The exhibition draws on a series of striking photographs to shine a spotlight on urban transformation and illustrate how people around the world are responding to social and environmental challenges. The images, which had previously been on display at several international UN Climate Change Conferences, are now enabling people in Bonn too to see how diverse and participatory urban transformation can be made to be.
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable urban development, the University of Bonn is consciously focusing on publicly accessible formats that blend science and society. And P26, as the venue for the exhibition, has a key role to play: The ground-floor exhibition space, which spills over into Café Luise, invites visitors and passersby alike to linger for a moment and chat about what they can see.
Bringing science, art and city society together in dialogue
“Participation is vital, especially where sustainability is concerned,” explained Professor Annette Scheersoi, Vice Rector for Sustainability at the University of Bonn. “As well as putting international research on display with the exhibition, we also want to create a platform for innovative forms of civic participation. The informal nature for P26 makes it an ideal place to bring science, art and city society together in dialogue.” The exhibition marks the starting point for a number of accompanying events that are planned during its run in P26 and that are designed to stimulate a more in-depth debate about sustainable urban transformation.
Also on hand to provide a welcome and introductory remarks were: Professor Xiaomeng Shen, UNU Vice-Rector in Europe and Director of UNU-EHS; Sandra Müller-Tietz, Deputy Managing Director of P26; and Dr. Simone Sandholz, who leads the Urban Futures & Sustainability Transformation Programme at UNU-EHS.
The photography exhibition forms one strand of the University of Bonn’s current special exhibition entitled “Neu! Gesammelt – genutzt – gedacht” (“New! Collections—Uses—Ways of Thinking”), which opened in November 2025 and which presents a curated selection of photographs from international competitions. These were organized between 2022 and 2024 as part of the Transformative Urban Coalitions (TUC) project and attracted some 1,400 submissions. The photographers, all from different backgrounds and bringing different perspectives to the table, capture visions of sustainable cities, record transformative measures or render visible the commitment of individuals and whole communities.
Their images tell stories of change and co-creation and invite visitors to view things from different angles, question attitudes and see urban transformation as a communal process. A selection of the photographs had already been on display in the UNFCCC Capacity-building Hub during the UN Climate Change Conferences of 2023–2025. The project is being funded by the German federal government’s International Climate Initiative (Internationale Klimaschutzinitiative, IKI).