Current Projects

Rio+20 on site – Local Sustainability Processes in Germany: Work to date and Future perspectives (Rio+20-on-site)

Project Overview:

May 2012 the „Conference on Sustainable Development - Rio+20” is taking place in Rio de Janeiro. In preparation for the Rio+20-Conference the national sates are requested to examine their experiences and progresses towards sustainable development, to determine problems, plus to find constructive perspectives for future development.

In the first phase of this research project ending in March, 2012, it is planned to create an overview of Local Agenda 21 initiatives in Germany as well as of sustainability engagement at the local, city level in Germany. Through this it will be learned which innovative potentials can be associated with various groups of actors with respect to necessary transformation processes serving a sustainable development.

Actors and sustainability processes coming from the areas of business, education, culture and churches will also be studied in order to illustrate a comprehensive picture of local sustainability engagement and to be able to compare this internationally. The project builds on initiatives such as the German Netzwerk21Kongress (Network21Congess), which has been supporting an exchange of practical initiatives related to urban and local sustainability actors every year since 2007.

In addition to analyzing past experiences, a view into the future should be brought into focus:

In a participatory, communicative process involving a wide range of actors, strategies will be developed for better supporting local, urban sustainable development in Germany. Related to this, recommendations will be developed as to how politicians as well as society can make better use of and support potential innovations of local, sustainability initiatives. It is envisioned that a second research phase following the Rio-Conference will develop a “2050 Roadmap for Urban Sustainability”.

Detailed studies of the German States are planned in connection with the research project.

Project duration:

2010 - 2012

Project management:

Katrin Nolting

Project team:

Dr. Edgar Göll, Katrin Nolting, Sie Liong Thio, Lydia Illge and Frank Müller

Mira Klausen

Project partners:

Project Lead

Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT)

Project Partner

  1. ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
  2. Protestant Institute for Interdisciplinary Research
  3. Philipps Universität Marburg/ ISInova
  4. Institut Futur an der FU Berlin
  5. LAG 21 - Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Agenda 21 NRW e.V.
  6. ThINK - Thüringer Institut für Nachhaltigkeit und Klimaschutz
  7. Universität Bayreuth

Funded by: