SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 11 calls on us to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. Increasing urbanization is a worldwide phenomenon as the population of cities continues to grow. While only 30 percent of people lived in cities in the mid-twentieth century, this figure today exceeds 50 percent. According to forecasts, 80 percent of the global population will likely live in cities by 2050. The potential of cities in the sustainable development of a country should therefore not be underestimated.
Sponsorship team
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Böhner
Faculty: Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences
Department(s): Earth Sciences
Profile: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Böhner
Prof. Dr. Katharina Manderscheid
Faculty: Business, Economics and Social Sciences
Department(s): Socioeconomics, Sociology
Profile: Prof. Dr. Katharina Manderscheid
What are your research areas? What research projects are you currently working on? How do these relate to “your” SDG?
I conduct research on mobility and social inequality. My main focus is the development and future of automobile traffic, which is one of the primary sources of CO2 and other emissions harmful to the air and climate. Additionally, automobiles and the associated infrastructure take up large areas of urban space, and cause noise pollution and accidents.
Concrete research projects include empirical and, in some cases, international comparative studies on traffic and mobility, the examination of possible future traffic developments such as self-driving cars, and analyses of the “peak car” phenomenon.
Mobility and traffic often relate directly to urban development and the quality of life in cities. Access to urban residential markets also determines access to public transportation as well as the distance to the workplace, social activities, and cultural offers. Accordingly, these aspects are also always closely related to questions of social equality and inequality.
How and why did you become interested in this topic?
My interest began with closer examination of the importance of locations as part of my doctoral dissertation, in particular the importance of urban housing for different social groups and their participation in society. I became further interested in researching the topics of traffic, urban areas, power, and inequality through contact with the “New Mobilities Paradigm” and the Cosmobilities Network as well as during a stay at the Centre for Mobilities Research at Lancaster University in the UK. Because automobile traffic is such as large source of emissions harmful to the climate, I have to ask myself from a sociological perspective how and why the automobile became so important in the spatial organization of Western societies and what the obstacles to finding other modes of transportation are. A well-founded understanding of this interrelationship between spatial-social organization and automobile traffic is the basis for sustainable development of mobility, traffic, and cities.
What activities are you planning as part of the SDG sponsorship? What possibilities do you see in (interdisciplinary) networking with other members of your sponsorship team?
The topics of urban areas and traffic are common to numerous disciplines. Interdisciplinary networking will expand our perspective of the field.
Among others, we are planning a series of events with colleagues from the earth sciences.
Is your topic related to any of the 16 other SDGs?
It is connected to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Oßenbrügge
Faculty: Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences
Department(s): Earth Sciences
Profile: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Oßenbrügge
What are your research areas? What research projects are you currently working on? How do these relate to “your” SDG?
Research on sustainability in urban regions has been the focus of my work in numerous research projects since the discussion regarding the Local Agenda 21 and other voluntary commitments made by cities. I am currently involved in the Urban Systems research group at the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN). There, we are researching issues related to the consequences of climate change for urban regions (CliSAP, CliCCS) as well as the relationships between urban stress factors, socio-spatial differentiations, and urban health / quality of life (UrbMod project).
How and why did you become interested in this topic?
My academic career has always involved research on issues and conflicts relating to urban and spatial development. These include classic conflicts between different local interests (establishment of nuclear power plants and industry, port expansion), uneven distribution of environmental damages, and ecologically problematic forms of residential development.
What activities are you planning as part of the SDG sponsorship? What possibilities do you see in (interdisciplinary) networking with other members of your sponsorship team?
The Habitat III conference in 2016 and the New Urban Agenda are the current reference framework for the implementation of SDG 11. This also includes global perspectives that I would like to explore with regard to urban developments in Asia and Africa. At the same time, there are also challenges at the local level, such as finding ways to make the Hamburg Metropolitan Region more environmentally friendly.
Is your topic related to any of the 16 other SDGs?
As spatial units, cities are a part of various socio-ecological systems. Accordingly, there are numerous connections to the other SDGs.
Prof. Dr. Christof Parnreiter
Faculty: Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences
Department(s): Earth Sciences
Profile: Prof. Dr. Christof Parnreiter
What are your research areas? What research projects are you currently working on? How do these relate to “your” SDG?
Research areas: geographies of economic governance, unequal development, urban developmentResearch projects: urban areas and unequal development, geographies of economic control functions through business-oriented service companies in German global citiesConnection to SDG 11: cities are central nodes for the development and control of economic processes and thus decisive locations for shaping sustainable development.
How and why did you become interested in this topic?
I have always been interested in issues related to unequal development and therefore in sustainability topics as well.
Is your topic related to any of the 16 other SDGs?
Because my research pertains to the geographies of control of economic processes and of unequal development, there are connections to numerous other SDGs, in particular to those directly related to equality and distribution issues, e.g., SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).
Prof. Dr. Beate M.W. Ratter
Faculty: Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences
Department(s): Earth Sciences
Profile: Prof. Dr. Beate M.W. Ratter
What are your research areas? What research projects are you currently working on? How do these relate to “your” SDG?
- Social climate adaptation (PP project together with the Ludwig-Franzius-Institute at Leibniz University Hannover and the Institute for Environmental, Resource and Spatial Economics at Kiel University: Dealing with change in SIDS: societal action and political reaction in sea level change adaptation in Small Island Developing States (DICES))
- Resilience and adaptability on small islands (German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) project: Adaptability of Social-Ecological Systems—Environmental Knowledge, Learning and Governance in Small Islands from a Complexity Theory Perspective (the Caribbean as an Example))
- Regional climate change and coping with extreme events (Helmholtz Climate Initiative REKLIM, Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Coastal Research in collaboration with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ): DOSOCK—Downscaling Social Climate “Knowledges”: the social framing of regional and local weather extremes in Germany)
- Regional climate change and communities of practice (cooperation project involving the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Universität Hamburg: From Climate Knowledge to Climate Action: Creating Regional Communities of Practice against Climate Change)
- Handling extreme events based on the example of storm surges on the German North Sea Coast (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) collaborative project FONA 3: EXTREMENESS—Extreme North Sea Storm Surges and their Consequences)
- Risks and management of coastal dangers (Danish cooperation project funded by the Innovation Fund Denmark: COHERENT—Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction and Management)
- Integrated coastal zone management (cooperation with the Wadden Sea Forum and development of a trilateral research agenda for the Wadden Sea on behalf of the Wadden Academy in the Netherlands)
How and why did you become interested in this topic?
As a geographer, I am interested in how people—particularly those from different societies and regional cultures—interact with their environment. In this age of acute climate change, the shaping of spaces and of the future are urgent issues that cannot be solved alone by expanding our knowledge of the natural sciences.
What activities are you planning as part of the SDG sponsorship? What possibilities do you see in (interdisciplinary) networking with other members of your sponsorship team?
I will first have to sound out these opportunities a little further because the partners I have been assigned are primarily active in urban agglomerations while I mostly focus on rural coastal areas and small islands.
Is your topic related to any of the 16 other SDGs?
Yes, it is connected to SDG 14 (Life Below Water), which calls on us to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development.