in higher education to create learning modules aimed at enabling students to become engaged in transdisciplinary and transformative research that fosters sustainability transitions in local and urban contexts. We use the Transformative Innovation Lab (TIL) - a learning course developed and tested at two German universities - as an example of how the design principles can be applied. The module, which runs over two semesters, supports Masters students in their process of developing real-world laboratories and exploring urban sustainability transitions through collaborative experimentation with local practice partners. We discuss the factors that enable and limit the implementation of transformative learning modules and outline aspects of the novel roles adopted by lecturers in transformative teaching environments. Moreover, we highlight the need for both institutional change and transformative teaching formats that go beyond transformative research as key for driving universities to take responsibility for collaboratively fostering sustainability transitions in their local contexts.
Der Reallaboransatz hat seit seinem Aufkommen 2012 einen richtiggehenden Boom erfahren. Reallabore sind in ihrem originären Ansatz als Experimentierräume, Forschungsmodus und methodologisches Werkzeug konzipiert, um zu nachhaltiger Entwicklung und gesellschaftlicher Transformation beizutragen und diese zu beschleunigen. Wesentlicher Ansatzpunkt ist dabei, Wissenschaft und Praxis in transdisziplinären Settings und transformativen Prozessen eng miteinander zu verknüpfen. Die Wissenschaft bzw. die Forschenden, begeben sich dabei selbst in Wandlungsprozesse: Sie initiieren, experimentieren und beforschen zugleich. Praxisakteure setzen dabei Themen und forschen aktiv mit, so dass im Idealfall sowohl wissenschaftliche Theorie als auch gesellschaftliche Praxis von den Ergebnissen profitieren. Die Ausgestaltung von Reallaborprojekten hat in den letzten zehn Jahren eine Vielzahl von Differenzierungen in Inhalten, Settings, Methodik und Ausrichtung erfahren.
Die Konferenz "Nachhaltig wirken: Reallabore in der Transformation", die am 2. und 3. Juni 2022 in Karlsruhe stattfand, griff diese Entwicklungen auf, um gemeinsam mit der wachsenden Reallabor-Community den aktuellen Entwicklungsstand des Reallaboransatzes abzubilden. Organisiert vom Karlsruher Transformationszentrum für Nachhaltigkeit und Kulturwandel (KAT) in Zusammenarbeit mit den Gründungsinstitutionen des Netzwerkes Reallabore der Nachhaltigkeit, wurden auf der Tagung aktuelle methodische, konzeptionelle, praktische wie auch strategische Fragen aufgeworfen und diskutiert. Mit über 300 Teilnehmenden und 115 Beiträgen stellt sie die bislang größte und umfassendste Veranstaltung im Bereich der deutschsprachigen Reallaborforschung dar.
The impending climate catastrophe gives rise to an increased environmental awareness among many designers, who direct their work towards the paradigm of sustainability. While designing with an "ecological lens" is necessarily oriented towards the future, we highlight the past as an inspiring realm to explore. Rather than recycling materials, we encourage the recycling of ideas as a combination of historiographic and speculative design methods.
We will present a framework that extends the idea of design as a "projecting" activity into the idea of design as a constant negotiation process about the relevance and appropriateness of current and past technologies. Design revolves not just about what will be, but to a large extent about what should remain and what should recur, or as Jan Michl put it: "seeing design as redesign" (Michl 2002). We will illustrate the thought of designing futures with pasts by means of a research project that aims at developing a refrigerator for circular economy. The refrigerator - as the currently dominant technology to preserve food - will serve as a starting point to show how artefacts and architecture as well as human skills and knowledge in the preparation and preservation of food are historically interlinked. The history of food preservation unfolds not only along the evolution of the refrigerator, but encompasses household techniques like smoking, curing and fermenting, as well as long-forgotten architectural "answers" such as deep-freeze community buildings. We will revisit three historical examples of food preservation and present the method ‘throwing’ past ideas into the future.
Three main arguments are presented in this richly illustrated paper: First, that historiography is a form of designing, second, that designing is constituted and influenced by path dependencies (cf. David 1985) that are deeply rooted in the past and third, that the past is a valuable source of inspiration when designing for sustainable development. Looking at history becomes a way of "mental window shopping" (Simon 1985, 188) for approaches that are to be reactivated and transformed.
