Regional Climates

Duration: 01.06.2010 - 31.05.2013

Social transformation processes for climate protection and climate adaptation

Initial siuiation
Climate change appears to be a "global phenomenon" - yet there are very good opportunities to design climate policies at the level of communities. This view, nevertheless, has been little considered to date, and much less systematically elaborated. The project "Regional Climates" therefore directs its focus on the variety of regional possibilities for action which are produced and stabilised to counter climate change and its consequences. At the core of the project are the perceptions of climate change in the Alpine communities of Bavaria and South Tyrol and the measures that are being undertaken in this regard. The following questions are being posed:
What role does climate change play in different communities - for the environment and for social and commercial life?
What structural conditions - e.g. forms of settlements, transport, subsistence strategies, property situations - are required for climate protection and climate adaptation?
Which stakeholders in politics, business or civil society regard climate change as a reason to plan anew and strategically in the future and how do they accomplish this?
What cultural practices, narratives, interpretations and types of knowledge play a role in the organisation of climate-relevant action?

Project goals
The project therefore has the following aims:

1. the project serves to further develop social-scientific climate research in order to uncover a genuine sociological perspective which is not primarily defined in addition to scientific standards.
2. the project intends to analyse the pre-conditions for learning processes at a community level. To this end it investigates elements of climate-related change at a community level and the conditions of these elements.
3. the project is aimed at improving social handling of climate change at a community level. The potentials for action have by no means been exhausted.
4. As part of the project the results will be brought together in a policy paper. It will address public and private decision-makers and citizens who are involved in climate-related transformation and management processes.

The sub-project at the Environment Science Centre Augsburg explores local climate-related perceptions, narratives and explanations from an ethnographical perspective. An analysis of the lifeworlds of different population groups and stakeholders, their experiences and kinds of knowledge should record the local significances of climate change. We assume that the merging of local perceptions and global climate narratives creates a variety of regional knowledge on climate and weather. This opens up the question of how knowledge - being embedded within different social and cultural contexts - leads to action.
The focus of the sub-project at the Munich University of Applied Sciences lies in exploring the possibilities and limits of new forms of interaction of various stakeholder groups, management approaches and participation strategies (regional/local governance). We examine regional approaches for action under the central question of what factors or constellations promote or block climate-related action.
The sub-project at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich focuses on the investigation of communities and cities and associated mobility corridors in the Alpine region. On the basis of statistical data, this sub-project aims to analyse how types of housing, settlement structures and mobility are related to climate protection. In addition, it will be investigated how the structural problems of uncontrolled development and staged rurality can be overcome using innovative strategies for action.

 
Project coordination
PD Dr. Stefan Böschen
Environment Science Centre, University of Augsburg
Universitätsstr. 1a
86159 Augsburg, Germany
Fon  +49 (0)821-598 3569
E-Mail: stefan.boeschen[at]phil.uni-augsburg.de

Project Homepage: http://www.klima-regional.de (under construction)

Project partners
Environment Science Centre, University of Augsburg (PD Dr. Stefan Böschen, Dr. Sophie Elixhauser, Katrin Vogel)
Faculty of Applied Social Science at Munich University of Applied Sciences (Prof. Dr. Cordula Kropp, Irene Brickmann, Jana Türk, Prof. Dr. Susanne Elsen)
Institute of Sociology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich (Prof. Dr. Bernhard Gill, Dr. Mechtild Agreiter, Johannes Schubert)