14. May 2025

Joining forces to rethink flood defense—students’ “Innovation Space” helps to generate new and important ideas for Bonn Joining forces to rethink flood defense

About 70 people assembled at the University to discuss some of the challenges and potential solutions for improving protection against flooding and heavy rain.

Students from the University of Bonn had extended an invitation to their “Rainstorms and Flooding Innovation Space” as part of the StadtKlimaWandeln (“Transforming the Urban Climate”) project. The event had been organized and its content designed by students of different subjects at the University of Bonn with support from the Vice Rectorate for Sustainability and the Wissenschaftsladen Bonn (WILA Bonn).  

At the ‘Innovation Space’, representatives from civil society, science and administration met to exchange ideas.
At the ‘Innovation Space’, representatives from civil society, science and administration met to exchange ideas. © Barbara Frommann/Universität Bonn
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Flooding and heavy rain: tackling challenges together

The increase in extreme weather events caused by climate change is having a huge impact on people and the environment. If they had not been conscious of it already, the catastrophic flooding in the Ahrtal valley in June 2021 brought home to many people the real threat posed by heavy rain and flooding. The disaster claimed numerous lives and destroyed swathes of homes. How can we protect cities, towns and villages better and make them more resilient?

The students felt that new, innovative solutions are needed to protect people against the consequences of flooding and heavy rain. But these solutions can only come about through the concerted efforts of different people with different areas of expertise: the locals affected by the flooding, experts from the scientific and academic community, communication, the local council and other stakeholders. 

Interdisciplinary dialogue unlocks new potential solutions

Those taking part in the event identified a variety of possible starting points that they are keen to revisit in the future. They include the question of how, through their master’s or bachelor’s thesis, students can help to take existing climate ideas, e.g. from Vilich-Müldorf, and transfer them to other parts of Bonn. Participants also discussed how targeted communication via multipliers can bring about closer cooperation between the local council and affected residents with their expertise gained from living “at the coalface” and what role the future activity centers in Bonn’s Klimaviertel, or “climate quarter,” could play in continuing to bring researchers, representatives from the authorities, students and other committed individuals together.

“The project is a nice example of how good results can be achieved when researchers, administrators and citizens all work together,” says Franz August Emde, Managing Director of the Stiftung Umwelt und Entwicklung Nordrhein-Westfalen, an environmental and development foundation for North Rhine-Westphalia that is providing around €200,000 in funding to the project. “The people of Bonn are keenly aware of the issues of flooding and heavy rain and want to get involved. So, as well as laying important foundations for solid, lasting cooperation between researchers, administrators and citizens, this model project can also be readily applied to other issues or other municipalities.”

Improving practical relevance in a university context

The Vice Rectorate for Sustainability at the University of Bonn also believes that formats such as the Innovation Space harbor significant potential: “With them, we want to give students more opportunities in their seminars not only to learn about their subject but also to do their bit for society and take responsibility,” explains Professor Annette Scheersoi, Vice Rector for Sustainability at the University of Bonn.

The plan is for the Rainstorms and Flooding Innovation Space to be used for other future climate projects with practical relevance that could be initiated and implemented as part of Bonn’s Klimaviertel. 

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