Adaption, development and sustainable transformation
This year's Forster Summer School was dedicated to the research topic "Urban Climate" with the title "Forster Summer School explores - urban climate. Adaptation, development and dustainable transformation. The interdisciplinary and international group discussed possible approaches for long-term and sustainable improvement of the urban climate and identified opportunities for action - on a regional, global and international level.
Global climate change and its associated impacts, such as weather extremes, represent one of the most urgent challenges of the 21st century. Due to the relatively high population density in urban areas, cities are the main cause and the main victims of climate change. Assuming that around two thirds of the world's population will live in cities in 2050, sustainable strategies must be (further) developed to make the lives of present and future generations - not only in the so-called megacities of this earth - climate-friendly and socially just.
The program offered a wide range and consisted of scientific lectures and discussions, practical exercises, such as a workshop on tree damage in the Green School/Botanical Garden of the JGU, a mapping project on the University campus, an expert exchange on climate protection projects in Worms, German workshops, a sustainable city tour of Mainz and a photo project on climate protection and climate adaptation projects from the respective cities of origin/study of the participants. The excursion and accompanying program led to intensive networking among the group and to explore regional highlights together.
