The shutdown of public and economic life; the rediscovery of what is "systemic"; new forms of public spirit and generations; unimagined creative power of the state at all levels: These are all phenomena of the Corona crisis that will shape our thinking about society, economy and politics after Corona.

The future of cities and their relationship to the surrounding areas also needs to be rethought. Locally and on the ground, the consequences of the crisis are becoming vivid and concrete. The task now is to draw up the contours of a resilient politics, economy and society that are capable of dealing with future crises and with the other major social challenges of the 21st century.

The participants of the Future Forum will explore the question: (How) Can the experiences and expertise of local actors in cities and neighbourhoods, the diverse spontaneous initiatives of solidarity and cohesion in the crisis be more strongly integrated into formal political processes in order to make cities more sustainable, healthier and more liveable?

The event is part of the FUTURE FORUM ECORNET. The event series of the Ecological Research Network (Ecornet) debates current environmental and sustainability policy challenges — with a critical eye and in search of unconventional solutions.

PROGRAMME:

Welcome:

     Dr. Camilla Bausch
     Director of Ecologic Institute and co-spokesperson of Ecornet

Expert panel:

     Anja Bierwirth
     Head of the Urban Change Research Unit of the Wuppertal Institute

     Patrick Konopatzki
     Project Manager in the Department of Environmental Law & Participation of the Independent
     Institute for Environmental Issues (UfU)

     Julia Egenolf
     Researcher at the Climate Protection Coordination Office of the
     City of Cologne

     Dr. Heinz-Josef Klimeczek
     Owner of the Berlin Institute for Environmental Justice - BIUg

Moderation:

     Dr Carolin Baedeker
     Deputy Head of Department and Co-Head of the Research Unit
     Innovation Labs of the Wuppertal Institute

The event will take place digitally and will be recorded. Participation is free of charge. Registrations are possible via the registration form. Participants will receive the dial-in data by email prior to the event. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions via the chat.

About the event series Zukunftsforum Ecornet

Future: The term "Future" has long become a central concept in environmental and sustainability policy debates. Whereas in the past threat scenarios dominated the debate, today the focus is increasingly on the possibilities for shaping the future: What kind of world do we want to make possible for present and future generations?

Forum: Shaping an ecologically sustainable and socially equitable future can only succeed through conversations between politics, science, business and civil society. Ecornet aims to bring together the various actors and offer them a forum for jointly tackling the social problems of our time.

Ecornet: Concrete social problems require concrete proposals for solutions. Ecornet aims to help shape social change towards sustainability and to provide the required scientific basis for this purpose. With thematic and methodological diversity and work at the interfaces between science and society, the eight Ecornet institutes provide answers to the pressing questions of our time.