From autumn 2021, it is once again possible to test living and working in Görlitz, the easternmost city in Germany, located directly at the Polish border. The project “Testing the City of the Future – A living and working experiment for a climate neutral city of Görlitz” focuses on a new aspect. The participants are to support Görlitz with their ideas and expertise on the path to more sustainability. To do this, they can try out the city as a place to live, work and live for three months.
The city of Görlitz aims to become climate neutral by 2030. To achieve this goal, it is relying on the great commitment of the local people. At the same time, however, suggestions from outside would also help to quickly find more sustainable ways of living and working. This is where the project “Testing the City of the Future - A living and working experiment for a climate neutral city of Görlitz” comes in. The project enables interested people to stay in Görlitz for three months from autumn 2021 to March 2023. Flats are available free of charge and companies and research institutions act as hosts for a temporary work stay. In addition, various local initiatives provide work spaces, for example for artistic and creative work.
The participants can and should use their three-month stay in Görlitz to deal with the topics of climate neutrality and sustainable urban development as part of their work and to bring their knowledge to the city. Various working models are possible in cooperation with the local partners of the project: internships in companies, academic guest stays, start-up activities and even stays by freelance artists. “The project is aimed at people who are already professionally involved with the topics of climate neutrality and sustainable urban development, for example, who are researching climate neutrality, who are working on innovative technical solutions in companies, who have founded a start-up or are planning to do so, or who take up aspects of sustainable living in their cultural or artistic work,” explains Prof. Dr. Robert Knippschild from the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ecological and Revitalizing Urban Transformation (IZS) in Görlitz, who heads the project. “We are offering this group of people the opportunity to live in Görlitz for three months free of charge and to contribute to the targeted transformation towards a climate neutral city in 2030 during this time.”
The project is intended to draw attention to Görlitz as a place to live and work, and at the same time to investigate the chances of attracting qualified workers who can help drive the sustainable development of the city. The trial stay of the potential newcomers will be scientifically accompanied by the IZS. The aim of the accompanying research is to determine which requirements cities like Görlitz have to fulfil in order to attract qualified workers. What makes them settle in certain places and specifically in Görlitz? What might prevent them from taking the step to Görlitz or to another small or medium-sized town? And what role does the change towards more sustainable ways of living and working in these cities play in these decisions?
More information: http://stadt-der-zukunft-auf-probe.ioer.eu/en
Are you interested? Please contact the project team at IZS directly.
Contact for applicants
Sarah Hauck
Interdisciplinary Centre for Ecological and Revitalising Urban Transformation (IZS), Görlitz
phone: +49 (0)3581 79 24-790
e-mail: stadtderzukunftaufprobe@ioer.de
Scientific contact at the IZS
Prof. Dr. Robert Knippschild (project management),
e-mail: R.Knippschild@ioer.de
Constanze Zöllter (project processing), e-mail: C.Zoellter@ioer.de
More information: http://stadt-der-zukunft-auf-probe.ioer.eu/en
Overview of the Project Partners
City of Görlitz
KommWohnen Service GmbH
European City of GörlitzZgorzelec GmbH
KoLABORacja e. V.
Kühlhaus Görlitz e. V.
Wildwuchs e. V.
CASUS – Center for Advanced Systems Understanding
Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz – University of Applied Sciences
Siemens Energy Görlitz Innovation Campus
Stadtwerke Görlitz AG
Background
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI)/Federal Institute for research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) as part of their National Urban Development Policy. https://www.nationale-stadtentwicklungspolitik.de
The Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER), represented by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ecological and Revitalising Urban Transformation (IZS), is implementing the project together with local institutions from business, science and civil society.
The Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER) is a non-university research center in the field of spatial sciences, and a member of the Leibniz Association. Its subject is the sustainable development and transformation of cities and regions in the context of the global human-ecological crisis. www.ioer.de/1
In Görlitz, the IOER runs the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ecological and Revitalising Urban Transformation (IZS) together with the International Institute Zittau (IHI) of the Technische Universität Dresden. The IZS analyses social trends, urban politics and their repercussions on towns and cities. In this way the IZS supports municipalities and higher-level decision-makers to develop and test solutions.
https://izs-goerlitz.ioer.de/en/izs
