Transformation Lausitz

Scientific support of the transformation process in Lusatia Region

Problem background
As part of the transition to renewable energies to counter global warming, Germany intends to achieve its climate policy goals by reducing the country’s share of global CO2 emissions. For Lusatia, a region with decades of experience in the extraction and use of lignite, this means that extraction activities and power generation using lignite will be phased out in the foreseeable future, leading to a range of repercussions. Thereby, the region will once again face the challenge of wide-ranging socio-economic, ecological and cultural change at a structural level. Yet alongside these numerous difficulties, Lusatia also has an opportunity to realize a comprehensive process of transformation towards sustainable lifestyles and economic forms.

Goal | Research question
The aim of the project implemented by the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development is to identify and promote the potential for transformation in Lusatia on the basis of the institute’s many years of experience in studying sustainable transformation and processes of structural change in cities as well as post-mining and former industrial regions. The project’s main research focus is thus to determine which stepping stones already exist to foster a smaller-scale, diversified and more attractive economic and social structure as well as to ensure the region’s sustainable and environmentally-friendly development. Further, the project will investigate those paths which seems feasible for further development, testing and implementation. In addition to existing knowledge and local initiatives, external expertise from business and science will be integrated in order to take account of the national as well as international perspective.

Based on this research focus, we can derive the following questions to guide the project work:

  • Which ideas or visions can help support a transformation process in Lusatia (also socio-political in nature) geared towards sustainability?
  • How can these ideas (discursive/political/procedural, etc.) serve to steer action in the course of structural change?
  • How are such processes of regional development managed both politically and socially from a governance perspective, and what are the likely changes to these control mechanisms against the background of the investigated challenges?

Approach | Methodology
The project approach will obey the guiding principle of the IOER, namely to undertake applied research for the benefit of the region and to transfer the knowledge gained back into social practice. This means taking into account the existing contradictions and conflicting goals in the various ideas of the local Lusatian population as to how the region should develop as well as to consciously consider and reflect this regional heterogeneity in the research work. With regard to the practical approach to research, the work programme is divided into three steps:

    (1) Identification of regional/local innovations, ideas and strategies for sustainable development in Lusatia.

    (2) Reflection, testing and refinement of these ideas by integrating local initiatives and external expertise.

    (3) Transferal of findings into political decision-making bodies at federal, state and municipal level.

In the initial phase, the project work concentrated on the gathering of regional ideas based on participant observations, surveys/interviews and media or expert opinion analyses. The aim was to obtain a precise picture of the Lusatian landscape of actors and their ideas. The empirical and conceptual preliminary work on the differentiation of research design, explanatory model and hypotheses was completed in 2019. This will be followed by reflection and testing in case studies, with more in-depth research and the establishment of thematic and spatially limited experimental fields. In addition, demand-oriented expert groups and national and international experience with structural change processes beyond Lusatia are integrated into the project work. Parallel to the research process, the knowledge gained is fed into political decision-making processes.

A central task of the research project in 2019 was to accompany the process to develop a strategic vision for the region, which is being carried out by the Zukunftswerkstatt Lausitz (ZWL) until the end of 2020. The strategies and procedures for creating the development strategy and the integrated citizen participation process were scientifically reflected upon, and recognisable needs and requirements for process design were brought into the discussion with regional actors as a guideline.

The development of a proposal for a governance structure for the region was also comparatively complex. The elaboration of the proposal was led by numerous discussions with representatives of the states of Saxony and Brandenburg as well as the local authorities. The proposal was examined within the framework of the project approach of applied scientific policy advice, was intensively reflected upon by the practitioners at all levels involved and revised in accordance with the partly changed political framework conditions.

To integrate and network external and regional expertise, a network meeting of social and cultural science research and an expert colloquium were held in October 2019. At both events, research approaches to structural change, the role of networking between science and practice, and the question of what expectations are placed on a process of developing guiding principles for Lusatia were discussed. The colloquium presented the research approach of the IOER and to discuss it with scientists and regional practitioners. The debate on the structural change process in the region was enriched by two external input lectures (Dr. Lea Fünfschilling, University of Lund, Sweden and Dr. Philipp Späth, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg).

On the basis of these impulses and suggestions, the project team expanded the focus to include the analysis of planning instruments such as spatial images, regional designs and cooperative competitions in the strategic regional development. A further aspect is the comparative analysis of the role of mission statements in shaping transformation processes in European regions. The conceptual preparatory work for this work package was also completed in 2019.