Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems

The vision of the Laboratory on Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems is to contribute to the transition of urban systems towards sustainability. We design innovative concepts and tools on how to integrate scientific knowledge from both, the social and natural sciences as well as knowledge from practitioners. We apply inter- and transdisciplinary methods in order to measure, analyze, interpret and optimize human-environment interactions in urban areas leveraging transitions towards sustainability.

Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems

Society is in transition at global, national, regional and city scale. In this transition, cities, as the central places of human activity in the 21st century, will play a key role. More than half of the global population already lives in urban areas, and following projections of the United Nations, this share will grow to 70% in 2050. Urban areas will be key arenas for the push towards more sustainable ways of living. While cities are the focal points of major environmental and social problems, they also contain the tangible and intangible resources which allow a transition towards more sustainable livelihoods to be imaginable: educated people, powerful institutions and material wealth. A key question in this context is how can resources in the urban system be used to support the transition to sustainability, and what is precisely required at a societal, institutional, and individual level.

 

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