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'

Social, Economic and Administrative Challenges of Climate Resilience (SOZIAHR)

Project leader

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

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

Former employees:

Roman Zelljahn (SHK)

Informationen about the project

The research project SOZIAHR (“Social, Economic, and Administrative Challenges of Climate Resilience”) funded by Stiftung Mercator investigates the medium- and long-term consequences of the Ahr Valley flood disaster of July 14, 2021, from a social science perspective. The project brings together researchers from law, economics, and geography at the University of Bonn with the Wuppertal Institute, which specializes in climate, environmental, and resource research.
The low-pressure system Bernd, which caused 135 fatalities in the Rhineland-Palatinate wine region, drew international attention. It not only led to severe infrastructure damage but also had a lasting impact on the lives of tens of thousands of people in the region.
The SOZIAHR team studies existing regulations and administrative processes in private reconstruction, as well as the key factors that shape social cohesion, democratic stability, and the implementation of climate mitigation and adaptation measures.
Their research focuses on three main questions:
1. How have the flood disaster and subsequent political measures affected the population? To what extent does individual impact depend on factors such as age, economic situation, and personal circumstances?
2. How can administrative processes, legal frameworks, and public funding schemes be designed to promote both climate protection and adaptation while ensuring social equity?
3. What incentives can encourage private individuals to rebuild in a climate-resilient way and to actively support climate policy?
SOZIAHR aims to contribute to the medium- and long-term recovery of the Ahr Valley while also developing empirically based recommendations for other regions to help reduce the impacts of future disasters.

Events

Literary reading (01.07.2024): "Das Ahrtal des Mitgefühls. 89 Fragmente aus dem Leben nach der Flut" (Ursula Schnabel, foreword by Susanne Bell)
Workshop (18.11.2024): Social Challenges in Reconstruction
Workshop (18.03.2025): "Vulnerable Gruppen im Wiederaufbau"
Workshop (11.06.2025): "Hilfsorganisationen und Vereine im Wiederaufbau"
Kick-off event for the “SOZIAHR” project (31.10.2025)

Teaching events

Further Information:
Project website

Click here for the flyer on the hands-on campaign “The wisdom of the Ahr Valley people”

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

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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.

Closed projects of the profile area 'sustainability'

Ecological transformation processes and new social Questions

Project leader

Prof. Dr. Dr. Wolfgang Durner

Staff

Johanna Fink (WHK)

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Ecological transformation processes give rise to new questions of social distribution and generate new social dislocations and tensions.
Analyzing these interrelations and negative feedback effects is not only an epistemological question, but also a prerequisite for the development of appropriate problem-solving instruments.

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 (SHK)

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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