The future cities of Europe: Beyond Lüneburg 2030+

Prof. Dr. Habil. Paed. Raimonds Ernsteins

Cities are seen as increasingly important with regard to the local implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the same time, they are increasingly confronted with uncertainties, dilemmas, and challenges. In different contexts, planning decisions take place in the context of uncertainty and complexity and address various sustainability dilemmas. The impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic highlights and amplifies these challenges particularly. However, cities also have the potential to be places where, with regard to sustainable development, numerous innovative approaches are developed to deal with these uncertainties, dilemmas, and challenges. Examples include the numerous Local Agenda 21 processes, pioneering initiatives by cities to achieve climate neutrality, or participatory urban development processes. The project “The future cities of Europe: Beyond Lüneburg 2030+” will contribute to address these challenges by supporting innovative learning formats for sustainable development and to strengthen the role of young people in these complex and important processes.

1. Transdisciplinary research on possible entry points for real-world experiments in the partner cities with students through

• project seminar
• exchange
• excursions
• research (e.g. expert interviews, document analysis, etc.)
• presentations

2. The project activities will take place in Riga, Valmiera, Tartu, Viljandi, Klaipeda, and Lüneburg

Direct: 6 students 1 professor/university lecturer

Indirect: ~35 more students (participating in the seminar but not part of the exchange) plus 7 researchers involved in the project

Indirect: ~100 interested parties from science and society (network of universities, municipalities and schools)