Public catering has become increasingly important in recent years. With increasing annual customers, the sector's impact on the environment is also growing continuously. At the same time, public catering offers a lever to promote sustainable nutrition that has rarely been used so far. Small changes in kitchen practices and food offers can thus be multiplied into a significant positive impact on environmental challenges, such as climate change or loss of biodiversity due to the large number of servings. In contrast to private households, management decisions in public catering can influence the food-related environmental impact of thousands of customers. This article deals with the nationwide level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and resource use in the German public catering segment "business" and its saving potentials by different scenarios of unsupported and supported recipe revision. In this paper, we define "unsupported" as the intuitive optimization of recipes by employees of public catering businesses. In contrast, "supported" approaches had to meet specific target goals, for example of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung; engl. German Nutrition Society or the sustainable level. Specifically, we will test how (A) an unsupported recipe revision, (B) a recipe revision based on dietary recommendations and (C) a recipe revision using scientific guidance affect the environmental impact of a dish. As a methodological framework, an online survey of public catering companies was conducted as well as a scenario analysis at menu level and at nationwide level. The results are based on empirical data on the one hand, and on extrapolations on the other. The results show that the nationwide implementation of recipe revision according to scientific guidance-such as concrete target goals for the GHG emissions per serving-can save up to 44% of resource use in the German business catering sector (which corresponds to 3.4 million tons of resources per year) and as much as 40% of GHG emissions (0.6 million tons GHG emissions per year). Even in the scenario of unsupported recipe revision, GHG and resource savings of up to 20% can be realized. The results show that public catering can reduce its material and carbon footprint by 20% overnight. Moreover, the findings show indications for the sustainable transformation of public catering. Nevertheless, it must be noted that these are some first steps of the transformation, which will require further changes with even greater impacts and political activities.
Regionale Produkte sind im Trend. Kreative Manufakturen, offene Werkstätten und moderne Fertigungsmethoden verhelfen dem Handwerk in der Stadt zu einer Renaissance. Was ist daran eigentlich das Neue? Und warum schlummert darin so ein großes Potenzial für einen nachhaltigen Wohlstand und für lebenswerte Quartiere?
Knapp drei Jahre beforschte, förderte und vernetzte ein Projektteam aus Utopiastadt, dem Wuppertal Institut und dem transzent die Pioniere einer neuen Produktivität in der Region. Nun ist es an der Zeit, Bilanz zu ziehen - und nach vorne zu schauen, wo am Horizont die Visionen einer lebenswerten und produktiven Stadt von Morgen greifbar werden.
Der vorliegende Wegweiser ist die Essenz aus drei Jahren Forschung, Praxis und Dialog. Er weist eine neue Richtung für die Region und ihre gestaltenden Akteure. Ob Wirtschaftsförderung, Stadtverwaltung, Zivilgesellschaft, Gründerszene, Unternehmen oder Wissenschaft: Wir laden dazu ein, den Weg gemeinsam zu beschreiten!
The food system plays a crucial role in mitigating climate change. Even if fossil fuel emissions are halted immediately, current trends in global food systems may prevent the achieving of the Paris Agreement's climate targets. The high degree of variability and uncertainty involved in calculating diet-related greenhouse gas emissions limits the ability to evaluate reduction potentials to remain below a global warming of 1.5 or 2 degrees. This study assessed Western European dietary patterns while accounting for uncertainty and variability. An extensive literature review provided value ranges for climate impacts of animal-based foods to conduct an uncertainty analysis via Monte Carlo simulation. The resulting carbon footprints were assessed against food system-specific greenhouse gas emission thresholds. The range and absolute value of a diet carbon footprint become larger the higher the amount of products with highly varying emission values in the diet. All dietary pattern carbon footprints overshoot the 1.5 degrees threshold. The vegan, vegetarian, and diet with low animal-based food intake were predominantly below the 2 degrees threshold. Omnivorous diets with more animal-based product content trespassed them. Reducing animal-based foods is a powerful strategy to decrease emissions. However, further mitigation strategies are required to achieve climate goals.
In material development processes, the question if a new alloy is more sustainable than the existing one becomes increasingly significant. Existing studies on metals and alloys show that their composition can make a difference regarding the environmental impact. In this case study, a recently developed air hardening forging steel is used to produce a U-bolt as an example component in automotive engineering. The production process is analyzed regarding the environmental performance and compared with the standard quench and tempering steels 42CrMo4 and 33MnCrB5-2. The analysis is based on results from applying the method of Life Cycle Assessment. First, the production process and the alterations on material, product, and process level are defined. The resulting process flows were quantified and attributed with the environmental impacts covering Carbon Footprint, Cumulative Energy Demand, and Material Footprint as they represent best the resource-, energy- and thus carbon-intensive steel industry. The results show that the development of the air hardening forging steel leads to a higher environmental impact compared to the reference alloys when the material level is considered. Otherwise, the new steel allows changes in manufacturing process, which is why an additional assessment on process level was conducted. It is seen that the air hardening forging steel has environmental savings as it enables skipping a heat treatment process. Superior material characteristics enable the application of lightweight design principles, which further increases the potential environmental savings. The present work shows that the question of the environmental impact does not end with analyzing the raw material only. Rather, the entire manufacturing process of a product must be considered. The case study also shows methodological questions regarding the specification of steel for alloying elements, processes in the metalworking industry and the data availability and quality in Life Cycle Assessment.
The European Landscape Convention urges countries to involve stakeholders including citizens in the governance of ordinary (urban) landscapes. This paper studies conflicting stakeholder perspectives on urban landscape quality in the context of urban sustainability transitions in six European urban regions in the Netherlands, Italy, France, Croatia, Belarus and the Russian Federation. Repertory grid technique helped to identify the dimensions through which persons evaluate urban landscape quality. Ninety-three (93) interviewees elicited 1400 bipolar constructs, such as "Edible green - Concrete" or "Community, group - Loneliness". They then selected two constructs they consider most relevant in the context of urban sustainability transitions, and ranked all pictures on a 10-points scale. The rankings were analyzed using Multiple Correspondence Analysis. We find that, in spite of the many social and cultural differences between the regions, stakeholders largely agree on the preferred direction of urban transitions; more green and blue spots where people can meet and undertake joint (leisure) activities. The main conflict is between, on the one hand, a preference for organized development and beautification and, on the other hand, naturalness (permeability of soil) and organic development. The paper considers several challenges for transition governance.
Deutschland liegt bei Klimaschutz und der langfristigen Sicherung der Energie- und Rohstoffversorgung weit hinter seinen eigenen Zielen. Nur mit Tempo, Mut und Ehrlichkeit lässt sich der Rückstand jetzt aufholen. Dazu gehören ein beschleunigter Ausbau erneuerbarer Energien, ein sofortiger Aufbau eines umfassenden Netzes für grünen Wasserstoff, verbindliche Ziele für eine echte Kreislaufwirtschaft, klare Vorgaben für den Wohnungsbestand, eine ernsthafte Mobilitätswende und wirksame Anreize für eine nachhaltige Produktion. Bei all dem müssen sozial gerechte Lösungen gefunden werden, nur so lässt sich CO2-Vermeidung und Ressourcenschutz in der Breite durchsetzen.
Das vorliegende Impulspapier des Wuppertals Instituts zeigt, wie sehr Deutschland auf dem Weg zur Nachhaltigkeit seinen eigenen Zielen hinterherhinkt.
The steel industry is responsible for a quarter of all industrial greenhouse gas emissions. So far, the environmental savings are mainly due to steel recycling. Besides recycling, the circular economy offers strategies to increase material efficiency and thus decrease the primary raw material demand. However, the potentials remain unexploited because circular economy concepts with a higher degree of circularity are not considered. The presented case study of an industrial machining knife illustrates how the production process can be improved by implementing various circular strategies. The environmental performance is analyzed by calculating and comparing the carbon footprint, the cumulative energy demand and the material footprint, and the material efficiency indicator. The results show that the implementation of the three overarching strategies of the circular economy - narrowing, closing, and slowing - contributes to a significant increase in material efficiency. The implementation also has a positive effect on the overall environmental performance. The circular production processes require less energy and resources and cause fewer emissions. Auxiliary processes such as additional transport routes are relevant, as they can reduce or even overcompensate for savings. These processes must be adequately considered and designed.
