Sustainability from an individual, institutional and societal perspective

Climate change, sustainability and ecological inequality are recognized as crucial social challenges of our time at both national and international levels. Climate change creates global, social and intergenerational inequalities and therefore makes an ecological transformation of the economy and society necessary, which in turn must counteract further deepening social inequalities. Which institutional mechanisms are relevant for this and how can social processes be initiated and supported? At the same time, this correlates with questions about individual knowledge and skills, habits, behavioral styles and personality traits, but also about motives, goals and (educational) contexts, which can only be answered through collaboration between economics, sociology, law, psychology, etc.

Projects of the profile area 'sustainability'

The mid- and long-term consequences of the Ahr valley flood from a social scientific point of view: a multimethod approach of data collection and an interdisciplinary analysis

Project leader

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Jacqueline Lorenzen
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Hanna Schwank

Staff
Susanne Bell (WMA)
Madeleine Charlotte Kehahn (WHF)
Julia Noppeney (WHF)
Roman Zelljahn (SHK)

Informationen about the project

The project combines basic analytical research with the generation of descriptive data that are directly relevant to practice. The key questions that are addressed in this way are:

How did the Ahr Valley flood affect income and wealth inequalities?
How do legal institutions deal with the challenges of reconstruction and how does this affect their public support?
What social conflicts have arisen in the wake of the flood disaster and how do they affect social cohesion?
How does the flood experience influence political attitudes and voting behavior?
Participatory workshops, among other things, are used to gather initial findings and advance subsequent research activities, primarily in the form of a broad-based population survey.

Further Information:

Project website

Interlinking sustainability science in a Global North-South dialogue

Project leader

Prof. Dr. Kristina Großmann

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Lisa Biber-Freudenberger
Dr. Jonas Hein (German Institute of Development and Sustainability, IDOS)

Staff

Nora Utecht

Informationen about the project

Sustainability science (Nachhaltigkeitsforschung) aims to provide solutions to the current complex socio-ecological problems by working beyond ‘modern’ disciplinary boundaries. However, it focuses mainly on the Global North. With this project, we elaborate on the question how sustainability science is conceptualized in countries of the ‘Global South’ and how to strengthen the interdisciplinary field of sustainability science on a global scale.

Events

Round Table Discussion: Sustainability science in a Global North-South dialogue (18.07.2024)

Community resilience and nature-based solutions: assessing the institutional capacities needed to enable co-benefits for coastal climate change adaptation

Project leader

Dr. Stefan Partelow

Informationen about the project

Community resilience capacities (i.e., social capital, networks, learning, leadership, collective self-efficacy) and ecosystem health are both crucial for coastal adaptations to climate change. Enabling capacities for both people and nature with targeted initiatives requires clever social and institutional designs that go beyond the typical benefits put forward by nature-based solution initiatives. The SocialByNature project examines the viability, desirability and feasibility of nature-based solutions on tropical coasts to enable deeper social co-benefits through science-based institutional design, while also co-reinforcing the efficacy of reviving and managing nature on the coast.