Die Stärkung der Digitalisierung im Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement und das Schaffen einer einheitlichen sowie konsistenten Datenbasis können Unternehmen maßgeblich unterstützen, steigenden Nachhaltigkeitsanforderungen zu entsprechen und die Transparenz zur Nachhaltigkeit des Wirtschaftens zu gewährleisten. Dieser Beitrag stellt Anforderungen und einen serviceorientierten Ansatz zur Entwicklung einer Plattform für datengestütztes Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement in produzierenden Unternehmen vor.
Household food waste is determined by a complex set of routinized behaviors, and disruption of these routines may allow for a decrease in this vast amount of food waste. The current study examines such a disruption of household routines: the meal box. The potential of meal boxes to diminish different types of household food waste is investigated for the first time, across different countries. After providing a framework comparing the effects of different types of meals on food waste, we subsequently examine the effects of subscription-based food supply (i.e., meal boxes) on total meal waste as well as on the different types of food waste: preparation, cooking, and plate waste. Our dataset contains 8747 meal observations from 955 households in six countries. Results from a Bayesian multilevel hurdle-lognormal model with random intercept show that, overall, meal boxes reduce total meal waste in comparison to traditionally cooked dinners (38% reduction). Meal boxes especially lower the occurrence and amount of pan-and-pot food that is wasted (i.e., cooking waste), and also lower the amount of meal preparation waste, yet lead to a higher occurrence of both preparation and plate waste compared to traditional meals. This shows how differences between meals affect household food waste, something that has received little prior research attention. Furthermore, whereas most prior research has focused on overall household food waste, our study illustrates that distinguishing between different types of household food waste can provide important new insights.
Causal strands for social bonds : a case study on the credibility of claims from impact reporting
(2022)
The study investigates if causal claims based on a theory-of-change approach for impact reporting are credible. The authors use their most recent impact report for a Social Bond to show how theory-based logic models can be used to map the sustainability claims of issuers to quantifiable indicators. A single project family (homeownership loans) is then used as a case study to test the underlying hypotheses of the sustainability claims. By applying Bayes Theorem, evidence for and against the claims is weighted to calculate the degree to which the belief in the claims is warranted. The authors found that only one out of three claims describe a probable cause–effect chain for social benefits from the loans. The other two claims either require more primary data to be corroborated or should be re-defined to link the intervention more closely and robustly with the overarching societal goals. However, all previous reported indicators are below the thresholds of the most conservative estimates for fractions of beneficiaries in the paper at hand. We conclude that the combination of a Theory-of-Change with a Bayesian Analysis is an effective way to test the plausibility of sustainability claims and to mitigate biases. Nevertheless, the method is - in the presented form - also too elaborate and time-consuming for impact reporting in the sustainable finance market.
Vor dem Hintergrund der zunehmenden Auswirkungen der Klimakrise und der durch den Angriffskriegs Russlands gegen die Ukraine entstandenen Energie- und Rohstoffversorgungsprobleme ist die Bundesregierung zu einem schnellen und zielführenden Handeln gezwungen. Neben der Herstellung von Versorgungssicherheit müssen die durch stark steigende Energie- und Lebensmittelpreise entstehenden sozialen Härten abgefedert werden. Um diese Aufgabe bestmöglich zu bewältigen, bedarf es eines politischen Instruments, das notwendige Veränderungen der Lebens- und Wirtschaftsweise ermöglicht und soziale Belastungen in den Krisen auffängt.
Mit Blick auf diese Problemstellung werden in diesem Wuppertal Report bereits vorhandene politische Instrumente, deren Mittel nicht zweckgebunden verwendet werden müssen, einer SWOT-Analyse unterzogen und erste Ideen für ein sogenanntes Transformationsgeld vorgestellt, das die Mehrdimensionalität der derzeitigen Problemlage berücksichtigt. Das Transformationsgeld ist als zweckungebundene staatliche Transferleistung konzipiert, um die Freiheit der Konsument*innen nicht einzuschränken und Preiseffekte nicht zu nivellieren. Die Höhe der Transferleistung hängt von der ökonomischen Situation des Haushalts ab und soll nicht nur eine Kompensation der Mehrkosten darstellen, sondern gesellschaftliche Teilhabe ermöglichen.
Abseits des Transformationsgelds liefert die Kurzstudie auch eine Einschätzung der Autor*innen, was aus ihrer Sicht kurzfristig gegen die bestehenden Probleme getan werden sollte.
Zentraler Ausgangspunkt des Vorhabens war die Frage nach der Rolle und Bedeutung von transformativem Lernen im Kontext sozial-ökologischer Transformationen und wie dieses im Rahmen schulischer und außerschulischer Umweltbildung und BNE ermöglicht und von der Umweltpolitik gestärkt und adressiert werden kann. Dazu entwickelte das Projekt in Kooperation zwischen Schulen und zivilgesellschaftlichen Nachhaltigkeitsinitiativen Lernwerkstätten im Modus des Service Learning und erprobte mittels Reallaborforschung, wie gesellschaftliches Engagement von Jugendlichen an Orten sozialer Innovationen mit fachlichem Lernen im Unterricht verknüpft werden kann. Der Schlussbericht präsentiert die zentralen theoretischen und empirischen Erkenntnisse des Projekts und liefert zudem eine umfassende Literaturanalyse zu bestehenden konzeptionellen Lerntheorien und Ansätzen um transformatives Lernen, BNE und Service Learning. Die Empfehlungen zur Förderung von Lernen im Kontext sozial-ökologischer Transformationsprozesse richten sich an Entscheidungsträger*innen in Umwelt- und Bildungspolitik und zeigen, dass hierfür das Lernen durch Engagement an Orten sozialer Innovationen als auch das Lernen in Kooperationen besonderes Potential haben.
Die nachhaltigkeitsorientierte Transformation von urbanen Räumen ist eine akute Herausforderung. In den letzten Jahren haben koproduktive, experimentelle, transdisziplinäre und häufig informelle Stadtwandelprojekte als Such- und Lösungsräume hohe Sichtbarkeit erlangt. Schlüsselakteure hierfür stellen - so die These - Verwaltungsvertreter:innen einer integrierten Stadtentwicklung und -planung, Wissenschaftler:innen einer transformativen Forschung sowie zivilgesellschaftliche Stadtmacher:innen dar. Die Autor:innen, verankert in diesen drei Gruppen, kritisieren die häufig nur situative Zusammenarbeit dieser drei Akteursgruppen. Ein Modell der Zusammenarbeit im Spannungsfeld zwischen Gemeinsamkeiten, jeweiligen Potentialen und herausfordernden Eigenlogiken der Akteurssysteme wird entwickelt. Darauf aufbauend wird vorgestellt, wie durch strategischen Trialog und reflexive Lernprozesse die Zusammenarbeit verbessert und die Wirksamkeit koproduktiven und experimentellen Stadtwandels erhöht werden kann.
Zur Gestaltung von tiefgreifenden Transformationsprozessen fehlen oft handlungsleitende Kompetenzen und der Mut, Strukturen aufzubrechen.
Dafür braucht es andere Lernformen und neue Räume des Lernens für nachhaltigen Wandel. Um solche zu etablieren, haben die Vereinten Nationen die Dekade des Handelns ausgerufen, in deren Rahmen zwei Projekte des Wuppertal Instituts gestartet sind: die Transformationsakademie und HumboldtN.
Food and nutrition systems are linked to all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which makes their transition toward social-ecological behavior patterns crucial for an overarching sustainability transformation. The perspective of (urban) logistics is of special interest. It couples the production and consumption physically and virtually. In this context, we shed light on the design of the turnover point of food in urban areas from the supply chain toward consumers and contribute to an overarching systemic perspective toward establishing a sustainable multilevel food system. We describe current patterns in urban food systems and propose several principles for sustainable design of (urban) food systems based on concepts such as (regional) collaboration and food literacy. Using these principles, we provide four design scenarios that concretely imagine future urban food consumption and production patterns titled "slow stock supply service," "deliver into the daily walk," "central district food depot," "super food action place." With this work we provide a starting for reflecting whether certain combinations of principles actually lead to patterns of daily life that are feasible, acceptable, or desirable. Moreover, we provide an initial qualitative assessment to stimulate further research that explores scenario pathways and incorporates additional indicators regarding the impact on social-ecological. We open up various research questions with regard to the overarching question of how urban food logistics should be designed to be consistent with the SDGs.
This article enriches the existing literature on the importance and role of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in renewable energy sources research by providing a novel approach to instigating the future research agenda in this field. Employing a series of in-depth interviews, deliberative focus group workshops and a systematic horizon scanning process, which utilised the expert knowledge of 85 researchers from the field with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and expertise, the paper develops a set of 100 priority questions for future research within SSH scholarship on renewable energy sources. These questions were aggregated into four main directions: (i) deep transformations and connections to the broader economic system (i.e. radical ways of (re)arranging socio-technical, political and economic relations), (ii) cultural and geographical diversity (i.e. contextual cultural, historical, political and socio-economic factors influencing citizen support for energy transitions), (iii) complexifying energy governance (i.e. understanding energy systems from a systems dynamics perspective) and (iv) shifting from instrumental acceptance to value-based objectives (i.e. public support for energy transitions as a normative notion linked to trust-building and citizen engagement). While this agenda is not intended to be—and cannot be—exhaustive or exclusive, we argue that it advances the understanding of SSH research on renewable energy sources and may have important value in the prioritisation of SSH themes needed to enrich dialogues between policymakers, funding institutions and researchers. SSH scholarship should not be treated as instrumental to other research on renewable energy but as intrinsic and of the same hierarchical importance.
Food production is responsible for approximately 17% of Germany's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. After retail, out-of-home catering is the second largest food sales channel in Germany. A variety of means on both the supply and demand side are necessary to stimulate, facilitate and encourage a more sustainable development and minimise GHG emissions in this sector. Nudges are one of these. This paper's focus lies on the demand side. Set in real-world laboratories, we use a standardised empirical approach to compare different nudging interventions belonging to the area of physical environment and consumers’ choice making process. We compare the effects of the same intervention across different settings and the effect of different, sequential nudging interventions in the same setting. Data was collected in eight workplace and school cafeterias in Germany over two project iterations (2016/2017; 2019/2020). A similar intervention design was applied. Comparability was assured by a harmonised menu. The first project iteration revealed that only one nudge (top menu position, +22.5%) led to significant increases in sustainable food choices, while results from the second iteration showed that all nudge interventions (best counter position, +11.6%; top menu position, +6,9%; label plus information, +15.9%) positively influenced consumer choice. Possible explanations such as the stricter compliance to the experimental design in the cafeterias but also societal developments such as the appearance of the Fridays for Future movement are discussed. As results vary between specific locations and settings, our findings suggest that nudges need to be adjusted to situational conditions for achieving highest efficacy.
Die Dekarbonisierung der Mietwohnungsbestände ist zwingende Voraussetzung für die Einhaltung deutscher Klimaschutzziele. Hierzu ist eine schnelle und deutliche Verbesserung der Energieeffizienz unabdinglich. Aber: funktioniert der Markt für Energieeffizienz bei Mietwohnungen? Eine empirische Untersuchung auf dem Wuppertaler Mietwohnungsmarkt gibt Antworten darauf. Um die Sanierungsrate signifikant zu steigern, etwa durch eine höhere Zahlungsbereitschaft für Energieeffizienz, braucht es sowohl für Vermieter als auch für Mieter verbesserte Rahmenbedingungen.
To address climate change, the decarbonisation of Germany's existing building stock urgently needs to be prioritised. However, the rate and depth of refurbishment has lagged behind official targets for years. This is a particular problem in the rental sector, where the costs and benefits of energy efficiency measures tend to be unevenly distributed between landlords and tenants (the so-called "landlord-tenant dilemma"). Within the context of the current policy landscape, investments in energy efficiency consequently make most sense for landlords if the upfront costs can be refinanced via increased rental income or reduced vacant periods. This paper seeks to investigate the validity of this statement at city level by using a large dataset from one of Germany’s main internet property platforms to examine how the willingness of tenants to pay for energy efficiency varies across residential locations in the city of Wuppertal.
The small-scale spatial analysis highlights the existence of a price premium for energy efficiency in the rental market for apartments; however, this premium is generally small (especially in comparison to other property enhancements, especially visible improvements) or even non-existent in some residential areas. Consequently, investing in energy efficiency is rarely an attractive option for landlords. Therefore, strong policy action, aligned with social and urban development policy objectives, is necessary to establish an effective incentive structure in the market and make investing in energy efficiency more attractive for both landlords and tenants.